Second World Conference on National Parks: Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

In 1872, few men had vision enough to foresee that newly established Yellowstone National Park embodied not the end, but only the beginning of the national park idea. Few could have foretold that in 1972 the nations of the world would proudly count more than 1,200 national parks or. equivalent reserves, all set aside in accordance with the idea conceived at Yellowstone for the benefit of present and future generations. Such has been the international acceptance of this ideal that the centennial of the park's establishment was long anticipated as a time for celebration and rededication to the noble cause of preserving the heritage of natural wonders. Delegates to the First World Conference on National Parks, who represented 63 nations, recommended that another world conference be held during the centennial year. This call helped to bring about official action by the U.S. Congress and President which put the Yellowstone Centennial celebration into motion at the outset of 1972. A major event of the year was planned as the Second World Conference on National Parks, to be held at Grand Teton National Park. As a prelude to this technical Conference, the National Parks Centennial Commission organized a large meeting in Yellowstone to celebrate the park's first 100 years. To be held in advance of the technical sessions, which were fully international, this meeting was primarily an American observance, a kind of gigantic birthday celebration. Primary invitees were Americans who had made notable contributions to the national parks. Also attending were the representatives to the World Conference, many of whom had attended the 11th General Assembly of the IUCN held just before the Yellowstone meeting in Banff National Park, Canada. In all, more than 1,200 people came-scientists, conservationists, Governors, Members of Congress-a whole spectrum representative of the world's national parks. They came from more than 80 countries and 6 continents, and they brought a world of experience with them.