Fulfilling Its Mandate: The National Park Service and Historic Preservation

Abstract

THE QUESTION PUT TO ME for this commentary was How well has the National Park Service done fulfilling its mandate in the area of historic preservation? To answer, we need to consider another questionCompared to what?-for the mandate one derives from a literal reading of the vast body of law behind the National Park Service is unbelievably extensive and complex. The fundamental National Park Service Act of August 25, 1916 carries with it the mandate to preserve resources for the use and enjoyment of the people and yet leave the resources unimpaired for future generations. That permanent paradox is overlain by statutes or executive orders individually authorizing each of the 338 units of the system. These are surrounded by more than fifteen broadbased laws, such as the National Historic Preservation Act, that enlarge the mandate, some on a drastic scale. Many preservationists are familiar with their favorite portions of this mandate, but very few have comprehended its breadth. Everyone understands that budgets are tight in the federal government today. Most of our colleagues trace the tightening to 1980--the high point in appropriations from the Historic Preservation Fund. Only the most experienced know that the tightening originated with the Johnson administration's decision to conduct a war in Vietnam without raising taxes. By the late 1960s, it was already difficult to get money and staff with which to carry out the historic preservation mandate. Yet since that very time the vast majority of the mandate has been enacted into law. This includes three-fourths of the broad-based statutes mentioned above. More than half of the present units of the National Park system have been created, containing well over half of present NPS land. To indicate the scale of the system, it is three times the size of England,