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Marking The Yosemite Grant That Helped Launch The National Parks Movement

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Published Date

June 15, 2014

While it's long been accepted that Yellowstone National Park is the world's first national park, there's significant weight to the statement that the wondrous Yosemite landscape helped launch the national parks movement with the signing of the Yosemite Grant by President Lincoln on June 30, 1864. 

That Grant set aside Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias for protection, establishing the very idea of today's national parks.

In this video from Yosemite National Park, Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns, who wrote, filmed, and produced The National Parks: America's Best Idea, take a look back at that momentous act.

 

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Comments

Submitted by Alfred Runte on June 15, 2014 - 11:34am.

Excellent, as is Dayton Duncan's book, Seed of the Future. No embellishments. Just the truth of history and a story that continues to motivate and inspire.


Submitted by argalite on June 18, 2014 - 11:23am.

Hot Springs Reservation was the first protected natural lands, before Yosemite.  The hot springs were such a coveted natural wonder that in 1832, President Andrew Jackson designed Hot Springs as the first federal reservation.  Hot Springs Reservation was essentially America’s first national park, predating Yellowstone National Park by 40 years.


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