Why did Denali national park become a park?

By the early 1900s, Alaska's wildlife and natural beauty had inspired a growing movement to preserve these qualities. In 1906 alone, nearly one thousand people registered in various parts of the country as members of the Alaska Society, one of the earliest conservation groups. The society, whose membership soon grew to twenty thousand, supported measures to protect wildlife and scenic lands in Alaska.

In 1910, President William Howard Taft responded to the rising sentiment by creating Mount McKinley National Park. At the time the largest federal wildlife preserve in the United States, the 2,600,000-acre park's boundary included and protected Denali, then commonly called Mount McKinley.

Twenty-five years after establishment of Mount McKinley National Park, the boundaries were realigned to create the larger Mount McKinley National Park and Preserve. With this action, conservationists' dreams for an expanded protection area became reality. At nearly six million acres, the current boundaries reflect a broader vision of wilderness conservation that encompasses larger, intact ecosystems, with a mix of recreational, historical, and wildlife management practices.