
			   THE WHITE HOUSE
  
		    Office of the Press Secretary
  
  _______________________________________________________________
  For Immediate Release                            April 14, 1994
  
  
		      NATIONAL PARK WEEK, 1994
  
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	  BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
  
			   A PROCLAMATION
  
  
       Theodore Roosevelt once said that nothing short of 
  defending this country in wartime "compares in importance 
  with the great central task of leaving this land an even better 
  land for our descendants than it is for us . . . ."  In the 
  movement to acquire and preserve areas of outstanding scenic or 
  historical significance, Roosevelt blended science and morality 
  in a highly effective and nonpartisan way.
  
       The idea of creating national parks first attracted 
  attention in the second half of the nineteenth century, when 
  America's receding wilderness left our natural resources 
  vulnerable to misuse and exploitation.  The Yellowstone National 
  Park Act of 1872 set aside the world's first national park and 
  led the way for Federal protection of exceptional lands for 
  public use.
  
       As the number of early parks increased, many recognized the 
  need for their collective management.  The National Park Service 
  was created by an act of Congress signed by President Woodrow 
  Wilson on August 25, 1916.  Today, almost 78 years later, the 
  National Park Service oversees 367 national parks, including 
  historic sites, monuments, parks, lakeshores, seashores, rivers, 
  and scenic trails.  The growth of the park system is a result 
  of the American public's desire to protect the best and most 
  significant treasures of our Nation.
  
       National parks across the country, from Denali National 
  Park in Alaska to Acadia National Park in Maine, allow us to 
  learn more about our environment; they teach us to respect our 
  lands and to care about endangered plant and animal species.  
  Their spectacular scenic beauty and wide variety of wildlife 
  link man and nature intrinsically and universally.  The cultural 
  and historic parks connect us with the spirit of our past and 
  form a national family tree, celebrating our triumphs and 
  remembering our tragedies.  
  
       NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
  United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in 
  me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby 
  proclaim the week of May 23 through May 29, 1994, as "National 
  Park Week."  I encourage all Americans to join me in making 
  National Park Week a truly American celebration of our heritage.  
  We are challenged to protect and preserve our parks, to cherish 
  them first, then to teach our children to do the same, so that 
  they, too, can give this gift to their children.
  
       IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand 
  this fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord 
  nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the Independence of 
  the United States of America the two hundred and eighteenth.
  
  
				     WILLIAM J. CLINTON
  
  
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