Hi folks, I'm Dr. Jay Chapman. In this
video we'll briefly review the history
of the National Parks and the role
geology and geologists have played in
their creation.
The National Park system is a national
treasure and widely believed to be one
of America's best ideas,
but it was controversial at the time and
considered a radical idea when it was
first proposed.
It is a truly democratic and american
idea
or concept that some of the country's most
majestic places should be available to
everyone - not just landowners or the
privileged and moneyed elite.
The National Park Service has a two-part
mission:
first, make the parks accessible to all
and two, preserve the parks for future
generations.
These goals sometimes conflict with one
another and the number of visitors and
lack of resources at some parks are
threatening their preservation. The park
story starts with Yosemite Valley in
California and with Yellowstone
in Wyoming. Yosemite Valley was
discovered during the Gold Rush 
and initially
developers hoped to make Yosemite into a tourist attraction.
But there was widespread calls from the
public to
preserve Yosemite because they didn't
want it to become another Niagara Falls.
At the time, Niagara Falls was the United
States' most famous natural landmark,
but it was almost completely privately
owned with hotels and shops on both
shores
and considered by many to be a national
embarrassment that such an impressive
natural feature could be despoiled by
commercialization and privatization.
So in 1864, President Abraham Lincoln
signed a bill making Yosemite a state
park, seeking to emulate Central Park in
New York,
which was a huge success and beloved by the public.
Around the same time, early reports from
pioneers and settlers were coming in
about a fantastical place in the Wyoming
territory
where mud boiled, water and steam spouted
from the ground, and the the pungent
smell of sulfur filled the air.
Many folks thought these were Native
American myths and some newspapers
refused to publish the reports
thinking that they were fiction.
It wasn't fiction though, it was
Yellowstone. Intrigued by these reports
the U.S. Geological Survey
and the railroad companies sponsored
expeditions to the region during the
early 1870s.
The USGS was looking for natural
resources and the railroad companies
were interested
in building a second trans-continental
railroad and wanted to
find tourist attractions along the
proposed route that could help
increase the number of passengers.
The USGS reported that there were no
resources of economic value in
Yellowstone, although this is before
geothermal energy was considered a
valuable resource.
With the backing of the railroad
companies, president Ulysses S. Grant
signed a bill making Yellowstone the
first National Park in 1872.
Both Yellowstone and Yosemite were now
parks, but they were a long cry from what
you and I know as National Parks today.
At the time there was no park
infrastructure and no personnel to help
protect the parks.
Yellowstone became the railroad
companies' private resort and they were
cutting down trees and hunting wild game
and growing crops to support the resort
operations and visitors.
Yosemite valley
was not much better -  it was also exploited
for lumber and sheep grazing and saw a
boom in
unregulated tourism. Both parks were
plagued by poaching and vandalism.
Animals like the wild buffalo that were
once abundant were now
on the verge of extinction. By the end of
the 1800s the fledgling park system was
in trouble,
starting to break down, and in danger of
being completely abandoned.
But there was a growing conservation
movement in the United States led by
folks like John Muir.  Muir had and undergraduate degree in geology
and a love for the California mountains.
In the late 1880s he was spending his
summers as a sawmill operator in
Yosemite Valley
and cutting down trees to help build,
among other things, illegal hotels and
cabins in the valley.
He was worried that Yosemite Valley
might be ruined by these illegal
commercial activities
and he started writing books and
magazine and newspaper articles
urging the preservation of Yosemite and
other exceptional natural areas,
while also discussing some of his
theories on glacial erosion
and the geologic history of Yosemite
Valley.
His writings were a huge success and as a result of his and others efforts, the
public start demanding increased preservation.
At first the U.S. Army was moved into parks like
Yellowstone to help protect it.
These soldiers eventually evolved into
the park rangers we know today.
The National Park system saw a dramatic
expansion in the early 1900s during the
presidency of Theodore Roosevelt
who was an avid hunter and became an
avid conservationist
and a lifelong friend of John Muir.
Roosevelt also signed the American
Antiquities Act in 1906
which protects prehistoric cultures and
prevents the disturbance of ruins and
artifacts. At the time, many Native American sites
had been discovered, but they were being
looted and artifacts were being sold off
to museums and private collectors. Many
of these collectors were European
and there was a general anger in the
United States about artifacts being
shipped out of the country, perhaps never
to be seen again.
Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado was the first park created under the
Antiquities Act
and helped preserve some artifacts
before they could be looted.
To this day, the U.S. is still working to
repatriate and return
artifacts that were removed from Mesa
Verde and similar sites.
The Antiquities Act also gave the
president the power to create national
monuments without congressional approval.
and Devils Tower
National Monument in Wyoming was the
first national monument created under
the Act.
The creation of national monuments has
remained contentious ever since.
There's always tension between groups
wishing to protect and preserve
areas versus groups wishing to use
natural resources
and many political battles have been
fought over the creation of national
parks and monuments.
A recent such battle has been fought
over Bears Ears National Monument
in Utah that president Obama created in
2016.
Similar battles have occurred over and
over again throughout the history of the
park system, including in places like the Grand Canyon,
which in hindsight seems like a
no-brainer to make into a national park.
Each year the park brings over one
billion dollars into the local economy.
However, when the Grand Canyon was first made into a national monument
in 1908, it infuriated local government
officials, developers,
miners, and ranchers.
Another particularly acrimonious
political fight surrounded Jackson Hole
National Monument, which is now part of
Grand Teton National Park.
The expansion of the park was vehemently opposed by Wyoming ranchers and local
politicians who compared the creation of the
National Monument to Adolf Hitler's
seizure of Austria.
And they protested the monument by
herding cattle across the monument.
When the monument was finally approved,
Wyoming legislators were angry and they
pushed a bill through congress
reverting the National Monument land
back to Forest Service land,which can be
used by ranchers for grazing.
But Franklin Roosevelt vetoed it.
Court battles followed and they raged
on until 1950 when a compromise was
reached
that allowed the National Monument in
Jackson to remain, but prevented any
future presidents from using the Antiquities Act
to create a new national
park or national monument in Wyoming.
Wyoming is the only state with this
provision and it is also the reason why
there will likely never be another national monument or
national park in Wyoming.
Once created, national parks and
monuments may seem like they are
protected forever,
but there are many instances of
park land being converted
into other uses. Notable examples include
the construction of the Hetch Hetchy dam
and reservoir in Yosemite, which was
built to provide water to San Francisco
for firefighting purposes after the 1906
earthquake. Another example is Olympic National Park,
which was halved in size to increase
lumber operations during World War 1.
The latest example of a park or monument being diminished in size is the
aforementioned Bear's Ears National
Monument
that president Trump reduced in size
from over 2 million square miles to 315
square miles - 
the largest reduction in national
monument size in Park
history. This action is being challenged
in court, but is part of a centuries-old
debate
in the U.S about the best use of public
land and natural resources.
Geologists have a critical role to play
in this debate and they help inform and
influence the decisions being made on
the best use of our public lands.
Hey, thanks for watching  - check out some more videos and share them with friends
and family. Take care.
