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We're at the halfway mark of The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. So what do you think? Has Ken Burns pulled off another masterpiece, or do you find it lacking in some regards?
Are you going to order your own personal DVD of the show, wonder what wound up on the cutting room floor, or pass on the three remaining episodes? If you're only a frequent park goer, is this series making you think more highly of the national parks and what they offer?
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Comments
It's a Ken Burns documentary. In many ways it's more about people and researching that obscure, personal story that can be captivating.
I'm glad there wasn't a complete whitewashing of the saga of people displaced when the Park Service took over lands. Or the influence Gifford Pinchot had on the damming of Hetch Hetchy partially because the national parks didn't have its own agency.
If one really wants a travelogue with oodles of footage of our national parks, just check the Travel Channel listings.
I (as UC Berkeley graduate) find it fascinating that the three people most responsible for the founding of the National Park Service (Mather, Albright, and Lane) were all UC Berkeley alums (although Lane did not graduate). I think I already knew that, but it was interesting that it was mentioned in the series.
I have loved the series thus far. I have learned alot about the history of the parks and been truly inspired by the passionate people who helped create them. Shelton Johnson has been my favorite commentator thus far. I would love to take a hike with him one day.
Shelton Johnson is great though. Still - I sort of wonder what kind of treatment he's going to get after the Ken Burns Series. I remember seeing an interview of him on the publicity tour and reading some of the comments he's given to newspapers. Apparently he thinks that it might get him a little bit of notoriety but he's hoping that he can just settle down and be a federal employee.
And he doesn't seem to have his glasses on anywhere during the tour or the series. The originals were a bit too wide to post here, so I just included thumbnails (you can click on the thumbnails for the larger versions).
He's also been interviewed about the notoriously low pay that park rangers have. He's said that he wouldn't mind a raise but it's been worth it. Hopefully his book sales gets him that raise so that he can return to Yosemite.
For what it's worth, Shelton told me he does indeed hope to remain at Yosemite. He also said he's suggested to his superiors that he not be stationed in the park's Visitor Center for the immediate future as it might prove more trouble than good in terms of folks wanting to talk to him about him rather than the park.
The thing that first hits Yosemite visitors who meet Shelton Johnson is that he is different. He's extremely eloquent and well spoken. He's got a very quick wit. It doesn't really matter that he's black and grew up in urban Detroit, although that is an important factor in who he is. I guess he doesn't necessarily fit the image of a national park ranger. He had that slightly sinister looking facial hair, and I'm a bit disappointed that he seemed to have shaved it for much of the Ken Burns series. The mustache and spot under the chin gave him a certain edge. He does wear the earrings though.
For those who haven't been on one of his hikes, I can relay some personal experiences. The first time I'd ever seen him in any medium was when I went to a program showing a video on winter in Yosemite. He was videotaped playing the clarinet with snow all around him. The next day I went to the visitor center for some directions and he was the one who helped me out - recommending boots with ankle support for the Upper Yosemite Fall Trail and what to do at Hetch Hetchy before I left. He also was scheduled to give a ranger walk and talk on bears in a few minutes. I waited around for that and the first sign that it was going to be really fun was when he asked everyone to get a little closer. He noted that he'd rather have people come closer so that he wouldn't have to yell, since it can get a little scary when a federal employee starts yelling. He had a bear skin too, which he slowly pulled out of his pack. At the end of the walk he answered questions, including one about the clarinet. He noted that it was so cold that he was putting on gloves between takes and it was rather difficult to play since it was so cold. He did seem to appreciate that I brought up his research on the Buffalo Soldiers who patrolled the Sierra parks, although I may have been the only one in the group who knew about it.
I was actually quite pleased that he was leading the snowshoe walk I went on over a year later. I don't think he was the usual ranger guide, but I lucked into going on that day. We did certain things like hold hands in a circle and just feel the area around us. I've got that picture where he's showing us the bear marks on a small tree. I also remember trying to get the snow off of my fleece gloves. At first he said tickled that I was applauding him, but then it occurred to him that I was just trying to remove the snow to avoid getting hypothermia.
As for the likely notoriety for his participation in the series:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2009-08-02-press-tour-burns...
"There may be a passing phase of notoriety. I will go back to being a federal employee. I'm very privileged to work as a national park ranger and to live where I live, which I believe is the most beautiful place on the face of the Earth."
There is supplemental material too, such as the following. Part of his wry sense of humor is seen when he says to the visitors, "I'm going to have to break this to you, but I'm African-American. And..I'm a park ranger. In Yosemite, there's me. Then there's me. And there's also me."
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/watch-video/#858
HUMANS BAD!! Humans EVIL!!
Humans special! Humans wonderful!!!
I can't even watch it, it is irritating me so much.
As usual Burns has done an excellent job with his subject. The series will no doubt build support for, and increase visitation in the parks FROM THAT SUBSET OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC THAT WATCHES PBS! That subset is unfortunately not the group that will be leading (and voting in) our society in 50 years. If the parks do not reach out to these groups that will make up the majority of our population in the coming century then the parks will eventually go the way of the passenger pigeon.
I also feel that the concentration on the big well-known parks (and just the 58 "parks") does a huge disservice to the rest of the units that make up the 391 UNITS of the park system. This just confirms the public's mistaken impression that the Park System is just those "big, natural" areas. This was a missed opportunity to relay to folks that the Park System is SO much more than Yellowstone and Yosemite or for that matter those "58" national parks.
They haven't done an exclusive story only about the units with the "National Park" label. They've gone quite a bit in depth about the Antiquities Act of 1906 and the power it gave to the President to declare National Monuments. They've touched on Horace Albright's move to consolidate National Battlefields from what was previously under control of the War Dept into the National Park Service.
Gerard Baker is heavily featured in the series as Superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
There also should be no doubt that the crown jewels of the NPS should get a lot of airtime.