America's Best Idea

Last week I viewed the PBS mini-series on the US National Parks and enjoyed it thoroughly. The photography was stunning, the commentary insightful and the history fascinating. It never occurred to me that there was no such concept as a "national park" anywhere in the world until Yellowstone was established by Congress and approved by President Grant in 1872. There are many sources that tell the history of the parks and the park service and it is not my intent to relate that story.

What struck me, however, was that, in many cases, the establishment of individual parks, or the philosophy of the park system in general, was the result of the efforts of one or two individuals. If not for the efforts of John Muir, for example, there would be no Yosemite National Park. His vision for this "Cathedral of Nature" became his personal crusade and he did not rest until the valley and its environs were protected.

Similarly, the Great Smoky Mountain National Park was the result of the efforts of people such as Horace Kephart and George Masa. Their vision, and a public appeal for the funds to do so, led to the preservation of some of the last old growth forest in the Appalachian Mountains. What a loss it would have been to the nation if these peaks were clear cut as so many were in the past.

What would the parks be like if Stephen Mather had not spent untold amounts of his own money to protect and enlarge the system, and even to pay the salary of Horace Albright as his "right hand" man?

There were others, of course, that came to share the vision of these trailblazers. they were sometimes rich, like John D. Rockefeller, or powerful, like Theodore Roosevelt. But they had to be convinced, by a Muir or a Mather or an Albright. So I guess my point is, when you are asked the question," What can one person do?", point at Half Dome, or Mount Kephart, or any of the natural wonders contained in our National Parks and say,"That!"