The National Parks: Show Information
Northwest Stories
Watch Video | Part 1
Northwest Stories Part One will reveal the complexities of the Elwha Dam Removal—a $315-million project impacting Olympic National Park, including a new water treatment plant and extensive environmental protections. We uncover the current status of the Mount Rainier Recovery—nearly three years and thousands of volunteer hours after the December 2006 floods, its recovery is still in progress. The series uncovers how global warming is affecting the Northwest—including rapidly shrinking glaciers in the North Cascades—and how our National Parks plan to reduce their impact by becoming carbon-neutral by 2016.
Watch Video | Part 2
Northwest Stories Part Two reveals the people behind the parks: from a never-before-seen outtake from Burns and Duncan to the Iron Man of the Hoh, KCTS 9 tells the stories of the Northwesterners who committed their lives to preserving what John Muir called “nature’s sublime wonderlands” for all to enjoy. The Student Conservation Association is profiled in a history including Burns’ interview with founder Elizabeth Cushman. Pulitzer Prize-winner Gary Snyder shares his inspiration—North Cascades National Park—for poems that have earned him the moniker “poet laureate of ecology.” And the tale of John Huelsdonk, known as the Iron Man of the Hoh, and his wife Dora, explores the lives of these early pioneers and how their history and legacy are still alive today.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea
Part 1: The Scripture of Nature (1851-1890)
The astonishing beauty of Yosemite Valley and the geyser wonderland of Yellowstone give birth to the radical idea of creating national parks for the enjoyment of everyone; John Muir becomes their eloquent defender.
Part 2: The Last Refuge (1890-1915)
A young president, Theodore Roosevelt, becomes one of the national parks' greatest champions; in Yellowstone, a magnificent species is rescued from extinction; and in Yosemite, John Muir fights the battle of his life to save a beautiful valley.
Part 3: The Empire of Grandeur (1915-1919)
In John Muir's absence, a new leader steps forward on behalf of America's remaining pristine places; a new federal agency is created to protect the parks; and in Arizona, a fight breaks out over the fate of the grandest canyon on earth.
Part 4: Going Home (1920-1933)
As America embraces the automobile, a Nebraska housewife searches for peace and inspiration in park after park, while a honeymoon couple seeks fame and adventure in the Grand Canyon; and the future of the Great Smoky Mountains becomes caught in a race with the lumbermen's saws.
Part 5: Great Nature (1933-1945)
In the midst of an economic catastrophe and then a world war, the national parks provide a source of much-needed jobs and then much-needed peace; the park idea changes to include new places and new ways of thinking; and in Wyoming, battle lines are drawn along the front of the Teton Range.
Part 6: The Morning of Creation (1946-1980)
A stubborn iconoclast fights a lonely battle on behalf of a species nearly everyone hates; America's "Last Frontier" becomes a testing ground for the future of the park idea; and in unprecedented numbers, American families create unforgettable memories, passing on a love of the parks to the next generation.
