I spent two years of grad school learning a lot about material science. I learned about certain atomic arrangements, how planes of atoms lead to 3x3 and 4x4 tensors that describe certain unique material properties, or about minimizing Gibbs Free Energy, or about all the applications of a certain 2D material called MoS2 that people seem to be obsessed with. But the beauty and formation of materials is more than that and surrounds us in our daily life: rolling hills, jagged mountain lines, the peaks and valleys, the ebbing of the stream, the fiery sunsets, and the cool sunrises. This is a different type of material science, one that is formed by millions of years of seismic activity and formed into things that the eyes can behold but the hands cannot make.
The Western United States is endowed with some of the most spectacular sights known to mankind. One of the Eight Wonders of the World lies in my backyard in my home state of Arizona. To the North, three spectacular mountains surround Seattle. And in Colorado, you are hard pressed to miss out on snow-capped mountains with rivers and lakes below. NATURE.
The National Park Service is a phenomenal federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior that just turned 100 years old. To preserve the ecological and historical integrity of 84 million acres of land that cover 59 national parks, 129 historical sites, 87 national monuments, 19 preserves, 18 recreational areas, and 10 seashores is an enormous task and a blessing to the over 307 million annual visitors.
Many people need to be thanked for the protection, conservation, and preservation of these treasures. In 1906, President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt signed into order the American Antiquities Act that established the United States Forest Service. Roosevelt sought the advice of John Muir, a fellow conservationist and an acclaimed writer on the wilderness who wrote about his 40 years of exploring the American wilderness in four monthly magazines. Muir and Roosevelt were good friends, and Roosevelt had sent Muir a letter asking to meet him in Yosemite: “I want to drop politics absolutely for four days and just be out in the open with you.” This is their famous 1903 picture on Yosemite's Overhanging Rock at Glacier Point. On August 25th 1916, Woodrow Wilson signed "the Organic Act" that mandated the agency "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."
Of course, signing a bill is one thing and execution is another. I have always admired people who take simple teams and build them into mature institutions, that transition is exciting. Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service is just that man. In the words of NPS, "he laid the foundation of the National Park Service, defining and establishing the policies under which its area shall be developed and conserved unimpaired for future generations. There will never come an end to the good that he has done." Mather led NPS from 1917 to 1929, increasing the number of parks and federally protected lands.
Several philosophers and writers of the age helped influence the American public to understand the importance of public lands. Of these was Henry David Thoreau (and on July 12th it will be his 200 years since his birth) who was an advocate of Yosemite in its early days. Relatively recently, Edward Abbey also helped shape public conscience and awareness of Arches National Park through his writing, "The desert wears... a veil of mystery. Motionless and silent it evokes in us an elusive hint of something unknown, unknowable, about to be revealed. Since the desert does not act it seems to be waiting -- but waiting for what?" In the early 1960's, Rachel Carson was a famous author who wrote Silent Spring and led the grassroots movement to create the EPA. The famous Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner once famously wrote "the national parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."
Of course, a picture is worth a thousand words. Without pictures and photographers to document our adventures, few would venture into the wild unknown and go beyond their comfort zone. For this we have to thank people like Ansel Adams and Carleton Watkins who first imaged the great parks. Historical tidbit: when environmentalists were first trying to convince President Lincoln of creating the first national park they showed the pictures of Carleton Watkins had taken of Yosemite. President Lincoln, knowing he would not be able to take the trip across the nation to see this park, still signed a bill on June 30, 1864, declaring the valley inviolate and initiating the blueprint for the nation's National Park System.
The great task and duty of our time is to visit, to enjoy, and to preserve these lands for those who came before and for those who wish to know their importance thereafter. As John Muir would say, "the mountains are calling and I must go."