Ron Kind: “as a member of the House Resources Subcommittee of National Parks, I have had the privilege to visit many of our…”

“as a member of the House Resources Subcommittee of National Parks, I have had the privilege to visit many of our Nation's National Parks. From my own personal experiences, I have come to love the beauty of these parks and am grateful for the recreational opportunities they have to offer. Over 100 years ago, our predecessors displayed historic vision and took a bold step forward in a quest for protecting our Nation's natural wonders. On March 1, 1872, Congress established the Yellowstone National Park, our Nation's first and still one of our most beautiful and pristine national parks. President Theodore Roosevelt strengthened our Nation's conservation system through the Antiquities Act of 1906, creating 18 national monuments by the end of his presidency, including the beautiful cliffs of Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado, Arizona's Petrified Forest, and our own natural wonder, the Grand Canyon. These monuments laid the groundwork for our current park system, a vision completed in 1916 as President Woodrow Wilson established the National Park Service. There are thousands of individuals in the National Park Service as well as volunteers like Friends of our Parks, who dedicate their talent and lives to our National Parks. Without all of their hard work and dedication, our National Parks could not retain their immaculate beauty, nor could they continue to provide critical habitat for our nation's world-renowned wildlife.…”