ABSTRACT
The Park Service bureaucracy, which values loyalty immoderately and provides few rewards for risk takers, selects park superintendents who can be trusted to exercise prudence and restraint. The credo of the national parks is carved into the Roosevelt Arch at Yellowstone: “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.” Any action taken by the Park Service that will reduce the level of travel to a particular park is regarded as an attack on the local or regional tourist industry, whose membership immediately turns to Congress for relief. The focus of conservation wrath presently is on the giant business concerns that have purchased a half dozen of the largest park concessions. The Park Service moves cautiously in the direction of preservation, castigated by conservationists for its timidity, scolded by Congress for its temerity. In the past, especially during wartime shortages, parks have been targeted by commercial interests.
