Did Teddy Roosevelt create the national park system?

Although Theodore Roosevelt did not establish the National Park Service, his conservation activities as President of the United States created the foundation on which the agency was founded a decade later. The NPS today oversees more than 400 units, including national parks, monuments, and historical sites.



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But Roosevelt did not create Yellowstone. More than 30 years before his visit, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, establishing the first national park in the world.

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An act establishing Yellowstone National Park was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.

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Roosevelt went on to strengthen the protections of public lands, campaigning on conservation for the Vice Presidency in 1900 and later as President, establishing the National Parks system that currently protects not just Yellowstone, but 85 million total acres of American lands.

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An act establishing Yellowstone National Park was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.

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Honoring U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, it is the only American national park named directly after a single person. The park covers 70,446 acres (110.072 sq mi; 28,508 ha; 285.08 km2) of land in three sections: the North Unit, the South Unit, and the Elkhorn Ranch Unit.

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