NPCA’s National Park Advocacy Crash Course Glossary

Antiquities Act of 1906

Signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt, the Antiquities Act allows the president of the United States to establish lands or waters under federal jurisdiction as national monuments to enhance the protection of these important places and stories. National monuments are managed by various federal land management agencies. About one-quarter of current sites within the National Park System originated through the Antiquities Act.

The law has become an essential, bipartisan tool in establishing monuments that preserve natural habitat; objects of historic or scientific interest; and memorials or historic structures. Establishment of a monument might also protect an area from potential harm, such as commercial development or looting of archaeological resources.

Since the Antiquities Act’s creation, 17 presidents have declared nearly 160 national monuments, including some of our country’s most recognizable sites: the Statue of Liberty, Grand Canyon, Muir Woods and many others.

Appropriations

Appropriations laws are passed by Congress and provide federal agencies with the authority to spend money. Congress determines how much funding each authorized federal agency and program receives. Each year, Congress must pass 12 annual appropriation acts, individually or as a package, by September 30 to keep the federal government open. In recent years, Congress has often needed to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded past that deadline while negotiations over the next year’s funding continue. The National Park Service’s budget is included in the budget for the Department of the Interior, which is passed via the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is a federal agency under the Department of the Interior that manages public lands across the country and oversees activities like grazing, energy development, recreation and conservation on these lands. The BLM manages 245 million acres — a tenth of the total land area of the U.S. — with many of these lands surrounding national parks. 

Lands managed by the BLM offer important habitat for iconic species like desert tortoise and bighorn sheep and protect important sacred and spiritual sites. They also provide recreation opportunities for millions of people every year to hike, camp, climb, fish and hunt; economically, they generate $887 billion in spending and more than 7 million jobs that help communities thrive.

Department of the Interior

The Department of the Interior (DOI) is a federal agency and part of the executive branch of the United States government, overseen by the president. The department is responsible for the management and conservation of most of the nation’s public lands and minerals, national parks, national wildlife refuges, western water resources and cultural resources and heritage. The department manages more than 480 million acres of public lands, 700 million acres of subsurface minerals such as oil and gas and 1.7 billion acres of the outer continental shelf. The National Park Service is an agency within the Department of the Interior.

Executive Orders

An executive order is a directive from the president of the United States that manages the operations of the federal government. Executive orders are not legislation and therefore don’t require approval from Congress, and Congress cannot simply overturn them. Congress may pass legislation that might make it difficult, or even impossible, to carry out the order. Only a sitting president may overturn an existing executive order by issuing another executive order to that effect. Examples of recent Executive Orders related to national parks include EO 13958 Establishing the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission signed by President Trump and EO 14121 Recognizing and Honoring Women’s History signed by President Biden.

National Park Service

The National Park Service (NPS) is a federal agency within the Department of the Interior that manages the natural and cultural resources of the United States’ National Park System. NPS employs 20,000 people, who manage and protect more than 430 national park sites and safely welcome the millions of people who visit them.

Oil and gas leasing

Bureau of Land Management issues competitive leases for oil and gas exploration and development on lands owned or controlled by the Federal government. In fact, an astounding 86% of lands managed by the BLM are open to oil and gas development. Right now, more than 12.4 million acres of public land are currently leased to oil and gas companies for fossil fuel, with many of these lands surrounding national parks.

The proximity of most oil and gas leases to national parks means that these leases directly contribute to adverse environmental impacts which the National Park System must bear, like polluted air, contaminated water, compromised visitor experience and disruption to wildlife habitat.

Organic Act of 1916

The Organic Act of 1916 created the National Park Service and tasked the agency with conserving the natural and historic objects, scenery and wildlife in units of the National Park System. The act also established that the NPS should manage the parks in a way that would leave them and their resources “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” The act was signed into law on August 25, 1916, by President Woodrow Wilson.

Secretary of the Interior

The Secretary of the Interior is an individual who leads the Department of the Interior and oversees more than 70,000 employees within its agencies, including the National Park Service; Bureau of Land Management; Bureau of Indian Affairs; the U.S. Geological Survey; and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. The Interior Secretary sets the overall policy direction for the National Park Service, including priorities for conservation, resource management and public access. The secretary is appointed by the President and the Senate must confirm their nomination.