Feral Alphabets: N

From: A Walk In The Park

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N

ational parks began to be established in 1872, when the United States set up Yellowstone National Park under the authority of the federal government.  Earlier, the land which would eventually become Yosemite National Park had been ceded, in 1864, to the state of California, with the condition that it be “held for public use”.  At the time that Yellowstone was established, however, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho were still federally governed territories.  With no state government to assume responsibility for the land in question, it fell to the United States government to assume direct control.

Although the establishment of Yellowstone under national, rather than state, stewardship was at least partly due to circumstance, it was an idea whose time had come, and other nations began to designate public lands to preserve for future generations.