National Parks, state parks, and National Forests are different, have different goals.

Various kinds of parks and forests are a key piece of the story of preserving wilderness (by its strongest definition), but that isn't the reason they were originally set up (at least before WWII)

• why and how were they set up?  public opinion, government policy, new laws
  
• how and to what extent did they become a way of preserving wilderness? new attitudes and eventually new laws
  

From ideas to policy:

• The first wilderness preservation wasn't really done for the purpose of preserving wilderness
• 1872 creation of Yellowstone National Park--the purpose was to preserve curiosities (natural wonders)
• 1885 creation of the Adirondack Forest Preserve in New York state--the purpose was to preserve water supply

What are the different purposes for which a park might be created?

• preservation of the wildlife--for example Yellowstone provided habitat for buffalo
• prevent commercialization--people should be able to visit, but without a lot of touristy stuff getting in the way
  
• allow as many people as possible to see a natural wonder while leaving it more or less natural
  
• protect natural resources for future use (eg. Forest Service)
• preserve wilderness
  

Preserving Yellowstone happened fast

• F. V. Hayden of the U.S. Geological Survey was interested in exploring the area as early as 1859, but the civil war then got in the way
  
• an 1870 exploring party of Montana residents led by some prominent men of the state talked about buying sites to make money off of tourists
• Cornelius Hedges proposed a national park instead
• 
  
• an 1871 expedition led by Hayden included a painter, Thomas Moran, and a photographer--people hadn't believed the stories
• William Henry Jackson's photos were proof
  
• photo on the right is Mammoth Hot Springs--people went to hot springs because they thought that would benefit their health
  
• railroads supported the idea of Yellowstone becoming a park that would be a tourist attraction like Niagara Falls
• F. V. Hayden promoted the idea of a park to protect the natural wonders, which might otherwise be damaged by speculators and private owners
  
• bill passed by the U.S. Congress creating the park in 1872 did not mention preserving wilderness
• Nathaniel P. Langford was named superintendant, but with no salary or funding
• neither he nor his successor Philetus Norris were able to control vandalism and poaching (illegal hunting)--Norris built roads to improve public access but that made the problem worse
  
• finally the Army was brought in to run the park in 1886
  
• debates over funding for the park did sometimes discuss the benefits of wild land, but mostly phrased in terms of preserving scenery for people to appreciate
• the National Park Service was created in 1916 and took over control of Yellowstone from the Army in 1918
  

The fight to preserve the Adirondacks also initially avoided wilderness claims

• by the 1870s a million trees a year were being cut in New York state
  
• Erie Canal opened 1825 then develops a good railroad network leading to more cutting of forests
  
• these are the forests painted by artists of the Hudson River School
  
• Park commissioners wrote "We do not favor the creation of an expensive and exclusive park for mere purposes of recreation, but condemning such suggestions, recommend the simple preservation of the timber as a measure of political economy."
  
• instead they wrote:
  

"The Adirondack Wilderness contains the springs which are the sources of our principal rivers, and the feeders of the canals. Each summer the water supply for these rivers and canals is lessened, and commerce has suffered... The immediate cause has been the chopping and burning off of vast tracts of forest in the wilderness, which have hitherto sheltered from the sun's heat and evaporation the deep and lingering snows, [and] the brooks and rivulets ... Now the winter snows that accumulate on the mountains, unprotected from the sun, melt suddenly and rush down laden with disaster... The remedy for this is the creation of an Adirondack Park or timber preserve, under charge of a forest warden and deputies. The "burning off" of mountains should be visited with suitable penalties; the cutting of pines under ten inches or one foot in diameter should be prohibited. The officers of the law might be supported per capita tax, upon sportsmen, artists, and tourists visiting the region; a tax which they would willingly pay if the game should be protected from unlawful slaughter, and the grand primeval forest be saved from ruthless desolation. The interests of commerce and navigation demand that these forests should be preserved; and for posterity should be set aside, this Adirondack region, as a park for New York, as is the Yosemite for California and the Pacific States."

• forest needed to provide water for the state's rivers and canals--the water level in the Erie canal was declining
• in 1885 land was set aside for a forest preserve: 681,000 acres
• a forest preserve is like a national forest--purpose is wise use of timber
  
• in 1892 an even larger area of land (2.8 million acres) was made a state park for recreation as well as preserving timber resources
  
• people were concerned that trees were still being cut in the park and when New York state rewrote its state constitution in 1894 a provision was added that said: "The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed."