Who started the National Park Service, and in what year?

• A. Theodore Roosevelt — 1903
• B. John Muir — 1901
• C. Ulysses S. Grant — 1869
• D. James Madison — 1809

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is understanding how the national park system began and who was pivotal in getting a coordinated federal effort going. Theodore Roosevelt is the best fit among these options because his presidency marked a turning point when the federal government began seriously protecting large lands as national parks and championing conservation. In the early 1900s, Roosevelt pushed for stronger protection of public lands and created a framework that treated natural areas as national treasures worth managed protection. That momentum and leadership laid the groundwork for a formal, centralized agency to manage national parks, which would come later.

Keep in mind that the National Park Service as a formal agency wasn’t created until 1916 under a specific act of Congress, building on Roosevelt’s conservation push. The other names and years listed don’t align with the development of the park system in the same way Roosevelt’s early 1900s leadership does.