Summer in the Parks (The Takeaway)

We're wrapping up our Summer in the Parks series today with responses from listeners. Listeners have texted, posted, and phoned in their favorite memories of national parks all over the country. The Takeaway shares some of these personal testaments of how the national parks have changed the lives of Americans for decades. Andrew from Mill Valley, California quit his day job after a particularly meaningful camping trip on the Pacific shore. Another listener, London, hiked the Zion Narrows at Zion National Park, forgetting about her wet socks as she reveled in the beauty of the canyon. Annette rattled off at least five distinct colors that made up the most beautiful sunset she's ever seen, which lasted over an hour at the Navajo Tribal Park. And Mary jumped down a waterfall and caught fish in her hand at Coffee Lake.

Michael Lanza, Northwest Editor of Backpacker Magazine, took his wife and two children to visit the endangered National Parks before they're gone. The current states of some national parks, despite our country's efforts to conserve them, are still threatened by climate changes. In the future, they may be radically different, especially the parks primarily composed of glaciers and snow. Lanza's new book, "Before They're Gone," documents the changes that the National Parks have undergone, and the trips that he took with his two children throughout the parks. Not only was Lanza interested in seeing the National Parks before they are gone, but he also wanted to see the parks with his children before they're grown up. As a result, his journey was not only about seeing the national treasures that may disappear with the years, but also about cherishing time with his children, with whom he will not necessarily have time to explore the parks when they are older.  Lanza, who has written on the changing face of the American landscape, takes Glacier National Park in Montana as an example. "A leading federal scientist who runs an elite team of researchers on climate change at [the park] is projecting that those glaciers will be gone by about the year 2020," he says. "This park had 150 glaciers that covered almost 40 square miles in 1850, and in a century in a half they're down to about 27 glaciers."  Glaciers, Lanza says, are one of the best indicators to look at when measuring the effects of climate change, as they are only affected by seasonal temperature changes. "In Alaska, for instance, 99 percent of glaciers are shrinking," he says. "There's no scientific dispute that glaciers are shrinking, all over the world." Lanza looks at comparisons of how the glaciers look now compared to years past.  His kids came away from the trip with a lesson that impressed Lanza. "They talk about climate change, and what it means to them and their generation, and how their generation needs to solve a problem that our generation is not addressing very well," he says. "It's interesting to hear that perspective from a kid." 

Everyone has their own story to share when they come back from a National Park. When collected together, these stories create a history and a culture. Although they are diverse, they are interwoven together just like the National Parks. One man set out to discover these stories. Ken Burns captured the spirit and tales of the National Parks in his Emmy award-winning documentary "The National Parks: America's Best Idea". He was able to not only share the stories of people who made the parks what they are today, but he also brought to light what makes the parks relevant to our contemporary American identities. In a sense, he managed to reacquaint Americans with themselves and their collective history through the National Parks.

While the detonation of atomic bombs in 1945 brought death and destruction, the labs that created this bomb remain quiet and peaceful, albeit largely unseen. But a bill in Congress may make these sites — like Los Alamos labs in New Mexico and Oak Ridge labs in Tennessee — national parks, upping their tourism value and ensuring that they remain preserved. Katy Brown is the president of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau and Cindy Kelly is the president of the Atomic Heritage Foundation. "Up until 70 years ago, Oak Ridge wasn't around," Brown says. "This is our history and our heritage." The top secret nature of the labs has made its preservation a challenge. Workers were prohibited from talking about the sites to the public, Kelly says.  "The properties at Los Alamos that triggered my interest in this in the mid-nineties were totally unseen by the people of Los Alamos," she says. "They didn't even know that they still existed."  Kelly says that visitors will be able to take a look into the lives of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan project. The sites would be used to tell the stories of the physicists who contributed to the war effort, and the lasting effects on history that nuclear technology has made: the Cold War, technological advances, etc.  The president of the Japanese American Association of New York, Gary Moriwaki, says that if the sites are commemorated, they should educate visitors "on the devastating effects of the bombs dropped on" Japan.  "One should reflect on the words of J. Robert Oppenheimer," Moriwaki said. Oppenheimer said that seeing the first nuclear test in 1945 reminded him of the following phrase from the Bhagavad Gita: 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' Oppenheimer was the leading physicist on the Manhattan Project, and is often considered the "father of the atomic bomb."  "The concern that the Japanese have expressed that this will just glorify the bomb is not something that the park service intends to have as part of its storytelling," Kelly says. "It will include the Japanese perspective, [and] it will include the perspective of the anti-nuclear groups who worked so hard to ramp down the buildup of these weapons over the years."  "It will be non-judgmental, balanced, and multi-faceted interpretation."

The Fourth of July sparks patriotism for many Americans. And, in honor of today's holiday, what could be more patriotic than America's National Parks? Today, Audrey Peterman, the author of Legacy on the Land and a recognized National Park enthusiast, will be a guest on the second installment of our summer series on National Parks. She will discuss how she found the American identity in the National Parks, and how that has changed her life. She has visited 32 separate National Parks and 165 units in the National Park System. When she is not exploring the parks with her husband, she is inspiring others to visit them in order to discover their own connections to the American identity through the National Parks.

Before taking the political stage, President Teddy Roosevelt briefly led the life of a rancher. The land left a lasting impression on him, which would influence his conservationist policies as President. He created five national parks and 150 national forests, among other works of conservation. Because of his efforts, national parks have become a part of the United States' identity. Today, Tweed Roosevelt, the great-grandson of President Roosevelt and the president of the Board of Trustees of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, discusses his quest to preserve the Elkhorn Ranch, where Teddy Roosevelt had lived as a rancher. The Elkhorn Ranch is located in the Badlands of North Dakota in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.