National Parks

They are more than a collection of some of the most spectacular places on earth. More than majestic waterfalls and grand canyons. More than nature’s laboratories, where the forces that created our world can still be observed. More than unspoiled sanctuaries where magnificent species of animals can still carry on their existence as they always have. They are more than the repository of our collective memory. More than hollowed battle fields commemorating the nation’s greatest sacrifices. More than shrines honoring the nation’s first principals and highest aspirations. America’s national parks are more than all that. They embody an idea born in the United States nearly a century after its creation. As uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical, that the most beautiful and sacred places in the land should be preserved not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. The story of the national parks is a long and complicated one, full of competing demands between utterly American impulses; between preservation and exploitation, the sacred and the profitable, between the immediate desires of one generation and its obligation and promise to the next. It is a story that often focuses only on powerful presidents, famous conservationists and wealthy philanthropists, but everyday Americans, Americans from every background and every walk of life have been part of park history from the very beginning, and it is their story too.