Proclamation 6870—National Park Week, 1996

For millions of visitors every year, America's 369 national parks serve as living examples of the diversity, history, and natural wonders that have always defined this country. We owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women of the National Park Service, whose outstanding work to preserve and protect these treasures ensures that they will be available to educate and enrich generations of Americans to come.

The National Park Service also reaches beyond the boundaries of our parks to share knowledge and expertise with other nations, State and local governments, American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives, agencies, and thousands of organizations and individuals. National Park Service programs are helping community leaders to create green spaces in urban areas from Seattle to Philadelphia; to rehabilitate the historic canal in Augusta, Georgia; and to return grey wolves to Yellowstone, red wolves to the Great Smoky Mountains, big horn sheep to the Rocky Mountains, and the peregrine falcon to parks nationwide.

Our national parks benefit from the work of many citizens dedicated to environmental stewardship and historic preservation. By working directly with the National Park Service or through the National Park Foundation, its congressionally chartered nonprofit corollary, park partners sponsor educational programs, raise funds, provide visitor services, and donate time and materials to support our great public resources. These partners include the Student Conservation Association, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and hundreds of other interested organizations. Drawn from corporations, associations, and communities everywhere, over 100,000 Americans volunteer annually to keep our park system strong.

This year, National Park Week is dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the commitment of the National Park Service and its partners to America's unique historical, cultural, and natural heritage. I urge all the people of the United States to learn more about our national parks, the programs available in their communities, and to seek out opportunities to become a national park partner.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 22 through April 28, 1996, as National Park Week.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twentieth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON