screenshot of National Parks Adventure trailer
Recently, my wife and I were privileged to attend a special screening of the new 3-D IMAX movie, National Parks Adventure, at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. A 40-minute thrill ride with adventurers Conrad Anker, Max Lowe, and Rachel Pohl, the movie took us to beautiful places that belong to all of us - vast western landscapes such as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Arches, Glacier and Grand Teton National Parks...as well as other natural gems such as the Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming and ice draped Picture Rocks National Park in the upper Great Lakes.
Core to the movie was the legendary story of Sierra Club founder John Muir and President Teddy Roosevelt camping together in Yosemite Valley. These two unlikely companions forged a powerful friendship that was the genesis for our incredible network of national parks and other public lands today. They shared a vision that the most wild and spectacular places in our nation must be preserved for future generations and open for all to explore, enjoy and protect. President Roosevelt went on to protect hundreds of millions of acres of public lands, establishing a number of national monuments, the U.S. Forest Service and set the stage for creating the National Park Service in 1916.
This year marks the centennial of the National Park Service. Last year, visitation to our nation's more than 400 national parks hit an all time high of 300 MILLION visitors, generating jobs and economic opportunities for millions of Americans. And to ensure future generations will continue to experience and steward our parks, President Obama has launched the "Every Kid in a Park" initiative that gives every fourth grader in the nation free access to our national parks and public lands and waters.
Yet despite this amazing national resource, our national parks today face grave challenges. Aging and crumbling infrastructure, inadequate staffing levels, threats from oil and gas development, and even lawsuits to take historic names of icons in the parks away from the public.
The Sierra Club is prioritizing celebrating the national parks in the centennial year. We are leading hundreds of outdoor outings this Spring that will connect a diversity of Americans to our treasured national parks and other public lands. We are also joining with others in support of legislation, HR 3556, introduced by Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) that would create a new Public Lands Centennial Fund to match donations to improve the conditions of our national parks. These funds would be used to enhance visitor services and outdoor recreational opportunities, restore lands and waters, repair facilities or trails, and increase energy and water efficiency.
Representative Grijalva is also leading an effort to establish a new Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument, that would permanently protect 1.7 million acres around the existing Grand Canyon National Park from the threat of uranium mining. I would love to see President Obama and Sierra Club President Aaron Mair, join together at the Grand Canyon, this August, to mark the 100 year anniversary of the Park Service by announcing this new national monument.
This summer, my family will be driving from Virginia to the Southwest with our Airstream trailer to experience some of our nation’s most unique and delicate landscapes. From the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to the otherworldly formations of Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, I look forward to introducing my kids to the lands and wildlife that they are inheriting from all of us. I know that once they explore and enjoy these special places, they will do what they can to protect our public lands, throughout the rest of their lives.