America’s parks get attention

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

By Matthew Irwin

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Ken Burns’ latest PBS series arrives on the tail end of a bounce-back year for the nation’s national parks.

Americans and foreign visitors turned out in droves this year, aided in part by several fee-free weekends, and no doubt looking for cheaper vacations during the recession.

Then, President Obama visited Yellowstone, solidifying what many already understood and what Burns chose as the title to his series, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.

“This is probably one of the most important things that’s been done for the National Park Service since the service began,” said Leslie Mattson, president of the Grand Teton National Park Foundation. “Americans all over the country will get as excited about the parks as those of us who live in Jackson Hole.”

The majority of the PBS-watching public will get to see the six-episode series starting Sept. 27. But on a national tour of the films stars (yes, the parks), co-producer Julie Dunsey will bring clips from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks to the Center for the Arts with the help of a number of local organizations.
Dunsey also co-produced The Civil War and Thomas Hart Benton with Burns.

The National Parks was filmed over six years, with plenty of spectacular footage, but producers emphasize that the series is also about the people who made the parks possible – like John Rockefeller in Jackson Hole – who saw that if they didn’t protect the country’s beautiful and wild spaces  the land would develop into resorts and private residences.

“This is total goosebump stuff,” Mattson said. JHW

The National Parks: Americas greatest idea will screen 7 p.m., Thursday, Center for the Arts. Free. 733-4900.

Courtesy Haynes Foundation Collection, Montana Historical Society
Tourists salute Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park,1884.

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America’s parks get attention | Planet JH News Article: General Environment

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