By Larry Francell, Contributing Writer

I, for one, am relieved that Ken Burns series on the national parks is over [“The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” aired on PBS in late September.]

I do not think I have ever seen a more depressing documentary. The only other Burns series I have seen are the ones on the Civil War and World War II. Both were immensely uplifting as first America forged a nation in fire and ended the horrendous institution of slavery, and in the second fought to end tyranny and the Holocaust.

But as I watched the series on the National Parks, I realized how greed continually attempted to derail the process of establishing and protecting the parks, and what a near thing this was.

The number of people who sacrificed their fortunes, health and had to compromise their ideals in order to protect us from ourselves were considerable, and to them we owe a great debt. But until Burns told us, how many of us even knew their names?

John Muir dedicated his life to saving Yosemite and seeking out other unique places in danger, but he endangered his health and lost the battle to save the Hetch-Hetchy Valley. Steven Mather gave his fortune on behalf of the parks, Horace Albright had his life threatened over preserving Jackson Hole. George Dorr gave his fortune to create Acadia National Park and died with only the $2000 necessary to cremate him. Horace Kephart and George Masa spent their own money and gave up their time to save the Great Smokey Mountains, and there are many more whose names we do not know.

Others with real power found themselves in conflict with the exploitative and predatory view of Western resources often held by the robber barons and politicians. Both Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt took on their patrician peers in the name of preservation and conservation. Even the son of the rapacious John D. Rockefeller, John D., Jr. realized the benefit of charity for the cause of conservation. His generosity benefited the American public by helping the create parks and building their infrastructure from coast to coast.

In the late 1950s the Sierra Club took on the Bureau of Reclamation and the private interests who wanted to dam the Colorado River at Glen Canyon.  David Brower, who was called the Arch Druid by Floyd Dominy the Bureau Commissioner, fought the good fight over the magnificent canyon that should have been made a National Park and not dammed. Brower bought ads in major newspaper that had images of Michelangelo’s masterpiece with the caption, “Should we also flood the Sistine Chapel so tourists can get nearer the ceiling?” The Sierra Club lost its tax exempt status over that one.

In Ken Burns’ National Parks: America’s Best Idea too much of the story is about greed, vested interest and the desire to exploit resources rather than preserve them: concepts that stood in the way of this “best idea.” Once again I found it depressing to consider what a near thing our wonderful parks were.

If there is interest in the subject, check out The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and Crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley.

Larry Francell has spent over thirty years in the museum profession. Currently he is director of the Museum of the Big Bend, but prefers porch sitting to work.