Engineering Applied to National Parks

Beginning in 1872, with the setting aside of the Yellowstone National Park “as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit of the people", the fundamental principle underlying the National Park System has been the preservation of scenery-the natural objects and wonders and their retention in their natural condition. Congress re-affirmed this principle in creating the National Park Service in 1916, by stating† that the Service, in its administration of the National parks and monuments, was “to conserve the scenery and the national and historic objects, and the wild life therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations". In order that the people might enjoy the National parks it was necessary that roads be constructed to and within them to permit access to their treasure troves. At first, these roads were haphazard wagon trails, in existence at the time of the reservation of the parks, and it is the conversion of these old wagon roads into adequate automobile highways, or the construction of new roads, that forms one of the principal engineering problems confronting the National Park Service. This does not mean the establishment of a gridiron of roads, nor over-development. Large areas must always be preserved in their wilderness character.