After its formation, the PIPC quickly moved to acquire the lands at the base of the Palisades to stop quarrying operations in both New York and New Jersey.

The commission consists of ten commissioners, five appointed by each governor, and was ratified by an Act of Congress in 1937 when its interstate compact was approved.

Today, the Commission owns and operates more than 125,000 acres of public parkland in New York and New Jersey including 21 state parks, 8 historic sites, and the Palisades Interstate Parkway.

These quarry operations sought the durable diabase rock that forms the Palisades to fuel the construction boom in nearby New York City.

This group of influential women gathered together to lobby then Governors Theodore Roosevelt and Foster Voorhees to save the cliffs.

Under the leadership of George W. Perkins, the Commission began to purchase, condemn, and shut down quarry operations along the base of the cliffs.

Today, Bear Mountain receives over 2 million annual visitors and Harriman is the second largest state park in New York.

Welch organized a massive reforestation program, managed ten thousand Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps workers, built twenty-three new lakes, 100 miles (160 km) of scenic drives and one hundred and three children's camps, where 65,000 urban children enjoyed the outdoors each summer.

The plan was to build a parkway to connect the New Jersey Palisades with the state parks along the Hudson River in Rockland and Orange counties.

Welch would soon garner the support of John D. Rockefeller, who donated 700 acres (2.8 km2) of land along the New Jersey Palisades overlooking the Hudson River in 1933.