Pen

On August 25, 1916, with a stroke of this pen, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the National Park Service Organic Act, establishing the National Park Service as an agency under the Department of the Interior. Fourteen national parks and twenty-one national monuments, already created by Congress, would now be managed under one system led by Stephen T. Mather, first Director of the National Park Service. Unifying the National Park System under the Organic Act enabled the National Park Service to fulfill its mission to conserve park resources and provide for their use and enjoyment "in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for future generations."