Watch The National Parks: America's Best Idea(2009) Online Free, The National Parks: America's Best Idea All Seasons

Seasons & Episodes

EP1 The Scripture of Nature (1851-1890) Sep 27, 2009

In 1851, word spreads across the country of a beautiful area of California's Yosemite Valley, attracting visitors who wish to exploit the land's scenery for commercial gain and those who wish to keep it pristine. Among the latter is a Scottish-born wanderer named John Muir, for whom protecting the land becomes a spiritual calling. In 1864, Congress passes an act that protects Yosemite from commercial development for "public use, resort and recreation" - the first time in world history that any government has put forth this idea - and hands control of the land to California. Meanwhile, a "wonderland" in the northwest corner of the Wyoming territory attracts visitors to its bizarre landscape of geysers, mud pots and sulfur pits. In 1872, Congress passes an act to protect this land as well. Since it is located in a territory, rather than a state, it becomes America's first national park: Yellowstone.

EP2 The Last Refuge (1890-1915) Sep 28, 2009

By the end of the 19th century, widespread industrialization has left many Americans worried about whether the country - once a vast wilderness - will have any pristine land left. At the same time, poachers in the parks are rampant, and visitors think nothing of littering or carving their names near iconic sites like Old Faithful. Congress has yet to establish clear judicial authority or appropriations for the protection of the parks. This sparks a conservation movement by organizations such as the Sierra Club, led by John Muir; the Audubon Society, led by George Bird Grinnell; and the Boone and Crockett Club, led by Theodore Roosevelt. The movement fails, however, to stop San Francisco from building the Hetch Hetchy dam at Yosemite, flooding Muir's "mountain temple" and leaving him broken-hearted before he dies.

EP3 The Empire of Grandeur (1915-1919) Sep 29, 2009

In the early 20th century, America has a dozen national parks, but they are a haphazard patchwork of special places under the supervision of different federal agencies. The conservation movement, after failing to stop the Hetch Hetchy dam, pushes the government to establish one unified agency to oversee all the parks, leading to the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916. Its first director, Stephen Mather, a wealthy businessman and passionate park advocate who fought vigorously to establish the NPS, launches an energetic campaign to expand the national park system and bring more visitors to the parks. Among his efforts is to protect the Grand Canyon from encroaching commercial interests and establish it as a national park, rather than a national monument.

EP4 Going Home (1920-1933) Sep 30, 2009

While visiting the parks was once predominantly the domain of Americans wealthy enough to afford the high-priced train tours, the advent of the automobile allows more people than ever before to visit the parks. Mather embraces this opportunity and works to build more roads in the parks. Some park enthusiasts, such as Margaret and Edward Gehrke of Nebraska, begin "collecting" parks, making a point to visit as many as they can. In North Carolina, Horace Kephart, a reclusive writer, and George Masa, a Japanese immigrant, launch a campaign to protect the last strands of virgin forest in the Smoky Mountains by establishing it as a park. In Wyoming, John D. Rockefeller Jr. begins quietly buying up land in the Teton Mountain Range and valley in a secret plan to donate it to the government as a park.

EP5 Great Nature (1933-1945) Oct 01, 2009

To battle unemployment in the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the Civilian Conservation Corps, which spawns a "golden age" for the parks through major renovation projects. In a groundbreaking study, a young NPS biologist named George Melendez Wright discovers widespread abuses of animal habitats and pushes the service to reform its wildlife policies. Congress narrowly passes a bill to protect the Everglades in Florida as a national park – the first time a park has been created solely to preserve an ecosystem, as opposed to scenic beauty. As America becomes entrenched in World War II, Roosevelt is pressured to open the parks to mining, grazing and lumbering. The president also is subjected to a storm of criticism for expanding the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming by accepting a gift of land secretly purchased by John D. Rockefeller Jr.

EP6 The Morning of Creation (1946-1980) Oct 02, 2009

Following World War II, the parks are overwhelmed as visitation reaches 62 million people a year. A new billion-dollar campaign – Mission 66 – is created to build facilities and infrastructure that can accommodate the flood of visitors. A biologist named Adolph Murie introduces the revolutionary notion that predatory animals, which are still hunted, deserve the same protection as other wildlife. In Florida, Lancelot Jones, the grandson of a slave, refuses to sell to developers his family's property on a string of unspoiled islands in Biscayne Bay and instead sells it to the federal government to be protected as a national monument. In the late 1970s, President Jimmy Carter creates an uproar in Alaska when he sets aside 56 million acres of land for preservation – the largest expansion of protected land in history. In 1995, wolves are re-established in Yellowstone, making the world's first national park a little more like what it once was.

8.6| 0h30m| en| More Info

Released: 27 September 2009 Ended

Producted By: Florentine Films

Country: United States of America

Budget: 0

Revenue: 0

Official Website: http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

Synopsis

Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature's most spectacular locales – from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska - “The National Parks: America's Best Idea” is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background – rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

Stream Online

The movie is currently not available onine

Cast

Adam Arkin , Philip Bosco , Peter Coyote

Director

Producted By

Florentine Films

Trailers & Images

Top Credited Cast
|
Crew

Adam Arkin as

Philip Bosco as

Peter Coyote as Narrator

Reviews

peter_viney I had no desire to return to the US until I saw this documentary. Whilst I loathe what most of America stands for, (money, guns, greed and religious fervour.....yes, I'm generalising), I do say I admire the appreciation and position National Parks hold in the American psyche. This documentary is a reflection of that position and is beautifully told. I am a fan of the way Burn's tells his stories. I find them simple, poignant and seamlessly told. Burns is a master craftsman and while many may criticise his condemnation of American action at times, I feel he is trying to say - let's not repeat the mistakes of our forefathers by forgetting what has gone before.As for John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt and Co., their contributions should, and have been celebrated appropriately. I have since returned to the US and been to three National Parks. And to Ken Burns, I am grateful for the fact I did.

imdbdood "The knapsack of custom falls off his back with the first step he makes into these precincts. Here is sanctity which shames our religions, and reality which discredits our heroes. Here we find nature to be the circumstance which dwarfs every other circumstance, and judges like a god all men that come to her."-A quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson in the movieWhile there is no comparison to actually being in nature, the ideas that are presented in this masterpiece of a documentary are so new and refreshingly different to the common non-nature-goer that it can't help but bring the viewer, thankfully, away from their usual rat race-like trance and rhythm to a realization of a greater good and majestic context of reality.What a beautiful and powerful reminder of what belongs to all us and what all of us, in turn, belong to!

ajm64 The scenery on a big HD TV rates a "7", but the horrendous talking heads and the complete one-sidedness (John Muir is a God, Pinchot is the Devil) viewpoint of the program rates a "1".The pacing was just awful. Realizing that Yosemite and Yellowstone are, arguably, the most important National Parks, way too much time and footage was spent on these two spots and far too little was spent on parks such as Isle Royale and the Florida Everglades, to name two of many parks that were given the short shrift.Further, it was jarring to switch from the beautiful scenery to the awful, pedantic and hard to watch commentators. Particularly annoying was talking bobble head William Cronon, who's constant head shaking was reminiscent of the girl in the clip from Gumnaam that's at the beginning of Ghost World (check it out on youtube). Carl Pope of the Sierra Club, with his grating voice, did nothing to further his organization's cause. Revenge of the Nerds came to mind in watching these commentators.Also, the overly dramatic, painfully slow reading of many boring letters did little to help the narrative.I really wanted to like this. I believe that the National Parks are very important, but this dreadful waste of 12 hours did nothing for this viewer.

pery-1 The good: The historical information about the early years, about John Muir, Mather, Rockefeller and the railroads. Coverage of the tension between nature-use or "sanctuary vs. tourist resort". The fights to save various areas and their incorporation into the parks, to prevent spoilage of the parks, and the move to save predators, such as the reintroduction of wolves. The beautiful nature photography, and the historical photos.The bad: Too many talking heads, such as creepy William Cronon. Peter Coyote has been overused as a narrator, and his voice here is too pretentious and sanctimonious. Too many tedious descriptions of traveler impressions of parks. Too many statements about values of wildness which say or imply they can only be found in national parks.The ugly: The violins and weepy sentimentality. Break out the Kleenex! The phony religious and patriotic sentiment, such as the early parts about how the parks are primarily a place to worship a god. Later this becomes a claim it's the patriotic way to be part of America. Too much use of the Lincoln Memorial. Later for example, we get "We tend to put our highest ideals, our highest dreams in our national parks, therefore they function like consciences" - they improve your relation with your fellow man. Gimme a break! I love the National Parks. I really like several of Burn's productions, but was bored by "The War". This is almost that bad.Here is an example of a great presentation on the same subject, in a specific place: http://www.bigcypressswamp.org/bcs/home.html Elam Stoltzfus knows how to do it right.