The Palisades Interstate Park Commission was formed under an interstate compact in 1900 to protect the Palisades from destruction by stone and gravel quarries operating along the western banks of the Lower Hudson River. As the nation’s first bi-state partnership established to protect and conserve natural lands, the Commission’s role expanded through the years to incorporate more state parks and the creation of the Palisades Interstate Parkway.

Today, the Commission manages 30 parks and historic sites in New York and New Jersey spanning over 125,000 acres and nine million annual visitors. The Commission’s early work helped inspire the emerging fields of environmental stewardship and education, pioneered the goal of exposing children to nature through its group campgrounds, and served as a model for the growth of the national park system.The Palisades Interstate Park Commission, formed in 1900, operates the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey and the State Parks and Historic Sites in New York’s Palisades Region.