1 00:00:01,480 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. So the trio put together, 4 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: uh makes the stuff you should not. That's right. And 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: there are people working near my house. So if you 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: hear my dogs today or construction sounds, I'm sorry. Well, 7 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: you know what, Chuck, if we do hear that, we 8 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: will assume that they are the Olympia Marmot making some noise, 9 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: or maybe a gray wolf in yellow Stone after all 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: these years, and we're just gonna pretend. Okay, Okay, Yeah, 11 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: that's gray wolves living upstairs, reintroduced into your house, into 12 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: my home successfully. Yeah, yeah, sure, they've definitely got the 13 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: local wildlife on guard. Yeah, we needed a new apex 14 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: predator because Emily was getting tired of it. I'll bet she, Well, 15 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: she's a is the business person. I can imagine she 16 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: doesn't have time to be an apex predator around the 17 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: house too. So, Chuck, we are talking today about national parks, 18 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: and it's really appropriate that we're talking about them today, 19 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: although it would have been even more appropriate if we 20 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,039 Speaker 1: had been talking about them two days ago. But let's 21 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: just skip that little part. As a matter of fact, 22 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: we may even edit it out. I don't want to 23 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: be a downer this early in the episode. You know 24 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: was two days ago. Two days ago was the one 25 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:33,839 Speaker 1: hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of yellow Stone 26 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: as a National park. Not just the first national park 27 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: in America, the first national park in the entire world. Wow. Wow, Wow, 28 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: isn't that cool? That is cool? And it did date 29 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: didn't strike me when I was looking over that stuff. Hmm. 30 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: Thanks for the reminder. March first, eight seventy two. Um, 31 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: and the reason why I point out that it was 32 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: the first one in the world is because, um, there's 33 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 1: this uh, this writer named all A. Stagner, who's known 34 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: as the Dean of Western writers. But he said this. 35 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: He said that national parks are the best idea we've 36 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:11,680 Speaker 1: ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic. They reflect us at 37 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: our best rather than our worst, which is his His 38 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: quote has been kind of picked up. You'll often see 39 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: like articles about the National park system as America's best idea. Yeah, 40 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: he did well. His hair told him too. It's not 41 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: entirely his old hair cut, which he lost and now 42 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: looks weird without and he said, shut up, I'll not 43 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: call it something else. Stay in line, don't make me 44 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: make you set another fire. Can I'll grow over your face. 45 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: So um. It's frequently called America's best idea, not just 46 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: because it was a good idea, and it was America's idea, 47 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: but because it was very quickly picked up, as we'll 48 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,959 Speaker 1: see by countries around the world. And now it's a thing. 49 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 1: It's a genuine thing to take land and set it 50 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: aside and say nope, nobody can come do anything with 51 00:02:57,320 --> 00:02:59,079 Speaker 1: this land. You can't cut the trees down, you can't 52 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: hunt the poor beavers off of it, you can't um, 53 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: you can't like steal the fish. You can't do anything 54 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: except come and enjoy it, and please use the garbage 55 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: cans when you do. Come and enjoy it. And that's 56 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: the point. That's what national parks are all about. That's right, 57 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: and thank goodness, because this is the United States, a 58 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: great country in many ways. But if we had not 59 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:26,360 Speaker 1: done this, that would assuredly be a w hotel sitting 60 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 1: in the middle of Sequoya National Forest or on the 61 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 1: rim of the Grand Canyon. The Hilton Garden in at 62 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: the rim of the Grand Canyon, right, or quizzically a 63 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: holiday in express that's nowhere near an airport. You said quizzically, 64 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: I thought you're about to say a quiz no. Sounds 65 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: like yeah, that too, I'd be okay with the quiz nos. Uh. 66 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: So I know that you're not much of an outdoorsman, 67 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: but you you do like to look at it. I 68 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: like to be out doors. I'm just not like I 69 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: sit outside. I know about, you know, extracting what I 70 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: can from nature from my own personal gain on the 71 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: room of the Grand Canyons that are pretty nice to you. 72 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: I bet I met more like my own prawn on 73 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: my own energy to recharging the old batteries kind of thing. Like, 74 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 1: I get it. I get it. I just don't spend 75 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: as much time outdoors as you, right. Uh. And you know, 76 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: I've done quite a bit of traveling through national parks 77 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: in my life, and especially one summer um post college, 78 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: my best friend and I took a big two months 79 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,479 Speaker 1: jaunt around the country, visiting places like Bryce Canyon and 80 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: Zion and Arches in Yosemite and the Grand Canyon and 81 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: White Sands, and it's just all as far and wide 82 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: as we could go. Basically never hit the Pacific Northwest, 83 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: but we we traveled many a mile and uh. One 84 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: of the great things about national parks is that you 85 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: can camp wherever you want to. Uh. They do have 86 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:54,119 Speaker 1: their like designated camp grounds and things like that where 87 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: it's pretty competitive to get spots. But the great thing 88 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: is you can just hike in or drive around and 89 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: find a place to camp. It's called dispersed camping. And 90 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: unless there are some specific rule prohibiting that, which there 91 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:08,599 Speaker 1: may be, as long as you follow the rules like 92 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: no fireworks, no firearms, uh and sometimes no fire's period. 93 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:16,520 Speaker 1: Definitely don't shoot at a pile of fireworks with your firearm. 94 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: They really frown. Oh, don't do that. But but it's 95 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,479 Speaker 1: great and it's kind of like one of the great 96 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: things about national parks is you can explore and and 97 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:29,039 Speaker 1: find your own place if you don't like to sort 98 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:31,040 Speaker 1: of do because they can get very touristy if you 99 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,919 Speaker 1: like to go off the beaten path quite literally exactly 100 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: dispersed camping. Of course, there's some bureaucratic term for that. 101 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: Well let's talk history a yeah, let's because um, we 102 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: covered some of this in our Fantastic John Mirror episode, 103 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: which is fantastic and worth listening to if you haven't 104 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: heard it. Um. But even before John Murr came along 105 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: in about the eighteen fifties, So this is super old timing, 106 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: um you send it seems to have been and this 107 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: is taking out Lewis and Clark's um stuff. They apparently 108 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: passed just north of Yosemite and missed it, um, but 109 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: they had all sorts of like reports and discoveries and 110 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: all that stuff. We did an episode on that too, 111 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: also fantastic. That kind of got the country jazz back 112 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: east about what was out west. But apparently, if you're 113 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 1: talking about national parks, the real inspiration for them was 114 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: when a group called the Mariposa Battalion uh stumbled into 115 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:32,760 Speaker 1: the Yosemite Valley in eighteen fifty one. That's right, uh, 116 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:35,480 Speaker 1: And Yosemite is one of the most beautiful places on earth, 117 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:38,719 Speaker 1: and that's where they were. Uh. You know. The job 118 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: of the mari Posts of Battalion, there's really no their 119 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: way to say, it was to disperse and ransack Native 120 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: American villages and and kill them if they wanted to, 121 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,720 Speaker 1: and just basically uh lay waste to whatever they saw 122 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: and say this is now ours. And they were doing this, 123 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: and then they stopped one day and went, holy cow, uh, 124 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: look it where we are. Look at this impossibly tall waterfall. 125 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: Look at these granite cliffs, Look at these three thousand 126 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: year old giant Sequoia trees. You know, can we at 127 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,680 Speaker 1: least appreciate this for a moment? And they did. And 128 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: there was a doctor, a young doctor named Lafayette Bunel 129 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: in the battalion and said, you know what, this place 130 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: is so amazing. Maybe we should take a break from 131 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: ransacking Native American villages and we should name it. Yes, 132 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: And they really wanted to punctuate their misunderstanding of Native 133 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: Americans in the various Native American cultures they encounter, so 134 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: they said, well, let's name it. What Apparently, this tribe 135 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: that we're in the midst of removing from this land 136 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,200 Speaker 1: is called the Yosemite. And it turns out that tribe 137 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: was not at all called the Yosemite. They were the 138 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: Awa Nichi, and the Awa Niche called that place that 139 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: they ended up calling Yosemite Awani, meaning gaping mouth like place. 140 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: Yosemite means something totally different, doesn't it. It means they 141 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: are killers. It makes me wonder if like as they 142 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: were approaching. They were just going Yosemite, Yosemite, and they 143 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 1: were like, oh, well, that must be who they are, 144 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: when in fact they were just calling out, like you 145 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: guys are killers coming for us? Exactly. It was like, 146 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: I mean, that's how to read that, right, That's that's 147 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: how I took it. Yes, boy, So that's that's where 148 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: the name Yosemite came from. UM. And it's really I mean, 149 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: it's definitely worth saying. You can. We could actually do 150 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: an entire episode just on how national parks were um 151 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 1: part and parcel with Indian reservations UM in the in 152 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:36,679 Speaker 1: the early nineteenth century or sorry, mid late nineteenth century. Um. 153 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 1: They were. They were both developed at about the same time, 154 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: and they were both kind of developed on the same 155 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 1: premise that this is now white settler's land, um, and 156 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 1: you needed to move and you should move over here 157 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: because now we want this beautiful land for ourselves to enjoy. UM. 158 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:54,719 Speaker 1: So it's it's you just can't get around it. It's 159 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: just part of the history of national parks. Fortunately. UM, 160 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: it's really come a long way and in some cases 161 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: full circle to where now there's a much greater effort 162 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 1: among the Park Service to be like, hey, um, you 163 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:09,079 Speaker 1: know how you used to live here. Well, we're actually 164 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: having a lot of trouble managing this lane. Could you 165 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: come and advise us on this and hopefully get a 166 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: job doing that kind of thing. So there's definitely a 167 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,679 Speaker 1: much greater turning towards whereas before it was not just 168 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: a turning away from it was turning out. It makes 169 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,439 Speaker 1: me wonder if there was has ever been a push 170 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: to rename Yosemite Alwani National Park or even Awa Nichi, 171 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: maybe Alwani since that's what they called it, Like, I 172 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:36,079 Speaker 1: think that would I think the a that sounds awesome, 173 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: Alwani National Park. I imagine it would meet the usual 174 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:44,720 Speaker 1: resistance when anytime something like that comes up these days. 175 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 1: But well, yeah, it's gonna run smack dab into the 176 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,719 Speaker 1: argument of what about yo Samiti Sam? What are you 177 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: gonna do with him? Let's call him? I want to Sam. 178 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: I guess So beautiful park though, Uh this was you know, 179 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: word got around that there's this beautiful place that people 180 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,439 Speaker 1: can visit, uh, and people started taking people there. A 181 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 1: guide started, you know, people that want to go see it. 182 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 1: They would wagon train them up on on horseback and 183 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,160 Speaker 1: get them out there, uh, and then smacked up in 184 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,679 Speaker 1: the middle of the Civil War. And you know, there 185 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 1: are a bunch of people along the way that really 186 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:19,160 Speaker 1: like John Murror certainly one of them, and Teddy Roosevelt, 187 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 1: who will cover uh kind of briefly again, But there 188 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:23,679 Speaker 1: are a lot of people along the way. He did 189 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: some kind of remarkable made some remarkable moves that led 190 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: to ultimately the creation of national parks. And one of 191 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: them was a senator in California named Uh. I don't know, 192 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 1: it's pronounced cons or conness. It's C O N and E. S. S. 193 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:40,680 Speaker 1: And he introduced a bill that said, hey, Yosemite is great, 194 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: why don't we set aside about a little more than 195 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: sixties square miles of this valley for public use? And 196 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: they said that's a great idea. So it became the 197 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: first Uh, well, I don't know about the first, but 198 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: it was a state park, uh, signed enshrined by Abraham Lincoln, 199 00:10:57,440 --> 00:10:59,720 Speaker 1: not a national park at this point. But the deal 200 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: was you can never make this uh, you can never 201 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:05,920 Speaker 1: like sell off part of it to private interests. Yeah, 202 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: there's a lot of um, a lot of argument push 203 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: back on the idea that Yosemite was the first. Everybody 204 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:14,960 Speaker 1: knows Yellowstone was actually the first, but some people say no, 205 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: it wasn't. It wasn't Yosemite or Yellowstone. It was actually 206 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas was the first land 207 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:25,839 Speaker 1: set aside by the federal government for protection, all the 208 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 1: way back in eighteen thirty two. The difference is is 209 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: um it wasn't actually designated as a national park until one. 210 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: So that's why Hot Springs get short shrift. I just 211 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: wanted to add a little pedantry to this whole gym. 212 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: So Yellowstone all right, At this point Yosemite is still 213 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 1: state park. Yellowstone. That was about the Yellowstone comes along 214 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:54,360 Speaker 1: as if you know someone someone built it uh in September. 215 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 1: In fact, September eighteen seventy, that was an expedition traveling 216 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: UH through Montana in what is now Yellowstone National Park. 217 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:07,200 Speaker 1: And they were like, hey, guys, how can we like 218 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:10,080 Speaker 1: divide up this land, like we can make a ton 219 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,719 Speaker 1: of money of logging and mining and tourism. And there 220 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 1: was one person that stood up, It was an attorney 221 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: named Cornelius Hedges and said, gentleman, I have a different idea. 222 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,440 Speaker 1: How about we do what they did in Yosemite, and 223 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:27,440 Speaker 1: we make this a state park or or set aside 224 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 1: this land for public use, and somehow did not get 225 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: murdered in his sleep, and it would have become a 226 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 1: state park probably had it not been for the fact 227 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,440 Speaker 1: that Yosemite borders what is now three different states at 228 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:44,280 Speaker 1: the time, three different territories, Wyoming and Montana and Idaho. 229 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:51,319 Speaker 1: So who steps in at this point the FEDS, specifically 230 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: a president, right, yeah, Ulysses S. Grant. He signed a 231 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,760 Speaker 1: Yellowstone Park Protection Act, a little on the nose and 232 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:01,840 Speaker 1: not even an acronym, but it were um and this 233 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: is where the first national park was established. He said 234 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: that the headwaters of the Yellowstone River is hereby reserved 235 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 1: and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale, and dedicated and 236 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,960 Speaker 1: set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for 237 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: the benefit right for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. 238 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,840 Speaker 1: And so that was March one, eighteen seventy two, when 239 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:28,679 Speaker 1: he signed that into law, and Yellowstone became America and 240 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 1: the world's first national park on record. I think that's 241 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:37,240 Speaker 1: a good first stopping point. I agree, alright, So we're 242 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: gonna go figure out what pleasuring ground meant to grant 243 00:13:40,520 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 1: and we'll be right back right after this shock. So 244 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: what's your vote? Pleasure and Ground. Uh that Lake of 245 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:17,320 Speaker 1: Whiskey in the Big Rock Candy Mountain song, That's what 246 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:19,640 Speaker 1: I think is Pleasure in Ground. Oh what a great song. 247 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: Oh it's a great song. I love it. The Bulldogs 248 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: I'll have rubber teeth. So Yellowstone is now the first 249 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,840 Speaker 1: national park in the United States, and kind of from 250 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 1: the beginning, you know, it's funny like when you look 251 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 1: at sort of the the loggerheads that environmentalists and uh, 252 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: certain political parties in this country and then certain political 253 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: idealists in this country all kind of running up against 254 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: one another. Like it was doing that from the beginning 255 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: as far as privatization, federalization, uh, preserving land or not 256 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: mining and logging and things like, like they've always been 257 00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 1: arguing about this stuff. Yeah, And I mean, to be fair, 258 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: we're like entering a time of like deep American prosperity, 259 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:09,280 Speaker 1: like right at the at the precipice of the Gilded Age, um, 260 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: where like there was this idea that however, you could 261 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: make money, go make money and make as much as 262 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: you can because there are such things as rags to 263 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: riches stories all over the place. People would buy books 264 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,160 Speaker 1: about rags of riches story so there were and when 265 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: you couple like that whole impulse that was just kind 266 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 1: of socially acceptable with the idea that there was actually 267 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 1: nobody in charge of the national parks at this time. 268 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: There's no coherent federal agency charged with overseeing the national parks. Um. Yeah, 269 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: all of a sudden you had tons of hucksters showing 270 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: up and guides who like were locals and they're like, well, 271 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,040 Speaker 1: I guess I'm gonna go be a guy at Yellowstone 272 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: now and charging whatever they wanted. Um. And it started 273 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: to get like I guess there was a lesson with 274 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: Niagara Falls, where by the middle of the nineteenth century, 275 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: Niagara Falls was a straight up tourist trap that was 276 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:03,200 Speaker 1: very in this is very important too, being naturally ruined 277 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: also by a bunch of energy companies that were using 278 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 1: it for hydroelectric power to without any regulation whatsoever. And 279 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: Niagara Falls um had to be rescued from the brink 280 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: of destruction. Uh and and and put under federal control 281 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 1: and regulated at least state control. I'm not sure, um. 282 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: But it served as like a cautionary tale for places 283 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: like Yellowstone happily, I guess in a weird way. Yeah, 284 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: And so at the time it was not you know, ultimately, 285 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: as we'll learn, all of this ended up under the 286 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: purview of the Department of Interior, but not at this point. 287 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,600 Speaker 1: The government did try the privatization route at first and said, 288 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: all right, there's a firm called the Yellowstone or they 289 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: name themselves this, uh, the Yellowstone Park Improvement Company, and 290 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: we're gonna they're gonna get the contract. They're gonna run 291 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: this place. They can manage the tourist spots, they can 292 00:16:55,280 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 1: harvest and hunt as they see fit. And uh, you know, 293 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 1: like you said, everyone was really worried that was going 294 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,879 Speaker 1: to get out of control. And another gentleman steps in 295 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 1: at this point, a General Philip Sheridan, who was a 296 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 1: Civil War general for the Union Army and he was 297 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,119 Speaker 1: fighting in the Indian Wars on the Great Plains but 298 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: loved Yellowstone and said, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm 299 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:22,040 Speaker 1: gonna send the army in and I'm gonna dispatch them 300 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 1: and they're gonna take over management. Uh, And they did so. 301 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:30,400 Speaker 1: From eighteen eighties six to nineteen sixteen, they were basically 302 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: in charge of like protecting the park from illegal loggers, miners, poachers. Uh. 303 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,120 Speaker 1: And that's actually I read why the Park Service their 304 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 1: official ranger uniforms bear resemblance to old timey cavalry uniforms, 305 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:46,680 Speaker 1: including the campaign hat, because it's a an omager, a 306 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,879 Speaker 1: nod to the cavalry units that that protected the parks initially. 307 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: Oh did you see where they got that sickly colored green. No? 308 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:58,879 Speaker 1: I didn't. It's a really distinct I mean, I just 309 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,880 Speaker 1: call it National for a Service green. It's really it's distinct. 310 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 1: You know. What it might be. They might have surveyed 311 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 1: every single shade of green in every DAN park in 312 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,119 Speaker 1: America and then blended it all together and that's what 313 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 1: came out. Well, what's funny is like I've done all 314 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,119 Speaker 1: this camping all my life, and I've always seen like 315 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: those for a Service trucks and then the park rangers 316 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,680 Speaker 1: and things everywhere. And when you see them and as 317 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 1: well as we'll see later, you know, they also look 318 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:28,040 Speaker 1: after things like national monuments. Now, so you can be 319 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: like in the middle of downtown Atlanta near the King 320 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 1: Center and you can see like a park ranger and 321 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:36,199 Speaker 1: green park truck riding around like, are you lost, sir? 322 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,920 Speaker 1: Or is it like is there a convention nearby? Is 323 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,719 Speaker 1: this cosplay? Yeah, it's not cosplay. It's one of our 324 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 1: great park rangers. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were 325 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:47,920 Speaker 1: going to stand up for them in front of everybody 326 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: on the pod. I love green, but that's one shade 327 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 1: of green that still can't wrap my head around because 328 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: it's all the shades of green, I guess. So hey, 329 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:57,480 Speaker 1: can I say one thing that popped up to me 330 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 1: while we were researching this stuff? Um, just the the 331 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: whole idea of like that, that tension that push and 332 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,920 Speaker 1: pulled between setting aside land for the good of everybody, um, 333 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,719 Speaker 1: at the at the expense of private interests who are 334 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 1: trying to extract it for their own individual gain mostly. Um, 335 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:20,080 Speaker 1: that's a huge that's it's still ongoing today, and it 336 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:22,920 Speaker 1: has been ever since we first started setting aside land, 337 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:25,760 Speaker 1: and it happens elsewhere in other parts of the world too. 338 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: And it occurred to me, Chuck that, like the people 339 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: who give capitalism a bad name, capitalism isn't inherently evil, 340 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,040 Speaker 1: but the people who make it seam evil are like 341 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:40,480 Speaker 1: the most full throated worshipful capitalists of all the ones 342 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: who use like capitalism as an excuse to um to 343 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,400 Speaker 1: just take as much as you can, like the same 344 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,000 Speaker 1: people who would like kill the golden goose to sell 345 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,240 Speaker 1: it to a restaurant to serve for dinner. They're just 346 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: that short sighted. And it occurred to me that like 347 00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:00,239 Speaker 1: capitalism and stewardship are not necessarily mutual exclusive, that they 348 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 1: can go totally hand in hand. It's just we've been 349 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 1: listening to the wrong branch of capitalists all these years. 350 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:07,800 Speaker 1: The people who are like, no, you take and take 351 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: and take, you make, you maximize profits at any cost. 352 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: That's the point of capitalism. That's not inherently the point 353 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 1: of capitalism. Like you can say, no, there's limits to 354 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:19,639 Speaker 1: this um. We need to save this stuff for the future. 355 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,439 Speaker 1: There's different ways to um to use these things for 356 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: the good of all people, not just the people who 357 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,920 Speaker 1: can afford to take and build minds or logging operations, 358 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:31,400 Speaker 1: and like, if we can get to a point where 359 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: we're not listening to those people anymore, we say, to 360 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:36,200 Speaker 1: hell with those people. We're gonna go in this different way, 361 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:39,679 Speaker 1: kind of a stewardship version of capitalism. I think we 362 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,160 Speaker 1: could continue on indefinitely like that and make money for longer. 363 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: It's a long view. It's a macro view exactly. And 364 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,680 Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, that was a genuine Josh Clark soapbox moment. 365 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:52,880 Speaker 1: We need a jingle for that. And did we ever 366 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,199 Speaker 1: get our stupid colon jingle or have we been just 367 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,399 Speaker 1: saying like insert colon jingle and speining last even No, 368 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:00,959 Speaker 1: because I don't know when we listen to our like 369 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:05,239 Speaker 1: quality assurance listens, I mean it might come after that. 370 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: I haven't been hearing him. I've never noticed it either. 371 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: All right, Jerry, you're on notice. Yeah, all right, So 372 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: now we get to the part and we're gonna breeze 373 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: through this a little quicker because I would just encourage 374 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,159 Speaker 1: you to go back to June one and listen to 375 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:29,160 Speaker 1: h John Muir Cowen sound Outdoor Enthusiast because we covered 376 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,480 Speaker 1: it in depth there. But uh, Murr moved to California 377 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: in eight sixty eight, about four years after Yosemite was 378 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:40,160 Speaker 1: a state park. He loved it and immediately began lobbying 379 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:43,360 Speaker 1: Congress to make it a national park, which it did, 380 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:45,159 Speaker 1: but it didn't include a lot of what is now 381 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: Yosemite National Park, including the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite Valley 382 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,719 Speaker 1: was still the state park, and he very famously went 383 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: on a little buddy buddy camping trip with Teddy Roosevelt 384 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 1: where Roosevelt was able to ditch his his uh entourage, 385 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:02,200 Speaker 1: and just the two of them camped in the woods 386 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 1: for a weekend. And they came out and Roosevelt was like, 387 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: I'm not sure what happened in there, you guys, but 388 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,399 Speaker 1: this guy works some magic on me. Alistair Crowley showed 389 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:16,440 Speaker 1: up exactly and Uh, we're gonna make it a national park. 390 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: And so it was. I remember in the John Eure 391 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 1: episode you kind of debunking that he managed to give 392 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,360 Speaker 1: the slip to his secret service agents. Is that there 393 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,199 Speaker 1: was something about it. There was something in there. I 394 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,560 Speaker 1: don't remember. We'll have to go back and listen. So 395 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,840 Speaker 1: either way, he came out of the woods. That's the 396 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,640 Speaker 1: curse of episodes, that's right. Uh, And he came out 397 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: and was basically national park in national monument. Crazy from 398 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:45,400 Speaker 1: that point on. Yeah, he um had I think by 399 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,800 Speaker 1: the time his presidency was over, he had designated, uh, 400 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: this is eighteen I saw seventeen different National monuments alone, um, 401 00:22:54,840 --> 00:23:00,119 Speaker 1: which makes him second. Actually the most national what what 402 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:02,479 Speaker 1: they call it the National Park Service called a national 403 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,080 Speaker 1: monument and national park. Any of those things are called units. 404 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: So the most unit designating president of all time is Clinton. 405 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:14,440 Speaker 1: He did nineteen and then Carter's third after um Teddy 406 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,960 Speaker 1: Roosevelt with fift I knew I was going to get 407 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 1: to nineteen. It depends on the definition of what designate is. 408 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:27,280 Speaker 1: I wanted twenty. I was one short that guy. That 409 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 1: guy all right. Uh So, now Yosemite is a full 410 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:36,760 Speaker 1: national park. By nineteen sixteen, there were fourteen national parks. 411 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:41,160 Speaker 1: Uh in the low twenties for national monuments, and they 412 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: were being managed. It was still kind of loosey goosey. 413 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:48,200 Speaker 1: There was the US four Service. There were soldiers, including 414 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:52,359 Speaker 1: interestingly Buffalo soldiers another great episode. Yeah, man, this thing 415 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,080 Speaker 1: peppered with them. It's really kind of all over um. 416 00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:58,720 Speaker 1: And then civilian appointees, like you know, people would get 417 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,399 Speaker 1: jobs and get appointments to to kind of work and 418 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:07,959 Speaker 1: manage national parks. Yeah. So in nineteen sixteen, Congress was like, 419 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: we gotta we gotta clean this up a little bit. 420 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:13,119 Speaker 1: Who who among us is going to come up? With 421 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 1: a term of art like dispersed camping. Nobody in charge 422 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: of it right now. We need a bureaucratic service that's 423 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:21,959 Speaker 1: going to come up with that in the future. And 424 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:26,640 Speaker 1: they passed and Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Organic 425 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:30,560 Speaker 1: Act of nineteen sixteen, which basically said, Hey, we've got 426 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,400 Speaker 1: a lot of great stuff that we're starting to preserve, 427 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,720 Speaker 1: and we need to make sure that there's an agency 428 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:39,320 Speaker 1: task with preserving it for future generations, and we're going 429 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: to call that the National Park Service. And with that 430 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:45,119 Speaker 1: the MPs was born. Yes, he said, who among you 431 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,399 Speaker 1: knows what all shades of green looked like together? And 432 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,680 Speaker 1: they showed him and he went, He's like, I guess 433 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,680 Speaker 1: go with it. Visible. No one else is going to 434 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: paint their car that color, so we did as well 435 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:58,479 Speaker 1: use it. Right. So should we talk a little bit 436 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:02,640 Speaker 1: about the Grand Canyon? Yeah? Why not? Have you ever been? Yes? 437 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,640 Speaker 1: The Grand Canyon is amazing, especially the North Rim. It's 438 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,480 Speaker 1: incredibly beautiful, although I haven't been in the canyon. And 439 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:10,439 Speaker 1: by the way, Chuck, we also did the Mystery of 440 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: the Grand Canyon newly Wides too. Oh yeah, I think 441 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:16,760 Speaker 1: at the time I probably mentioned that I hiked halfway down, 442 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: but did not have like camping or or rafting reservations 443 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: or anything, so we didn't go all the way down. 444 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:24,639 Speaker 1: There's a nice place about halfway down we can just 445 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: kind of hang out and then the hike back out 446 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: up is really tough, by the way, It's not for 447 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,479 Speaker 1: the faint of heart. I was younger and fitter back then, 448 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,680 Speaker 1: and I was fine. Um. And I also worked a 449 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:40,160 Speaker 1: TV commercial one time where they put probably forty motor 450 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:41,919 Speaker 1: homes on the rim and the Grand Canyon for us 451 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 1: to stay in, which was really interesting. How close to 452 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: the room I mean we were fifty ft away. I 453 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: mean it was you know, you go out to go 454 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 1: to the bathroom in the middle of the night if 455 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: that's your jam, and people that way. It was a 456 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: Michael Bay job that he got whatever he wanted. Uh, 457 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,560 Speaker 1: we couldn't waste time fearing people from the closest hotel, 458 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 1: which was not close. So those that you may not 459 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,960 Speaker 1: have known it at the time, but those RVs parked 460 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: along the room of the Grand Canyon was actually Michael 461 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: Bay's secret homage to Ralph Henry Cameron, the terrible senator 462 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:19,800 Speaker 1: and possibly worst American ever to live. Who didn't involve 463 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: murdering anybody. I can't tell any Michael Bays stories because 464 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 1: I just don't want to do that in this public 465 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 1: of a form, but I will say this, uh p 466 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,440 Speaker 1: A's had six people to a motor home. Michael Bay 467 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:37,040 Speaker 1: himself had three motor homes all connected. They were all 468 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 1: in a little triangle, and those speculation about what each 469 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:42,600 Speaker 1: was for. And uh I'll just tell you later what 470 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,439 Speaker 1: we came up with. Okay, I can't wait, all right, 471 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: but you mentioned sort of one of the villains in 472 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 1: this great story, uh Ralph Henry Cameron, who was and 473 00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: a senator in Arizona, and he owned a lot of 474 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,880 Speaker 1: land that including parts of the of the Grand Canyon 475 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: and parts of the Bright Angel Trail, which is the 476 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: trail that goes down and he was making a lot 477 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:07,960 Speaker 1: of money and stood to make a lot more, and 478 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 1: he was like, you can't, you can't do this. I'm 479 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:14,240 Speaker 1: charging people a buck apiece to go down that trail, 480 00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:18,080 Speaker 1: which is about sixteen seventy five and today's dollars. And 481 00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: I've built a little that that kind of halfway point 482 00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:22,360 Speaker 1: I was talking about. He built a little oasis there. 483 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:24,959 Speaker 1: He did have hotels near the rim of the canyon, 484 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: and they said, I'm sorry, but you this is ours now. 485 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:33,480 Speaker 1: I guess it was an imminent domain play, right, yeah, 486 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:35,919 Speaker 1: and they said it belongs to us, right, and by 487 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:40,400 Speaker 1: we mean the American people. Yeah, you know there's a distinction. 488 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 1: It's not like it's not like, um, this is my 489 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:48,320 Speaker 1: personal canyon I'm going to be charging the tolls here now. Yeah, 490 00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,280 Speaker 1: exactly right. So, um, Cameron was totally defiant. He was. 491 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:54,680 Speaker 1: And it's not like he was just like some two bit, 492 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:57,280 Speaker 1: you know, toll operator charging a buck to everybody trying 493 00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 1: to get down in the canyon. He had hotels, I 494 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 1: think he said. He was also involved in mining like 495 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 1: he was doing. He was exploiting this as as much 496 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,760 Speaker 1: as he could, and he continued to do it even 497 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: after Congress said no, this is now a national park. 498 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,399 Speaker 1: He said, you know, nuts to your national park. And 499 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court said, yeah, that's a national park. Now 500 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:16,920 Speaker 1: you need to stop all this operation. He said nuts 501 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,919 Speaker 1: to the Supreme Court. And then finally, um, the l A. 502 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,840 Speaker 1: Times took an interest in him right before the election, 503 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:29,320 Speaker 1: his his re election bid for the Senate, and um, 504 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: they they, I guess, released a series of like ten 505 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:37,600 Speaker 1: articles that were really unflattering but apparently all true. They 506 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: just did some serious investigating. And this guy was like 507 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:45,240 Speaker 1: he was um as. He was a kickback guy. He'd 508 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: be like, hey, I'm a senator, give me some money 509 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:49,920 Speaker 1: and I'll get you whatever you want, you know, Like 510 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:53,120 Speaker 1: that was the kind of representative he was. And so 511 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 1: they outed him, and the good people of Arizona rose 512 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,480 Speaker 1: to the occasion and voted him out of office. Yeah, 513 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: he was doing I mean, he was spreading rumors, he 514 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:04,600 Speaker 1: was telling lies. He had a family member appointed as 515 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 1: the post office director for I guess whatever. The post 516 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: office is out there, and they were intercepting mail and 517 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,000 Speaker 1: opening mail, and it was they had to do things 518 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: like encoded and in secret, like in the area just 519 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 1: to get their messages through. Not not a good dude. 520 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: And like you said, it came back to buy them 521 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 1: and he he lost. So that's why history probably doesn't 522 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: remember him so much. Pay democracy, that's right. So after 523 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,200 Speaker 1: he lost and after he went away, the Grand Canyon 524 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: was an unfettered national park from that point on, that's right, 525 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 1: full of tourists, tour buses. Yeah, and that park, also, Chuck, 526 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 1: is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. Poor Rhode Island. 527 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 1: Why does it always get thrown in there? Well, it's 528 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,480 Speaker 1: a tiny state. It's a good reference point, it is, 529 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,400 Speaker 1: and it's not. I mean, when you stand at the 530 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:55,000 Speaker 1: rim of the Grand Canyon, it looks like you could 531 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: fit a few Rhode Islands in that sliver. But it's 532 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 1: it's pretty amazing, it's genuine. Only one of the most 533 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:04,400 Speaker 1: like like literally breath taking things you'll ever see is 534 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 1: when you first sort of walk out there and lay 535 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: your eyes on it. Like you can hear about it, 536 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:10,960 Speaker 1: see pictures of it, you can see drone footage of it, 537 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 1: but until you're standing there, it's truly just breath taking 538 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,480 Speaker 1: an inspiring and in that sense, Chuck, it's a um. 539 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: It's a really good example of what what meets the 540 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,600 Speaker 1: criteria for a national park because one of the things 541 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,680 Speaker 1: the National Park Service started doing when it was created 542 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: was identifying, you know, what makes the national park national park. 543 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 1: Everybody wants, you know, some little beautiful slice of their 544 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: their neighborhood or their area like turned into a national park. 545 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:41,680 Speaker 1: Like it's preserved from that point on. It's amazing and 546 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: beautiful when that happens. But that doesn't mean that it 547 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,760 Speaker 1: really kind of is a true national park. And one 548 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,040 Speaker 1: of the things that they've said, like this would make 549 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: an area national park would be something that is so 550 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 1: unique and so significant there may not be anything like 551 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 1: it in the world. Whether it has to do with grandeur, 552 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: scope size, um. I know that there's there's some kinds 553 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 1: of national parks that are set aside because they're like 554 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,880 Speaker 1: the only place that a kind of fossil can be discovered. 555 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:14,920 Speaker 1: There's something called the agate Um Fossil Beds and National Park, 556 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:19,880 Speaker 1: I think in Nebraska, and there are these two mounds 557 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 1: that for some reason just escape glacial erosion, and so 558 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 1: they're just like perfect undisturbed timeline of evolution on that 559 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:32,440 Speaker 1: corner of Earth. You just can't find that anywhere else 560 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:34,880 Speaker 1: on the planet. And so they're like this, this clearly 561 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: qualifies as a national park. Yeah, and that's you know, 562 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,000 Speaker 1: it's good to point out. I know, you found that 563 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,600 Speaker 1: cool stuff on geo diversity, which is uh, it basically 564 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 1: means landforms and landscapes of an area. And you know, 565 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: if you go to Arches National Park or Devil's Tower 566 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:53,520 Speaker 1: National Monument like or like you were talking about, the 567 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:58,080 Speaker 1: fossil beds monument in Nebraska or cave systems, things like that. 568 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,240 Speaker 1: This is what geo diversity is. And it's a little 569 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 1: less sexy as far as protection goes UM, because it's 570 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:09,960 Speaker 1: not a cute little animal, uh. And sometimes it's not 571 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 1: as dramatic like as arches. You know, sometimes like it 572 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 1: is like a fossil bed, which may not be the 573 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:17,960 Speaker 1: most amazing thing to look at, but like, protecting these 574 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,920 Speaker 1: sites are super super important to UM not only just 575 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 1: preserve it, but to learn from it because you know, 576 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,360 Speaker 1: once that's gone, it's gone. Yeah. And one of the 577 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,000 Speaker 1: things UM I ran across this really cool UM quote 578 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 1: from nineteen seventeen MPs worker said that um geology is 579 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,479 Speaker 1: the anatomy of scenery. I think it's a really amazing 580 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 1: way to put it. And what they're basically saying is 581 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 1: it's like like it needs to be protected as much, 582 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:48,880 Speaker 1: if not more, UM as biodiversity does within these parks 583 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 1: from human activity, from exploitation, but also from like climate 584 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:56,000 Speaker 1: change and other processes that we're gonna see here like 585 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: becoming more and more of a challenge for national parks. 586 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 1: But there's like us, the scenery alone in a National 587 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:06,360 Speaker 1: park is worth preserving because there's things like like if 588 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,480 Speaker 1: you go to see Old Faithful, Chuck, and I've seen 589 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:11,920 Speaker 1: Old Faithful, like we have something to talk about. There's 590 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,719 Speaker 1: a shared experience even though we might have gone fifty 591 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: years apart. We could probably based on your eight um, 592 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,840 Speaker 1: but like that's a huge thing. Not everything has that, 593 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,960 Speaker 1: or like they inspire awe, Like when's the last time 594 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,080 Speaker 1: you were you were moved to awe, like around Atlanta, 595 00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: like you weren't. It just doesn't happen like these There 596 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: are unique landscapes, um. And the reason that they are 597 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:40,160 Speaker 1: unique is because of the geology and so geo diversity, 598 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 1: like biodiversity needs to be protected as well as a 599 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,160 Speaker 1: concept that makes sense. Yeah, and you know protection means 600 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:49,240 Speaker 1: sometimes you'll go to a national park years later where 601 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:50,720 Speaker 1: you're like, oh, yeah, I used to be able to 602 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:55,440 Speaker 1: go closer to this thing and I can't do that anymore. Um. 603 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:57,760 Speaker 1: You know, you think about someone like oh, I want 604 00:33:57,760 --> 00:33:59,680 Speaker 1: to carve my tree in this or carve my name 605 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:01,960 Speaker 1: in this. You're on this rock, and you you don't 606 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,480 Speaker 1: think about like I've never done stuff like that, but 607 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: people do that stuff. You don't think about tens of 608 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 1: thousands or millions of people doing that over the years, 609 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:14,000 Speaker 1: and so like they've had to kind of, uh figuratively 610 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,000 Speaker 1: rope off a lot of this stuff as these arches 611 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 1: become more fragile and things like that. So your access 612 00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:21,560 Speaker 1: is going to be a little more limited than it 613 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:23,840 Speaker 1: once was. But it's all in the name of protection. 614 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:29,719 Speaker 1: It's good stuff. So the westwards stuff like Yosemites, El 615 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 1: Capitan in the Yosemite Valley and then amazing Waterfall which apparently, 616 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:37,640 Speaker 1: according to Backpacker magazine, you can see what are called 617 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:41,319 Speaker 1: moon bows from the waterfall miss at Yosemite. Did you 618 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 1: know that. I've never seen one. I mean, I've spent 619 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:45,880 Speaker 1: a lot of time there. It sounds amazing, it sounds 620 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,120 Speaker 1: super cool. It's a it's a rainbow that you see 621 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:51,719 Speaker 1: at night under a moon. Yeah, I can't imagine what 622 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 1: that is. Like you probably a full moon, right I would. 623 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: I would think so at the very least to be 624 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:00,239 Speaker 1: you know, even better in a full moon. But like, again, 625 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,040 Speaker 1: you're not going to see a moonbo around Atlanta or 626 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:06,800 Speaker 1: around Houston or Cleveland. Like, the reason that these parks 627 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,480 Speaker 1: exist and the reason that they deserve protection is because 628 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,480 Speaker 1: they are unique and they do things to us that 629 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:15,200 Speaker 1: we haven't yet figured out how to put our finger on. 630 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,839 Speaker 1: We just know that they move us somehow. And um, 631 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:21,600 Speaker 1: I read a quote chuck from activist and writer named 632 00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:24,439 Speaker 1: Terry Tempest Williams, and I think it puts it really well. 633 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,799 Speaker 1: She said that national parks are breathing spaces in a 634 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:34,359 Speaker 1: society increasingly holding its breath. I love that, chuck. You're 635 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:40,640 Speaker 1: also not going to see a river on fire from it. Yeah, 636 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,560 Speaker 1: you're not going to see a Sicilian man dressed as 637 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:46,520 Speaker 1: a Native American turning and crying toward a camera in 638 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:50,560 Speaker 1: a national park to Cleveland for that first thing. Right, alright, 639 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:52,359 Speaker 1: so thing, well, maybe we should take a break. Should 640 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,560 Speaker 1: we take a break? Yeah? It sounds like a good 641 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:56,400 Speaker 1: point to stop. All right, we'll talk about what's going 642 00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:59,080 Speaker 1: on out west and uh, the very little going on 643 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:28,719 Speaker 1: here in the east when we get back. All right, 644 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:33,240 Speaker 1: So things are really cruising up through the nineteen twenties 645 00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:37,319 Speaker 1: out west Zion and Bryce Canyon. You've got Glacier, you've 646 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 1: got Yellowstone, you got Yosemite. Like they're just they're going 647 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,279 Speaker 1: hog wild on national park land and back east. At 648 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:47,440 Speaker 1: that point, the only national park was Acadia National Park 649 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: in Maine, and so Congress in the mid nineteen twenties says, 650 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:54,319 Speaker 1: you know what, we should probably get rolling here in 651 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:56,759 Speaker 1: the Midwest and on the East coast and designate some 652 00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,160 Speaker 1: of this land too, because it may not be quite 653 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,760 Speaker 1: as grand, but it's a pretty great uh. And national 654 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:06,799 Speaker 1: parks like in the Appalachian region, Shenandoah, Great Smokey Mountains, uh, 655 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 1: Mammoth Caves, things like that were designated. But they're like, 656 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,040 Speaker 1: but listen, we spend a lot of money out west, 657 00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:15,279 Speaker 1: and we're not going to pony up to pay for 658 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:19,480 Speaker 1: all this land. So another gentleman steps forward at this point, 659 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 1: John D. Rockefeller Jr. And said, Hey, I've got a 660 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,280 Speaker 1: ton of oil money for my dad, and what better 661 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:30,480 Speaker 1: way to spend that, uh those ill gotten gains than 662 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:33,279 Speaker 1: to help buy back a lot of this land. So 663 00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:36,600 Speaker 1: he donated a ton. He donated five million bucks um 664 00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:39,640 Speaker 1: to buy land for the Great Smoky Mountains. He got 665 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,840 Speaker 1: his charitable foundations involved to help raise more money for 666 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:47,560 Speaker 1: Grand Teton National Parks in Shenandoah, and uh, pretty soon 667 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,600 Speaker 1: he had covered like a lot of this new land, 668 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:55,000 Speaker 1: like the financing behind it. Yeah, from in today's dollars 669 00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:59,560 Speaker 1: just for a stand of sugar pines outside of Yosemite 670 00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: and the land for the Smokey Mountains National Park. He 671 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:07,560 Speaker 1: ponied up almost a hundred million dollars of his own money. 672 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,839 Speaker 1: It's amazing, Yeah, it really is. So. I mean, hats 673 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:14,560 Speaker 1: off to to John D. Rockefeller, and also hats off Junior, 674 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:17,319 Speaker 1: thank you, um, and hats off to F. D. R. Too, 675 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:22,560 Speaker 1: who around this time became president and he saw in 676 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:26,399 Speaker 1: the in the New Deal, um, the Depression earra New Deal, 677 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,280 Speaker 1: where uh, part of the purpose of which was to 678 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:31,719 Speaker 1: to help alleviate the worst effects of the Depression on 679 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:36,040 Speaker 1: Americans was um to put people to work using federal funds. 680 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:38,399 Speaker 1: But to me, it's just one of the best things 681 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,399 Speaker 1: you could possibly spend federal funds on is to help 682 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:45,960 Speaker 1: out of work Americans during particularly hard times. That's what 683 00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:49,080 Speaker 1: the cons the Civilian Conservation Corps was about. Like they 684 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:52,240 Speaker 1: would hire out of work men in particular age eighteen 685 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,319 Speaker 1: to twenty five and put them to work. And one 686 00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:55,920 Speaker 1: of the ways that they were put to work, one 687 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:57,799 Speaker 1: of the big ways they were put to work was um, 688 00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:03,680 Speaker 1: basically establishing new national parks. Yeah, hundreds of thousands of 689 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,800 Speaker 1: these people were employed. Uh, and I think from nineteen 690 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:11,480 Speaker 1: thirty three to nineteen forty two about two million and 691 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:15,720 Speaker 1: rollies worked at close to two hundred of these camps. 692 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:19,879 Speaker 1: In ninety four National Parks and Monuments and uh, there's 693 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,840 Speaker 1: a couple of them. Great Smokey Mountains National Park in 694 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:25,960 Speaker 1: uh North Carolina and Tennessee and Big Bend in Texas 695 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:31,439 Speaker 1: were basically entirely created from work by C C C Labor. Yes, 696 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:33,600 Speaker 1: And one of the things that that they were also 697 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:37,239 Speaker 1: tasked with was creating visitors centers um as part of 698 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:41,719 Speaker 1: like the Smokey Mountains Park um. And I guess Shenandoah too, 699 00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:45,279 Speaker 1: or Big Band, I should say, but that that there 700 00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:48,439 Speaker 1: weren't nearly enough visitors centers when the post war boom 701 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,640 Speaker 1: hit after World War Two, and there were a bunch 702 00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:54,240 Speaker 1: of Americans who suddenly were flushed with a lot more money, 703 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:56,719 Speaker 1: who spent it on cars and started hitting the road 704 00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:00,439 Speaker 1: and saying like, let's see these National parks for ourselves. Yeah, 705 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:02,400 Speaker 1: And of course that put a stress on the parks. 706 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:07,600 Speaker 1: So they launched Mission sixty six, which was basically by 707 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:11,760 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, which is the fiftieth anniversary the NPS, 708 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:13,719 Speaker 1: we want to have a lot more of this under 709 00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:16,960 Speaker 1: control because of the influx people now who can afford 710 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:19,160 Speaker 1: to buy cars and are coming in. And one of 711 00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:23,760 Speaker 1: those big things was visitor centers public services, and uh, 712 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:25,680 Speaker 1: you know they still you know, when you go to 713 00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:28,799 Speaker 1: these visitors centers, they have these great interactive exhibits and 714 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:32,759 Speaker 1: audio visual programming and stuff like that. I mean, a's 715 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:34,120 Speaker 1: as far as a lot of people go. They kind 716 00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:36,440 Speaker 1: of drive around and they'll go to these visitor centers 717 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,360 Speaker 1: and they'll leave. I again, I recommend you sort of 718 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,440 Speaker 1: get a little more adventurous if you're able to and 719 00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:45,200 Speaker 1: uh kind of peel off from the pack. But that's 720 00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:47,719 Speaker 1: just the way I like to do things. Uh not, 721 00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:52,040 Speaker 1: you can anyone's yum. But um. By nineteen sixty there 722 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:54,920 Speaker 1: was a you know, a pretty big concern about at 723 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:59,560 Speaker 1: least from conservationists, about the fact that hey, the wolves 724 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,520 Speaker 1: of disappe heard, Um, some of this land is is 725 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:06,080 Speaker 1: too busy right now. Um. And so they in nineteen 726 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:10,040 Speaker 1: sixty three, they got a committee together chaired by exactly 727 00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:12,520 Speaker 1: the right person if you're a friend of the environment 728 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:16,120 Speaker 1: and environmental scientists named a Starker Leopold, who drew up 729 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:19,480 Speaker 1: a report called Wildlife Problems in National Parks forever to 730 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:22,240 Speaker 1: be known as the Leopold Report. Noticed there's no colon 731 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,000 Speaker 1: in that title too, this is the pre colon era. 732 00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:27,560 Speaker 1: He had no use for that. He was too busy 733 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:30,600 Speaker 1: trying to save the planet. Yes, So this Leopold Report 734 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:36,080 Speaker 1: basically said, hey, everybody, um, we are losing biodiversity. And 735 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,040 Speaker 1: everybody said, what's that? And they said, just give it 736 00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:39,919 Speaker 1: a few years and everybody, you'll know what that means. 737 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:42,520 Speaker 1: But like, our parks are in big trouble. We're losing 738 00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,440 Speaker 1: a lot of animals. A lot of it we're doing ourselves. 739 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 1: A lot of is from human activity and encroachment, and 740 00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:50,839 Speaker 1: we need to start protecting the animals in the park. 741 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:54,360 Speaker 1: And so that became kind of like a guiding principle 742 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,919 Speaker 1: of the National Park Service, so much so that they 743 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:01,440 Speaker 1: formed the Biological Resources Division, which is in charge of 744 00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:03,799 Speaker 1: wildlife management and all of the parks, which is really 745 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:06,239 Speaker 1: something because I don't think we've said yet, but the 746 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:11,440 Speaker 1: national parks in America comprised something like eighty four million acres. 747 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:15,920 Speaker 1: So the Biological Resources Division is in charge of eighty 748 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:20,200 Speaker 1: four million acres of wildlife to make sure that everybody's 749 00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:23,879 Speaker 1: okay in that from Yogi Bear to the dancing bear 750 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:28,160 Speaker 1: at the visitor center and yellow Stone. That's right. And 751 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:31,200 Speaker 1: you mentioned the Olympic marmot. That is one of two 752 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:36,359 Speaker 1: animals that lives exclusively inside the bounds of a national park, 753 00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:40,279 Speaker 1: the Olympic Marmot an Olympic National Park in the Shenandoah salamander. 754 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,600 Speaker 1: You can guess where that one is. But um, it's 755 00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:47,000 Speaker 1: an interesting you know, the Leopold Report, it was a 756 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:50,960 Speaker 1: pretty bold statement to basically say that I think the 757 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:54,040 Speaker 1: quota is a national park should represent a vignetta primitive America. 758 00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:57,239 Speaker 1: So Leopold's idea is like this needs to be like 759 00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:00,920 Speaker 1: we found it, uh, and you need to preserve it 760 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:03,399 Speaker 1: and or maybe even return it to that state where 761 00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:08,040 Speaker 1: we have so far screwed up. Obviously, just with people visiting, 762 00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:10,560 Speaker 1: you're never going to get to that point. But it's 763 00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:13,800 Speaker 1: a good lofty goal, I think it is. And again, 764 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:15,279 Speaker 1: one of the things that they found out over the 765 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:17,479 Speaker 1: years is like, you know, there's this idea that Native 766 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:20,880 Speaker 1: Americans were just living on this untouched pristine land and 767 00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:22,960 Speaker 1: all you have to do is remove the Native Americans 768 00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:25,680 Speaker 1: and it would remain that way, and they found out that, 769 00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:28,960 Speaker 1: oh no, actually the Native Americans were actively managing these 770 00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:31,640 Speaker 1: landscapes and we have to go figure out how to 771 00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:34,600 Speaker 1: how to do that from them. Um. So there was 772 00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:37,439 Speaker 1: that that really set everybody back. But that's become part 773 00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:40,839 Speaker 1: of like the National Park Service mission as well. Yeah, 774 00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:42,640 Speaker 1: and I think you can look no further than the 775 00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:48,239 Speaker 1: reintroduction of the wolf, uh to Yellowstone gray wolves. They 776 00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:51,600 Speaker 1: were hunted to extinction in the thirties and you're like, oh, 777 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:53,960 Speaker 1: why do you need wolves, Like, aren't they just gonna 778 00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:58,359 Speaker 1: threaten people? Um, we talked about bio diversity before. It's 779 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:01,200 Speaker 1: really important to trickle down imp act. It's called the 780 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:04,479 Speaker 1: trophic cascade. And all of a sudden wolves are back. 781 00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:07,319 Speaker 1: So the elk are like, oh, we can't just stay 782 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:09,200 Speaker 1: in one place and over graze. We gotta get on 783 00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:12,160 Speaker 1: the move. And now they're not over grazing, so there's 784 00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:15,520 Speaker 1: less erosion on the river banks. They are healthier grasslands, 785 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,879 Speaker 1: they're not overgrazing willow trees. So the beavers are like, hey, 786 00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:21,479 Speaker 1: I can come back because I love those willow trees. 787 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:23,480 Speaker 1: I love to build dams. If you listen to our 788 00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:26,920 Speaker 1: episode on beavers, you know that they're uh keystone species. 789 00:44:27,239 --> 00:44:30,640 Speaker 1: So when the beavers are back, that means fish are back, 790 00:44:30,719 --> 00:44:32,759 Speaker 1: and mammals are back and birds are back. And this 791 00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:36,319 Speaker 1: is all because they reintroduce the gray wolf. Yeah, it's 792 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:39,840 Speaker 1: just pretty neat stuff like that. He said. I always 793 00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:42,319 Speaker 1: feel bad for the prey animals that are like they 794 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:45,040 Speaker 1: go from being like easy going to scare it all 795 00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:48,080 Speaker 1: the time, you know, but it helps everything else. But 796 00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:52,160 Speaker 1: there it's tough. Nature's it's tough. Yeah. So that Leopold 797 00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:56,400 Speaker 1: report came out in sixty three, and um, unfortunately it 798 00:44:56,520 --> 00:44:59,520 Speaker 1: didn't solve all of the problems permanently. I don't know 799 00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:01,600 Speaker 1: that saw of any problems, but it basically said, here's 800 00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:03,480 Speaker 1: a bunch of problems and we need to to wrap 801 00:45:03,520 --> 00:45:06,080 Speaker 1: our heads around them and get them solved, mainly figuring 802 00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:08,800 Speaker 1: out how to protect the bio diversity and later on 803 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:13,800 Speaker 1: the geo diversity in these national parks. Um, and and 804 00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:18,240 Speaker 1: what the stuff that it tasked the National Park Service 805 00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:22,320 Speaker 1: with with taking on has like just gotten increasingly more difficult. 806 00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:25,280 Speaker 1: More people visit the parks, and whenever there's more humans, 807 00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:29,160 Speaker 1: there's more trash, there's more wildlife encounters, there's more cars, 808 00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:34,160 Speaker 1: causing traffic jams. There's more need for reservations, and there's 809 00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:36,839 Speaker 1: just much more problems and more visitors you have. It's like, uh, 810 00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:39,160 Speaker 1: the national parks can be a victim of their own 811 00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:43,880 Speaker 1: success sometimes. Um. And then there's also other like challenges 812 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:45,800 Speaker 1: to that have nothing to do with the amount of 813 00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:48,759 Speaker 1: people coming. Like again, climate change is starting to pose 814 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:52,440 Speaker 1: a real problem. Um. I saw somewhere that Glacier National 815 00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:55,040 Speaker 1: Park may just be a name in thirty years that 816 00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:58,080 Speaker 1: there's not going to be any glaciers left. Um. And 817 00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:00,320 Speaker 1: so one of the one of the things that National 818 00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:03,040 Speaker 1: Park Service, one of the services that provides, is like 819 00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:08,480 Speaker 1: being able to study these generally like pristine preserved landscapes 820 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:12,040 Speaker 1: and see what's happening in the rest of the world 821 00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:17,680 Speaker 1: in nature. Uh, in our own backyard in America, you know, yeah, absolutely, 822 00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:22,239 Speaker 1: And it's you know, they struggle because of underfunding and understaffing. 823 00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:25,839 Speaker 1: And you know, next time you hear someone in your 824 00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:28,080 Speaker 1: family say, like, what a waste of money to throw 825 00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:31,960 Speaker 1: this money towards uh, toward national parks, Like just let 826 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:35,120 Speaker 1: them be, Um, go over there and and tap him 827 00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:38,440 Speaker 1: on the shoulder and say it's a great investment. Actually 828 00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:41,800 Speaker 1: sir or ma'am. Uh, here's a little stat for you. 829 00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:46,280 Speaker 1: In um, there were two hundred seventy three million visitors 830 00:46:47,200 --> 00:46:50,680 Speaker 1: to National Park Service areas, and they spent about fourteen 831 00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:56,120 Speaker 1: point six billion dollars in the communities near these places, uh, 832 00:46:56,600 --> 00:46:59,000 Speaker 1: to the tune of about two hundred thousand local jobs 833 00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:02,400 Speaker 1: and a total of twenty six point five billion dollars 834 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:05,480 Speaker 1: back to the economy of the United States. If you 835 00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:08,320 Speaker 1: do the math. Uh, the federal budget for the NPS 836 00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:11,040 Speaker 1: is about two point seven billions, So every dollar that 837 00:47:11,080 --> 00:47:15,520 Speaker 1: has invested comes back tenfold in economic activity, and that, 838 00:47:15,680 --> 00:47:19,040 Speaker 1: to my friend, is a great return. Yeah. It definitely 839 00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:24,640 Speaker 1: supports the idea of preserving land out away from like logging, mining, 840 00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:29,680 Speaker 1: hunting interests. Um. It's like it's it's irrefutable right there. 841 00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,880 Speaker 1: I love it. I love it too, so UM. What 842 00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:35,840 Speaker 1: we were talking about challenges though, before that that wonderful 843 00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:39,480 Speaker 1: little economic stat though, um, And one of the one 844 00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:43,320 Speaker 1: of the challenges, uh, that that the parks are facing 845 00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:46,320 Speaker 1: is this like a growing perception that doesn't seem to 846 00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:49,960 Speaker 1: be rooted in reality statistically speaking, at least, that national 847 00:47:50,040 --> 00:47:53,080 Speaker 1: parks are actually like really dangerous places to be and 848 00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:55,440 Speaker 1: that there seemed to be like they seem to be 849 00:47:55,520 --> 00:47:58,000 Speaker 1: a place where, like you're you're likelier to die than 850 00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:01,960 Speaker 1: say elsewhere in in you know, America, which I don't 851 00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:04,759 Speaker 1: think is true. Right. Yeah, there's a great article called 852 00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:10,520 Speaker 1: National Park Murders colon hundreds killed missing, No one is 853 00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:14,560 Speaker 1: talking from Emily canton Er uh, and it's I mean, 854 00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:17,120 Speaker 1: this story kind of came about after the Gabby Potito story. 855 00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:20,640 Speaker 1: Of course, her body sadly was discovered in Grand Teton 856 00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:25,560 Speaker 1: National Park. UM in twenty nineteen, the NPS chief said 857 00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:29,600 Speaker 1: that there's basically um three hundred and twelve deaths per 858 00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:33,520 Speaker 1: year in national parks, one for every one million visitors. 859 00:48:33,640 --> 00:48:37,200 Speaker 1: So that's a pretty low number. Uh. Drowning is a 860 00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:42,719 Speaker 1: leading cause of death. Then there's you know, vehicle accidents, falls, poisonings, 861 00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:47,920 Speaker 1: wildlife encounters, natural causes suicide. Uh. And then you know 862 00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,759 Speaker 1: there are are murders in sexual assaults in national park. 863 00:48:51,840 --> 00:48:56,279 Speaker 1: They're pretty rare, but anytime someone gets murdered in a 864 00:48:56,360 --> 00:48:59,520 Speaker 1: national park it makes the news. And so it's sort 865 00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:02,880 Speaker 1: of a pretty big story. Should not make you, uh 866 00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:05,560 Speaker 1: not want to visit them, but you know, it's their 867 00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:09,239 Speaker 1: big open areas and uh, you can. You can trust 868 00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:12,120 Speaker 1: almost everyone when you go there. But anytime someone gets murdered, 869 00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:14,360 Speaker 1: someone says, it's a perfect place to do that around 870 00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:16,000 Speaker 1: the middle of nowhere. You can get rid of a 871 00:49:16,080 --> 00:49:19,600 Speaker 1: body so easily out there, right, I think also because 872 00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:22,400 Speaker 1: it's so rare, that's why it makes the news, and 873 00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:25,640 Speaker 1: weirdly it seems to amplify it because I was looking 874 00:49:25,719 --> 00:49:27,920 Speaker 1: up the statum, like, is one death for per million? 875 00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:30,680 Speaker 1: Is that is that low? And it's super low. I 876 00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:33,839 Speaker 1: was looking at Atlanta's murder statistics, So that's one death 877 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:36,960 Speaker 1: you just said, also drownings, poisonings, animal and co owners. 878 00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:43,239 Speaker 1: In Atlanta murders alone, there's sixty per million murders in 879 00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:47,759 Speaker 1: a year. This is one death per million um in 880 00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:51,040 Speaker 1: a year in the national park entire national park system. 881 00:49:51,480 --> 00:49:54,080 Speaker 1: So yes, it is very lopsided and unfair to say 882 00:49:54,120 --> 00:49:56,719 Speaker 1: the national parks are a dangerous place and that there's 883 00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:59,960 Speaker 1: actually like a disproportionately high number of deaths and high 884 00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:04,120 Speaker 1: sides there is just patently untrue. Right, But you should 885 00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:06,680 Speaker 1: be careful any time you're You should camp with a 886 00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:09,759 Speaker 1: buddy if you can, and um, you know, just be 887 00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:11,800 Speaker 1: careful anytime you're camping even is not in the national 888 00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:16,360 Speaker 1: park if you're looking at the it's It is interesting 889 00:50:16,400 --> 00:50:19,719 Speaker 1: because there's one stat that North Cascades in National Park 890 00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:25,200 Speaker 1: in Washington, UM has sixty five times higher death rate 891 00:50:25,320 --> 00:50:27,920 Speaker 1: than any of the other parks, which is but they 892 00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:29,600 Speaker 1: don't know why. I've kind of tried to find out 893 00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:33,200 Speaker 1: and it seems like no one can really tell. It's 894 00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:36,200 Speaker 1: the Atlanta of the national park system. I guess sixty 895 00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:38,360 Speaker 1: five point two deaths for every million people that now, 896 00:50:38,440 --> 00:50:42,319 Speaker 1: that is definitely high and odd. So yeah, I guess 897 00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:45,040 Speaker 1: just steer clear that one. No, no, no, no no. 898 00:50:47,520 --> 00:50:49,000 Speaker 1: But this was such a good idea, and I think 899 00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:51,440 Speaker 1: we should close on the fact that the world followed 900 00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:54,560 Speaker 1: our lead, right Yeah, So I think we're saying that 901 00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:57,960 Speaker 1: early on, um, like the Yellowstone was the first in 902 00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:00,759 Speaker 1: the world, but in very short order the All Australian said, hey, 903 00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:03,520 Speaker 1: we're working on the same kind of thing too, and 904 00:51:03,760 --> 00:51:07,680 Speaker 1: they established one called the Royal National Park all the 905 00:51:07,719 --> 00:51:11,239 Speaker 1: way back in uh eighteen seventy nine, I think, yeah, 906 00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:14,680 Speaker 1: not bad. Canada came along run after that. I think 907 00:51:14,760 --> 00:51:18,360 Speaker 1: New Zealand followed suit after that. Then Europe got on board, 908 00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:22,200 Speaker 1: and then Africa got on board, and now there are 909 00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:25,200 Speaker 1: more than four thousand national parks all over the world. Yeah, 910 00:51:25,320 --> 00:51:29,040 Speaker 1: it was just a good idea. And um, I I'd 911 00:51:29,080 --> 00:51:32,160 Speaker 1: actually like to close with this, chuck, because um they're 912 00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:35,200 Speaker 1: one of the huge challenges that are facing national parks 913 00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:39,000 Speaker 1: is that the most popular national parks are super popular. 914 00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:43,239 Speaker 1: I think like the twenty twenty or maybe five or 915 00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:46,799 Speaker 1: four some crazy low number of national parks made up 916 00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:53,680 Speaker 1: like fifty percent of visitor rates in like, it's really lopsided. 917 00:51:53,760 --> 00:51:55,759 Speaker 1: So the national parks and just trying to be like, hey, 918 00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,000 Speaker 1: don't forget this national park, and here's another one over 919 00:51:58,040 --> 00:51:59,920 Speaker 1: here you should check out. And I was reading about that, 920 00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:02,640 Speaker 1: and the Sierra Club has a proposal. It's make more 921 00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:05,360 Speaker 1: national parks. You make a new national park and you 922 00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:07,680 Speaker 1: advertise that there's a new national park. It's going to 923 00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:10,200 Speaker 1: take away some of those people who would have otherwise 924 00:52:10,239 --> 00:52:13,520 Speaker 1: gone to yellow Stone And so more national parks is 925 00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:16,120 Speaker 1: just a good idea all across the board. But it 926 00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:18,799 Speaker 1: will also alleviate one of the big pressing problems, which 927 00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:22,359 Speaker 1: is over attendance at certain parks. I love it more 928 00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:26,279 Speaker 1: national parks, everybody, Okay, that's what I say. Well, since 929 00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:28,839 Speaker 1: Chuck said, that's what I say. Of course, that means 930 00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:34,360 Speaker 1: it's time for listener mail. I'm gonna call this a 931 00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:38,399 Speaker 1: repeated tangent. It happens every now and then. Hey, guys, 932 00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:39,960 Speaker 1: listen to the episode on the child Chill a bus 933 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:42,879 Speaker 1: kidnapping and Chuck till or Josh tells Chuck a story 934 00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:46,440 Speaker 1: and a tangent about seeing Robert Golay on TV. I 935 00:52:46,480 --> 00:52:50,680 Speaker 1: would make Elvis so Maddie shoot appliances. Immediately remembered an 936 00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:54,600 Speaker 1: older stuff you should know, computer addiction. Josh told Chuck 937 00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:57,880 Speaker 1: the same tangent about seeing Robert Galley on TV. And 938 00:52:57,960 --> 00:53:00,320 Speaker 1: I was listening to that episode when I'm move my 939 00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:02,880 Speaker 1: life from a small town in Arkansas to Louisiana, and 940 00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:05,840 Speaker 1: that tangent and Chuck doing an Elvis impression made me 941 00:53:05,960 --> 00:53:08,200 Speaker 1: laugh so hard that I literally had soda coming out 942 00:53:08,239 --> 00:53:11,239 Speaker 1: of my nose. Ouch. I feel bad that I didn't 943 00:53:11,239 --> 00:53:15,799 Speaker 1: do the Elvis impression this time too before. Of course 944 00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:19,200 Speaker 1: I have man uh. Thinking about this repeated tangent put 945 00:53:19,239 --> 00:53:21,000 Speaker 1: into perspective that I've been a listener since I was 946 00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:24,319 Speaker 1: in college seven years ago, through three job changes, six moves. 947 00:53:25,280 --> 00:53:26,640 Speaker 1: Thank you for all the good times and all the 948 00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:29,359 Speaker 1: good information. But my girlfriend and everyone else I shared 949 00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:33,000 Speaker 1: tidbits with probably wouldn't call it good information bo to them. 950 00:53:33,880 --> 00:53:36,600 Speaker 1: So Connor see in Chicago, Uh, you might want to 951 00:53:36,640 --> 00:53:40,680 Speaker 1: rethink your the people you're hanging out with. You almost said, 952 00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:43,480 Speaker 1: Chuck went right up to the edge. Connor, right up 953 00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:47,080 Speaker 1: to the canyon. Rim you take it from there. I did. Well. 954 00:53:47,120 --> 00:53:49,400 Speaker 1: If you want to be like Connor and get us 955 00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:52,920 Speaker 1: to tell you to rethink your life, you should email us. 956 00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:55,480 Speaker 1: Like Connor, you can wrap it up send it in 957 00:53:55,560 --> 00:53:59,520 Speaker 1: an email to stuff podcast at iHeart radio dot com. 958 00:54:00,040 --> 00:54:04,320 Speaker 1: M Stuff you Should Know is a production of I 959 00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:07,680 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the 960 00:54:07,719 --> 00:54:10,719 Speaker 1: I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 961 00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:14,640 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows. H