What is National Park Service?
[[File:Logo of the United States National Park Service.svg|right|200px]] The '''National Park Service''' (NPS) is part of the [[United States Department of the Interior]]. The National Park Service looks after many natural [[landscape]]s and [[history|historic]] and [[archaeology|archaeological]] places and buildings. Millions of people from around the world visit the national parks. The National Park Service helps keep these parks in order. <ref>{{Cite web|title=THIS IS AMERICA — National Park System - 2003-08-26|url=https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/a-23-a-2003-08-26-1-1-83114432/121015.html|access-date=2020-08-18|website=VOA|language=en}}</ref> [[Congress]] established the National Park service in 1916. The United States Secretary of the Interior [[Wikt:appoint|appoints]] a director to head the office in [[Washington, D.C.]] There are more than 400 [[wikt:area|areas]] in the National Park System. Of these, [[List of national parks of the United States|63]] are [[national park]]s.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/national-park-system.htm | title=National Park System (U.S. National Park Service) }}</ref> The Service also keeps the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. == Management == The National Park Service has two main jobs. One is to protect America’s national parks. The other is to help visitors enjoy them. Some people think these two jobs conflict with each other. They say some of the problems of the parks are the result of too many people visiting them. For example, the many vehicles in national parks cause pollution and road damage. And the many visitors cause water and waste systems to have to work hard. Some national parks cost money to enter. But they're generally affordable. And parks that charge entry fees must share the money with parks that do not. That means they cannot keep all the money for things like repairs and improvements. For years, the Park Service has said it does not have enough money to operate at its best. Sometimes visitors protest about conditions