ABOUT THE SERIES
More than 6 years in the making... amidst grizzly bears, buffalo, antelope, alligators and egrets... upon glaciers, geysers, lakes and deserts... encountering nature in its most beautiful and extreme.
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, a six-part series directed and produced by Ken Burns and written and produced by Dayton Duncan, was filmed at some of nature's most spectacular locales — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska.
The film is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background — rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; 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. It is a story full of struggle and conflict, high ideals and crass opportunism, stirring adventure and enduring inspiration — set against the most breathtaking backdrops imaginable.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
The community engagement and outreach efforts around The National Parks: America's Best Idea will help create a larger discussion about a variety of topics: the unique American idea (and ideal) of setting aside these vast pieces of land, the importance of
preserving our natural environment and cultural history, the complex relationships that America’s diverse communities have with the parks and the fragile relationship between development and preservation.
NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP NETWORK
An extensive network of strategic partnerships has been created to drive the community engagement efforts at the grassroots level and extend the scope of all outreach activities. The National Park Foundation has provided grants to 36 units of the National Park Service to work with surrounding communities on projects related to the film. Other partners include the Sierra Club, the Student Conservation Association and the National Parks Conservation Association.
SHARE YOUR STORY
The park experience is one that has been shared by millions over the years. One of the recurrent themes in the film is the importance of story — collecting memories and sharing stories of the parks. The Share Your Story module on the companion web site (pbs.org/nationalparks) has been designed to collect people’s memories of the parks via written stories, photographs and videos. Eventually, these stories will be given to the National Park Foundation where they will be archived for generations to come.
EDUCATOR RESOURCES
Available in September 2009, printed and online educational materials created around the film will support formal and informal classroom settings with lesson plans and hands-on learning activities that can be used by a broad range of grades and disciplines. The focus of the materials will be on finding and telling the “untold” stories of one’s own community and the creation of student-generated digital media projects incorporating the ideals of the film and the national parks.
UNTOLD STORIES FROM AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS
Four years ago, WETA and Florentine Films, with generous support from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, launched the Untold Stories project, designed to bring to light stories from the national parks focusing on the role of African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in the creation and protection of individual parks and to engage new and traditionally underserved audiences in the educational richness of the national parks.
As part of the Untold Stories project WETA and Florentine Films have produced five original mini-documentaries, a 45-minute companion film and numerous text-based stories which will highlight not only the history of individual involvement in the parks, but also the work the National Park Service has done in recent years to increase diversity in the parks. The Untold Stories material will be used across multiple platforms, on the series DVD, streamed on the companion web site, used in the extensive educational materials created for the film and made available to stations for broadcast and
use in community and park settings throughout the country. Additionally, the entire film will be translated into Spanish for broadcast and select clips from the film will be translated into several languages for use in community settings.
Through the Untold Stories project, it is our goal to help people recognize that national parks preserve a wide variety of history and stories representative of our diverse society and all Americans have a right to experience the historic, natural and cultural wonders of our national parks.
THE VOICES
Peter Coyote narrates The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. The film also features first-person voices read by some of America’s greatest actors: Tom Hanks reads the voices of several characters in the film, including Congressman John F. Lacey, who helped push a bill through Congress to protect Yellowstone’s last wild buffalo herd. Other voices include Andy Garcia, Josh Lucas, Eli Wallach, Campbell Scott, Sam Waterston, John Lithgow, George Takei, Philip Bosco, Amy Madigan and Adam Arkin.
THE WEB SITE: pbs.org/nationalparks
The film’s companion web site will offer viewers an interactive resource for content related to The National Parks. Here is where you’ll find extensive information about the series and the filmmakers, read interviews with Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, explore the history of the parks and the exceptional individuals who were passionate about them, discover more details about community engagement efforts, create and share personalized postcards using images from the series, collect badges from the parks you’ve visited and much more.
THE DVD
The complete PBS broadcast of The National Parks: America’s Best Idea will be released on October 6, 2009 by PBS Home Video in a six-disc DVD set. Standard DVD and Blu-ray versions will be available. The set also features “making of” footage and interviews with Burns and others involved in the film.
THE MUSIC
Twenty-one musical compositions from the film are featured on the official soundtrack for The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. The CD also includes four stunning music videos.
THE COMPANION BOOK
Written by Dayton Duncan, the companion volume to the television series provides a rich, evocative, deeply informative narrative. Available in stores beginning September 8, 2009, it examines how each new park was brought into the system —from the adventures and mythmaking to the intense political battles — and captures the particular
importance, splendors and ideals embodied in each place. The book introduces the people who were instrumental in the establishment and continued protection of the parks, from the famous to the unsung men and women.
Also included are six extended interviews with people whose lives have been shaped by their connections to the American landscape and a vast array of breathtaking photographs, both archival and contemporary.
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is a production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, DC.
Funding is provided by General Motors; Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund; Corporation for Public Broadcasting; The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations; Park Foundation, Inc.; Public Broadcasting Service; National Park Foundation; The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; The Pew Charitable Trusts; and Bank of America.
Yosemite National Park
Photo by: QT Luong, terragalleria.com