A m e r i c a’s N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e

Our National Parks

A m e r i c a’s N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e

Our National Parks

Edited by Abigail Williams

Introduction by Theodore Roosevelt IV • Foreword by Neil J. Mulholland • Afterword by Jack Dykinga

Published by Earth in Focus Editions and iLCP

2011 Crystal Drive Ste, 500 Arlington VA 22202 • www.ilcp.com

6 | Our National Parks Table of Contents | 7

Channel Islands California 64

Cuyahoga Valley Ohio 72

Death Valley California 78

Denali Alaska 86

Everglades Florida 94

Glacier Montana 102

Glacier Bay Alaska 110

Grand Canyon Arizona 116

Grand Teton Wyoming 124

Great Basin Nevada 132

A Photographer’s Perspective 9

Introduction by Theodore Roosevelt IV 11 Foreword by Neil J. Mulholland 14

Acadia Maine 16

Arches Utah 24

Gates of the Arctic Alaska 32

Badlands South Dakota 38

Big Bend Texas 44

Bryce Canyon Utah 50

Canyonlands Utah 56

Great Sand Dunes Colorado 138

Great Smokies Tennessee 144

Hawaii Volcanoes Hawaii 150

Joshua Tree California 156

Katmai Alaska 162

Kenai Fjords Alaska 166

Kings Canyon California 172

Mesa Verde Colorado 180

Mount Rainier Washington 184

North Cascades Washington 190

Olympic Washington 196

Redwoods California 200

Rocky Mountain Colorado 208

Sequoia California 214

Shenandoah Virginia 220

Theodore Roosevelt North Dakota 226

Yellowstone Wyoming 230

Yosemite California 240

Zion Utah 248

Afterword by Jack Dykinga 257

Photographer’s Contacts 258

Publisher’s Letter 259

Photographers’ Credits 260

8 | Our National Parks A Photographer’s Perspective | 9

P rior to the founding of the United States, beautiful landscapes with an imperial

view, habitats rich in resources, and anywhere the hunting was good were the

personal and private domain of the ruling monarchies and the wealthy aristocracy.

One of the cornerstones of our democracy is the vast amount of land that was “given”

to the public, and is open for public use; this is the tenet for which our National Park

System is most widely appreciated.

Our national parks have been called “America’s best idea” and are admired and

emulated in countries all over the world. Importantly, the development of the

national park concept and the growth of the public’s environmental consciousness

are inextricably linked with those of photographers throughout history.

Before national parks existed, photographers, often traveling with U.S. military

survey teams exploring the West, provided witness to the natural wonder and

diversity of the new country. Their pictures fueled the public’s interest not only in

seeing these unique destinations but in protecting them for the enjoyment of all

Americans. Photographers and their work actively promoted new and unknown

parks as commercial enterprises, but they also used their work in print and exhibit

to encourage legislators to protect those same areas from resource exploitation

and over use.

In the 1800s, the spectacular large-camera prints of Carleton Watkins and

Eadweard Muybridge recorded the dramatic features of Yosemite for the world to

see, and the popular public response resulted in Yosemite being set aside by

presidential decree as a “public pleasuring ground.” Eventually, it was the photo-

graphs of William Henry Jackson that helped to pass the legislation establishing

that area as the first national park.

In the mid-20th century, Eliot Porter and Ansel Adams, working with their friend

David Brower, used the power of photography in the Sierra Club Exhibit Format

Series books to awaken the American public’s environmental consciousness. The

stunning photography, beautifully reproduced on the lavish, large pages in combi-

nation with pertinent quotes, poetry and excellent writing, challenged a whole new

generation to become stewards of their world, and in many cases to specifically care

for parks under duress or to create new ones.

Each generation brings forth its champions. Today, many photographers who have

been inspired and empowered by this historical relationship and driven by their

own concerns for the health of our planet have joined as Fellows in the International

League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP). It is their work that illuminates the

pages of Our National Parks: America’s Natural Heritage, a book published by Earth

In Focus Editions to honor the American National Park System.

The iLCP is most grateful to the photographers who generously donated their work to

this publication. The worldwide diversity of the contributors appropriately reflects

the international popularity of “The National Parks”– a remarkable collection of

natural wonders that has been set aside by and for us — “We, the people,”

Robert Glenn Ketchum Fellow, International League of Conservation Photographers

Former Curator of Photography, National Park Foundation

Author, American Photographers and the National Parks

A PHOTOGRAPHER’S PERSPECTIVE

10 | Our National Parks Introduction | 11

Upon first arriving in the new world, the European settlers were

overwhelmed to discover such an abundance of natural resources.

John Cabot wrote to Henry VII that fish “could be taken not only

with the net, but in baskets let down with a stone.” New Englander John

Josselyn wrote near the end of the 17th century that he had “seen a flight of

pidgeons…that to my thinking had neither beginning nor ending, length or

breadth and so thick I could see no sun.”

Other European settlers were, frankly, quite frightened of this

seemingly endless territory. John Bradford described the new world as

“a hideous and desolate wilderness full of wild beasts and wild men.”

This fear of nature evolved into a determination that wilderness had to be

domesticated; forests needed to be cut down and converted into pastures,

orchards and fields of grain. Early pilgrims not only believed that Satan

lived in this newly found wilderness but that domesticating this land was

to do the Lord’s will.

Theodore Roosevelt IV

These two strains of thinking—that America’s natural resources were

inexhaustible and that the wilderness had to be dominated—prevailed

throughout most of the 19th century as the nation was being settled.

There was perhaps no better example of these two views in action than

the exploitation of the nation’s great bison herds. While it’s unknown

how many bison once roamed the prairies and forests, observers have

estimated a population of sixty million or more. Many writers of the day

believed that the American prairie—with its bison, elk and antelope—held

the largest biomass in the world.

Shortly after the Civil War, the construction of the continental railroad

began in earnest; this development had a devastating impact on the bison

population. Building railroads required an enormous labor force and

the most available source of meat for them was bison. As the railroads

advanced, the market for this meat made its way back to the populous

east coast cities. Bison hides and leather found a ready market there and

INTRODUCTION

12 | Our National Parks Introduction | 13

beyond into England. Bison leather was exceptionally durable; making for

great belts to drive industry’s machines.

Finally, in order to permanently settle the west the military decided it

would be of great strategic advantage to exterminate the plains

Indians’ principal food source. The vast numbers of bison killed in ser-

vice of this agenda are inconceivable to a contemporary reader. Although

some observers were appalled by the mass slaughter the military’s political

power dominated the times. James Trefethen in his book An American

Crusade for Wildlife writes that “In 1865, the estimated national buffalo kill

had been a million head. With the arrival of the railroads on the prairies,

the annual kill climbed steadily each year to a crest of nearly five million in

1871 and 1872.” By the mid-1880s the herds which once freely roamed the

plains had been reduced to a few scattered remnants.

The slaughter of bison and other game as well as the decimation of the

country’s forests provoked outrage. Writers, some of whom are aptly quoted

in this book including John Muir and John Burroughs, emerged describing

the beauty of America’s wild places and the need to preserve them. The

great American bird artist John James Audubon wrote, “Before many years

buffalo such as the Great Auk will have disappeared; surely this should not

be permitted.” Landscapes featuring the west by artists such as Thomas

Moran and Albert Bierstadt were initially considered as apocryphal as the

mountain men’s bizarre tales of geysers, boiling mud and snow-covered

peaks in what is now Yellowstone National Park. Yet their sublime paint-

ings helped Congress to “see” the beauty and majesty of the western lands.

Michael Punke wrote in his book about George Grinnell’s “Last Stand,”

“America in the first century of its existence cast a frequent and insecure

eye toward Europe. With Europe’s millennia of civilization and culture

how could the upstart United States hope to measure up? The answer for

a growing number of American intellectuals was to emphasize what the

United States had that Europe did not—wild places.”

In 1870 General Washburn led a small expedition into Yellowstone—their

exploration confirmed these tall tales. These men were so overwhelmed by

Yellowstone’s natural beauty that they urged for it to be held in trust for the

American people. Believing the land to have little economic value, Con-

gress readily agreed to pass a bill establishing it as a national park (1872).

In truth, no one of the day had the slightest idea what a national park was,

how it should be protected, used or how laws should be enforced to protect

it. Railroads, mining and timber companies as well as poachers presumed

that Yellowstone could be used as they saw fit. Until the Lacy Act was passed

twenty-two years later, poachers had virtual free rein and nearly extermi-

nated the few remaining bison and elk left there. A New York–based

company grandly self-titled the Yellowstone Park Improvement

Company proposed to construct hotels at each of the park’s major attrac-

tions in exchange for a lease payment of $640 for a square mile plot per

location. The company was permitted to cut as much of the park’s timber as

needed to build all of its facilities. It also contracted with local hunters to

kill park game to feed the workers. And finally, the Company was granted

a monopoly on stage coach service as well as management of all stores and

telegram communications within the park. Simutaneously, railroad

interests, time and again, attempted to divide the park so they could build

a railroad from Cooke City to Gardiner.

Opposition to both these proposals and the unrestrained poaching was

led by George Bird Grinnell (president of Forest and Stream). Grinnell

knew that if Yellowstone National Park was not protected the continent’s

few remaining bison and probably its elk would be exterminated and so

he formed a powerful coalition of hunters, fishermen and outdoorsmen.

Grinnell and his allies—one of whom was a young Theodore Roosevelt—

were able to stop the railroads from breaking up the park but also from

allowing the more egregious development schemes from proceeding.

Despite their best efforts, they had relatively little impact on the poaching

at that time. Congress was unwilling to pass legislation that would pro-

vide for the enforcement of game laws and the park’s protection. Grinnell

publicly denounced his opponents as “conscienceless money-hunters in

the U.S. Congress.” Fate intervened when a notorious poacher was appre-

hended in Yellowstone while both a writer from Forest and Stream and a

well-known photographer happened to also be there. Pictures and the

story of the poacher’s gruesome work were widely published and the tragic

images of dead and bloody bison lying on the white snow set off a political

firestorm that could only be quelled by the passage of the Lacy Act. This

act provided for permanent protection of Yellowstone and all subsequent

national parks.

Today we can proudly claim there are nearly four hundred parks in the

National Park System. However, truth compels our generation to

acknowledge that we have not lived up to the heritage our forebears gave

us. The images gracing the pages of Our National Parks: America’s Natural

Heritage show better than any words can this extraordinary bequest. No

other nation has the biodiversity or range of habitat our parks can boast

to possess. The peak in Denali National Park reaches an elevation of more

than 20,000 feet while Death Valley National Park is below sea level.

Everglades National Park with a subtropical environment has alligators

and Yellowstone has grizzly bears and bison. And yet, for the last several

decades the Park System has been woefully underfunded. It currently

carries a maintenance backlog of $7 billion dollars. We have not spent

enough money to adequately monitor and measure the impact of increased

visitor usage on our parks, nor the impact of climate change. If we truly

wish to honor our heritage we will need to become more responsible

stewards of our national parks. If we do not choose to do this, the con-

sequences could be great. The story of the near extinction of an almost

exclusively American animal and a symbol of America’s natural heritage,

the bison, is a teaching tool for us all. We must conserve while we can,

manage as if we care and value what we have now. If we do not, we risk

losing one of the greatest assets our country has, our national parks.

Theodore Roosevelt IVMember of the Advisory Board for both the National Parks and the Conservation Association; Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History

14 | Our National Parks Foreword | 15

W henever I first meet someone and have a chance to say that I

work with the National Park Foundation, they always ask me the

same question, “Which park is your favorite?”

Immediately, my mind goes through a catalog of moments. Can

anything top the ethereal billows of the Yellowstone geysers in winter?

What can be superior to the rich green and gold of autumn’s Yosemite

Valley or the craggy shores of Mt. Desert Island at Acadia? How am I

to forget the delicate curves of Arches, the sun setting on the Grand

Teton range or the serenely forested trails through the Great

Smoky Mountains?

As a Coloradan I have had the good fortune to thoroughly explore Rocky

Mountain National Park. My wife Feona and I honeymooned in Yosemite.

To us a day spent hiking in a national park is like finding religion.

When I close my eyes I can still remember not only the first time I saw

all of these national treasures but how each one stirred my soul. Like a

series of true “John Muir moments,” in each place, I have felt at peace

with myself and simultaneously deeply aware of everything else around

me. It can be like catching a glimpse of the world at the beginning of

time and being reminded of who we are and why we are here. My love of

our parks comes from that universal moment of transformation that we

all can feel when we are visiting them.

America’s national parks are undeniably the world’s greatest colletion

of nature, history and people. Their 84 million acres are carefully

protected so that all Americans, for generations yet to come, can thrill

at their scenic vistas, marvel at their wildlife, enjoy precious time with

their families, and feel that deeper connection and responsibility to our

land and our shared history.

That is not to say that our parks don’t need our support today. Contrary

to popular belief, it was the people, not the government, who gave us

our national parks. Beginning more than 150 years ago and persevering

through the decades, it was private citizens who worked to protect the

places they loved—places they knew would matter into the future—as our

national parks. It was a uniquely American idea embraced by people from

all walks of life—doctors, academics, scientists, farmers, business owners,

clergy, politicians, and, of course, the artists.

It wasn’t easy in the early days of our nation to get the support that was

needed to set aside land. Most people had never experienced these places

firsthand. They didn’t understand the need or the urgency for protection.

They didn’t want to compromise the development rights of the people or

necessarily give up individual ownership for public benefit.

But the advocates and artists travelling west changed that. The work of

pioneering photographers such as William Henry Jackson and Ansel

FOREWORD

Adams captured the whole convincing story in images and thus began to

build a constituency for the preservation of these irreplaceable natural

territories. Their photographs made the most scenic views accessible to

everyone, enabling the mountain peaks and sequoia groves to speak for

themselves. Their early work fostered an incredible sense of national

pride and purpose. All at once, the public knew that America’s unmatched

and irreplaceable bounty needed protection and the American conserva-

tion movement was born.

Today, as we approach the Centennial celebration of our national park

system in 2016, there has never been a more important time for us to

recreate that energy.

We need to remember that the national parks belong to the people. We

need to embrace, once again, our history as leaders in conservation and

become united in our resolve as we look to address issues of climate

change. We have a generation of young people who are disconnected from

nature, and growing populations in urban areas with less and less outdoor

space; they need our help.

That is why Our National Parks could be considered one of the most

important publications of the International League of Conservation

Photographers. These incredible artists have once again made the story of

our national parks accessible to the people. Their powerful perspectives and

awe-inspiring photographs of our national parks could inspire each one of

us—as keepers of this land—to support a new movement of civic stewardship

for our national parks on par with their founding architects of years past.

And, when someone asks you which of our national parks is your favorite,

you can respond as I do, “My favorite park is always the one I am in at

the moment.”

Neil J. Mulholland

If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt,

we must leave them more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a

glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we finished with it.

President Lyndon B. Johnson on signing the Wilderness Act, 1964

Neil J. Mulholland President and CEO, National Park Foundation