The maps in Mapping America's National Parks: Preserving Our Natural and Cultural Treasures are not only beautiful representations of special places. They provide a basis for preserving cultural resources, such as archaeological sites and historic buildings, and for establishing needed facilities, infrastructure, and transportation. They help manage fires, both unplanned and prescribed. Maps help the NPS protect visitors and natural resources. But for the US National Park Service (NPS), maps do more than provide guidance and navigation.

Maps easily cap your first greeting upon arrival at a national park, allowing you to visualize its vastness, plan your trip, and keep a compact souvenir of your visit. The National Parks is a glorious celebration of an essential expression of American democracy.Get an insider look at the US National Park Service to see how they use maps and geospatial technology to protect and manage America's national parks. And they introduce us to a diverse cast of compelling characters-both unsung heroes and famous figures such as John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ansel Adams-who have been transformed by these special places and committed themselves to saving them from destruction so that the rest of us could be transformed as well. They capture the importance and splendors of the individual parks: from Haleakala in Hawaii to Acadia in Maine, from Denali in Alaska to the Everglades in Florida, from Glacier in Montana to Big Bend in Texas.

The authors recount the adventures, mythmaking, and intense political battles behind the evolution of the park system, and the enduring ideals that fostered its growth. In this evocative and lavishly illustrated narrative, Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan delve into the history of the park idea, from the first sighting by white men in 1851 of the valley that would become Yosemite and the creation of the world’s first national park at Yellowstone in 1872, through the most recent additions to a system that now encompasses nearly four hundred sites and 84 million acres. The companion volume to the twelve-hour PBS series from the acclaimed filmmaker behind The Civil War, Baseball, and The War.Īmerica’s national parks spring from an idea as radical as the Declaration of Independence: that the nation’s most magnificent and sacred places should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone.

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