Yellowstone Insider Your Complete Guide to America's First National Park
Celebrate the National Park Service birthday in style on Sunday, Aug. 25, with free Grand Teton and Yellowstone admission to mark the occasion.
The entrance fee waiver for fee-free days does not cover amenity or user fees for activities such as camping, boat launches, transportation, or special tours.
The National Park Service was created on August 25, 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Act (the Organic Act) into law, creating the National Park Service as part of the U.S. Department of the Interior. It consolidated management of 14 national parks, 21 national monuments, and the Hot Springs and Casa Grande Ruin reservations under its first director, Stephen Mather. That came after Congress established Yellowstone National Park “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people” and placed it “under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior” on March 1, 1872.
