The National Park Service (NPS) has had stewardship of America’s national parks since 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation creating the agency. It oversees approximately 400 sites covering some 84 million acres in the United States and its territories. In addition to national parks, the NPS system includes monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, as well as the White House. More than 20,000 NPS employees care for these sites with help from dedicated volunteers and park partners.
This program was signed into law on December 19, 2014, to commemorate the agency’s 2016 centennial. Congress directed the Mint to strike and issue:
- 100,000 $5 gold coins
- 500,000 $1 silver coins
- 750,000 half dollar clad coins