The National Parks: America's Best Idea S01E05 · Great Nature (1933 – 1945)

Overview

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.

Torrents

Subtitles

Episodes

1. 1 1. The Scripture of Nature (1851 – 1890)2009-09-27 · 1h 54mIn 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 tho
2. 2 2. The Last Refuge (1890 – 1915)2009-09-28 · 2h 11mBy 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.
3. 3 3. The Empire of Grandeur (1915 – 1919)2009-09-29 · 1h 51mIn 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 conserv
4. 4 4. Going Home (1920 – 1933)2009-09-30 · 1h 55mWhile 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 e
5. 5 5. Great Nature (1933 – 1945)2009-10-01 · 1h 54mTo 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 pr
6. 6 6. The Morning of Creation (1946 – 1980)2009-10-02 · 1h 54mFollowing 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 in