The National Visitor Center was a bad idea that came to a bad end. When it was abolished on December 29, 1981, the NPS breathed a huge sigh of relief. Wouldn’t it be nice to have that $100 million back?

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in Utah-Wyoming had been in the National Park System for only five years when, on October 1, 1968, Congress transferred it to the U.S. Forest Service. There was little sense of loss. Congress hadn’t mandated NPS administration and the NPS wasn’t deeply committed to reservoir recreation management.

The National Park System grew by 69 units via the Reorganization of 1933, which was signed August 10, 1933. However, six of the “1933T” national parks were subsequently abolished. This serves to remind us that periodic pruning is a natural and healthy function of large, complex systems.