The National Parks: Press

Ken Burns on how democracy saved the best places for all

"What would we be like without the national parks?" Ken Burns calls that the "It's a Wonderful Life" question, the one raised in the classic Christmas movie. What if Americans hadn't stepped up to save their special places?

Ken Burns Goes Camping, and Has Photos

Ken Burns’s new opus for public television, a six-night history of America’s national parks, contains quite a bit of contemporary footage — more than we’re accustomed to from the maker of “The Civil War” and “Jazz.” Along with the usual archival photographs and blurry home movies, there are frequent high-definition color views of the majestic scenery in parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Acadia and Denali.

Johnson: The Smokies, our national parks shine on PBS

After months of feasting on the Smokies in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Sunday night promises to be the perfect dessert. East Tennessee Public Television will premiere "East Tennessee Stories: The Land, Its People and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park" at 6 p.m.

'Dexter,' 'National Parks' both outstanding TV

You have to laugh just thinking of it. This column is a double review of two spectacularly different creatures, each starting Sunday. Looking back through the years, there may never have been a more freakish pairing. There's the magnificent scenery and historical importance of the latest Ken Burns documentary for PBS, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." And there's the Season 4 premiere of America's favorite serial killer, "Dexter," on Showtime.

Ken Burns' 'National Parks' pays tribute to the men behind the idea

Politicians and philanthropists pushed to set aside breathtaking, unspoiled land. The filmmaker appreciates this, and you will too.

Ken Burns gives exhaustive treatment to parks

It was the nation's best idea, Ken Burns, says: the national parks system. Americans can appreciate the 58 parks for their majesty and for the once-revolutionary concept of setting aside the country's most precious natural resources for all citizens to use, he says. Their histories unfold in the documentarian's latest series, starting Sunday on PBS.

ABC News Radio talks with Ken Burns

ABC News Radio's Bill Diehl had an opportunity to sit down and chat with filmmaker Ken Burns about his new latest project showcasing the beauty and majesty of America's national parks. The PBS documentary is titled "The National Parks - America's Best Idea."

Ken Burns's New Documentary

Bob Schieffer spoke with legendary filmmaker Ken Burns about his new documentary on America's national parks on PBS.

Ken Burns' national-parks film, Sept. 27-Oct. 2

When Ken Burns finished filming "The Civil War" nearly 20 years ago, he realized it had taken him longer to make his movie than it had taken America to fight the war. The PBS film was popular, and, over the years, Burns continued to refine his style in films on baseball, jazz and other subjects.

10 national parks you don't want to miss

Those of us who spend time in our glorious national parks, the places the writer Wallace Stegner once said were "the best idea we've ever had," quickly realize what a bargain they are. For the first time in human history, beautiful land was set aside, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. It was a purely democratic idea.

Taking back the Angeles National Forest

Just as it strains the imagination to picture a universe that stretches to infinity, we struggle to visualize a quarter of the Angeles National Forest burned to the ground. What does that look like, 160,000 blackened acres? It looks like forever.

'The National Parks': This Ken Burns epic restores the soul

This 12-hour history, starting on Sept. 27 on PBS, is a strong candidate for the most beautiful program ever to air on American television. It's the Burns effort that most closely rivals "The Civil War," his masterpiece.

Film Inspires Students to Connect With U.S. Parks

With heavy packs and tired feet, Lucas Suina and Ramon Baros hiked miles through the backcountry's scrub and ponderosa pine. They started to wonder if they'd ever reach their destination.

BACKPACKER Interview: Ken Burns

Famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns talks about the people, places, and lasting importance of his latest project, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”

Hymn to the Parks

Dayton Duncan sees the national parks as the “Declaration of Independence applied to the landscape.” Now he and Ken Burns have made an epic movie about them.

Ken Burns focuses on Everglades in new film about national parks

Nature photographer Clyde Butcher of Ochopee has often been called the Ansel Adams of the Everglades, noted for his stirring black and white compositions of the massive South Florida wetlands.

Ken Burns promotes park series at Acadia

Ken Burns is the rock star of public television. Almost everywhere the documentary filmmaker went on Wednesday, people stopped to shake his hand and have their picture taken with him.

Ken Burns' 'National Parks' a surprise

Ken Burns knows what he's up against. And this time it may be more than what he's used to. For starters, he's got a new 12-hour documentary that PBS will premiere against the crush of the fall-season series offered up by the networks. (He's beat the odds before, so why not?) And then there's the subject matter of his latest: The national park system.

Ken Burns defends national park series

Ken Burns' latest PBS opus -- this one clocking in at 12 hours -- arrives this fall with "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" (Sept. 27-Oct. 2, WQED), a history of the national park system that begins in 1851 and ends in 1980.

Burns' new PBS film reawakened childhood memory

Ken Burns says working on a documentary about America's national parks reawakened a long-forgotten memory about a painful time in his childhood.

Jonathan Storm: Another star may emerge from the Ken Burns oeuvre

Ken Burns' mega-docs have spawned a star or two. Shelby Foote rose from obscurity after his bravura performance on The Civil War. Buck O'Neil, a pretty darn good baseball player in the Negro Leagues and the first African American major-league coach, found the greatest stardom of his life after being a major voice on Baseball.

Ken Burns' National Park Tour

Ken Burns appeared at the TV critics' press tour in Pasadena to take questions about his new 12-hour documentary, The National Parks, debuting Sept. 27.

PBS plans: Ken Burns visits the national parks

Better make those park reservations now. Ken Burns' "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," a six-part, 12-hour documentary celebrating the virtues of the country's nearly 400 federally protected spaces, sets up camp on PBS on Sept. 27 and stays through Oct. 2.

Meet Ranger Johnson, Ken Burns' new documentary star

Ken Burns' films often shine the light of fame on their participants — what Burns himself calls "The Shelby Foote Effect," named for the beloved historian of The Civil War. Odds are when Burns' latest PBS film, the 12-hour Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea, premieres in September, the Foote Effect will transform Shelton Johnson, the Yosemite park ranger who is one of the show's most appealing talking heads.

The National Parks: America's best idea'

Your summer visit to Yellowstone or Yosemite - or even to San Antonio Missions or Ellis Island - may not feel like the culmination of a historic struggle, or exercising your democratic rights. But "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," a 12-hour documentary by filmmaker Ken Burns, might change all that.

An interview with documemtary filmmaker Ken Burns about his PBS TV series

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has brought to the screen, with his hallmark storytelling style, a six-part series about the history of the National Parks. It’s not just about the magnificent places we hold as hallowed, but a brilliantly told tale of the people—young, old, famous, until now unknown, rich and poor—that spent their lives creating and protecting these national treasures for all future generations.

Interview with Denali Park Ranger Jay Elhardt

KUAC, the Alaskan NPR affiliate, featured an interview with Denali Park Ranger Jay Elhardt during Morning Edition’s local segment.

My favourite US national park is ...

It would be a crime to close any of America's parks. We asked experts for the best ways to enjoy the epic landscapes of 10 national parks.

Michelle's Next Mission

You would not know, just as egg-yolk-colored glacier lilies are pushing through ground newly unburdened of its snow, that there is so much trouble around these lands that form America’s Best Idea.

Lady Liberty's reopening is a triumph of the American idea

The Daily News' admirable and now successful effort to urge our government to reopen the crown of the Statue of Liberty, closed since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, prompted in me a flood of memory and emotion and genuine patriotic feelings. I had, 25 years ago, the great privilege of working on a documentary film history of the building of the statue and its enduring legacy as both a symbol and beacon to freedom-loving people around the world.

National parks take spotlight in latest series by Ken Burns

Historian and writer Wallace Stegner once called America’s national parks “the best idea we’ve ever had.” A sweeping statement, to be sure, but one Ken Burns is prepared to defend. The Walpole resident and noted filmmaker calls this country’s national parks “the Declaration of Independence applied to the landscape.”

Burns gives preview of National Parks documentary

Renowned documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and co-producer Dayton Duncan hosted a special preview of their new documentary series, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" at the Opera House Wednesday night.

Exploring the history of America's national parks

The depths of the Grand Canyon. The graceful sandstone arches of southern Utah. The grizzly bears of Glacier National Park. Half Dome towering over the Yosemite valley. The rolling blue hills of the Shenandoah. The haunted swamps of the Everglades. The bubbling pots and steamy geysers of Yellowstone.

Hopewell Furnace in Union Township to screen short films on national parks

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site is giving visitors this weekend a chance to get a sneak peek at five short documentary films associated with an upcoming PBS special by filmmaker Ken Burns on the national park system.

How one man's quest to visit every national park sparked Ken Burns's latest documentary

"This is it, Dad. The big five-eight," my son, Will, said as we came to the long-anticipated sign. We held up our fingers for a celebratory photograph. The last item on a to-do list could finally be checked off.

Burns' national parks film debuts in Asheville

Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the rest of the nation's national parks are a uniquely American invention that brings democracy to the landscape, according to the writer and producer of a new Ken Burns film series.

Peeking at PBS's park view

Monday night's first peek of an upcoming documentary - "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" - offered a tantalizing preview of coming attractions when the 12-hour series airs on PBS beginning Sept. 27.

Public TV series on national parks a terrific service

The story of our national parks is a story of nature’s magnificence, of towering mountains and deep canyons and pounding seashores, a testament to the ability of air and water and tectonics to mold the landscape and of plants and animals to further adapt it to their needs.

Sneak peek starts celebration

Finally, June. Lovers of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park have long had June circled on their calendars, anxiously awaiting events celebrating the 75th anniversary of the park. On Saturday, June 13, Cades Cove will come alive with the sound of music when the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, with U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander on piano, performs a 3 p.m. concert.

Filmmaker Burns has a story, or two, to tell

Driving across the heartland, Ken Burns spotted a giant, polluting pickup truck with the bumper sticker: Rednecks for Obama. "I said, we have arrived." Burns hears America singing. He is a veritable Fourth of July parade humming in tribute to the philosophy of Thoreau, the idealism of Thomas Jefferson and the eye of Ansel Adams. The baby-faced filmmaker is a big brass band noodling the theme of democracy.

Alaska's parks illuminated

Award winning filmmaker Ken Burns—of The Civil War, Jazz, and Baseball fame—worked with a new muse over the last six years or so: America’s national parks. The result, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, which will begin airing on PBS in late September, is a six-part series that examines the history of our national parks and the mostly unknown individuals that fought for the national parks system.

Park documentary preview is offered

Those interested are invited to see a sneak preview, on June 1, of a much-anticipated documentary by Ken Burns about the national park system, including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The free event begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Tennessee Theatre. Doors open at 7 p.m.

A walk with John Muir

Who better with whom to tour Yosemite, one of America’s greatest National Parks, than the man himself John Muir. As if transported back in time here’s a rare opportunity to get his impressions on what Yosemite means today.

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Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan Named Honorary Park Rangers

Acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns can now add “honorary park ranger” to a resume that already includes two Academy Award nominations, seven Emmy Awards, and 20 honorary degrees.

Visitors to Nation’s Parks Need to Represent the New America

On Earth Day last week, filmmaker Ken Burns launched a six-month national outreach campaign here at Fort Mason to welcome a more diverse visitor population to America’s national parks. Burns said he hopes his recent film, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” will help attract new communities into the country’s parks.

Burns' Yosemite Documentary

Yosemite National Park plays a starring role in a new documentary by one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in the world.

National parks get stimulus relief

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the National Park Service is getting $750 million in stimulus money for improvements, creating 20,000 jobs. The news came as filmmaker Ken Burns previewed his latest work Tuesday at the Presidio.

Diversity and National Parks

On the eve of Earth Day, we talk with filmmaker Ken Burns and other participants in this week's Parks for All Conference in San Francisco. The conference explores the role of our diverse population in the creation and protection of America's national parks. The first episode of Burns' six-part series "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" airs September 27, 2009 on PBS.

Burns aids effort to make nature appeal to kids

Filmmaker Ken Burns will introduce his latest epic, about America's national parks, during an all-day conference in San Francisco on Wednesday that aims to inspire gadget-oriented city kids and minorities to give nature a chance.

Iowan's film puts spotlight on national parks

Dayton Duncan was in grade school, in 1959, when his family set out for the classic road trip out west. They borrowed grandma's rickety old car, packed a few bags and headed for the Badlands, Devils Tower and the site of Custer's Last Stand.

Ken Burns previews new film in Seattle

Documentary film maker Ken Burns, creator of "The Civil War," is releasing a new series, "National Parks: America's Best Idea." Burns told KIRO Radio's Dave Ross, "National Parks" isn't a travel diary or nature film, but a true story of people with stars you've heard of: the Roosevelts, John Muir, and John D. Rockefeller.

Kids' activities, Rainier tales and a Seattle visit from Ken Burns

Washington's dreary spring has made it tough to enjoy the outdoors, but Olympic National Park and parks nationwide are celebrating National Parks Week through next Sunday with special events.

Ken Burns Tells Kitsap Kids: Get Off the Computer and Head for the Hills

Ken Burns, the historical filmmaker who was on Bainbridge Island on Sunday, had this message for young people: Stop texting and Twittering — just for a moment — and go enjoy a national park.

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns puts focus on United States national parks

Ken Burns, who has told the uniquely American stories of baseball, the Civil War, jazz and World War II in television documentaries, has turned his focus on the national parks and will come to the Chamizal National Memorial to promote them to local Hispanics.

National parks in Kansas to hold "I, Too, am America" contest

All five national parks in Kansas are sponsoring the "I, Too, Am America" student contest. The contest is an outgrowth of the Ken Burns PBS series, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea". The six-part, 12-hour series is scheduled to air on PBS stations nationwide this September. Both the contest and series are supported with grants from the National Park Foundation and Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund.

Seeing a nation in its landscape

Whether the subject matter is the Civil War, World War II, baseball, jazz, race or Thomas Jefferson, the question that animates filmmaker Ken Burns’ documentaries is always “Who are we?”

Think with Krys Boyd

When you think of documentary filmmaking, whose name leaps to mind? We'll spend this hour with acclaimed film maker Ken Burns whose past films - "The War," "Baseball," "Jazz," "The Civil War," etc.- are among the most-watched documentaries ever made. Burns is in town to speak at the Brinker International Forum this evening. His latest film, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," premieres next fall on PBS.

Point of Contact: Ken Burns

Our Q&A with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, who will be in Dallas to speak at the Brinker International Forum.

Ken Burns turns his focus to national parks and will be part of a Dallas forum Tuesday

Burns’ upcoming documentary series, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, may be his most elaborate project yet. Set to air in the fall on PBS stations including KERA/Channel 13, it’s a six-part, 12-hour series that looks at the history of America’s national parks. Burns and writer/co-producer Dayton Duncan spent more than six years working on the film, visiting all 58 national parks.

Ventura County Star: Thousands attend outdoor screening

History “is a place where we can all gather,” filmmaker Ken Burns noted Thursday evening during an interview in an old saloon. So, too, are our national parks, the subject of Burns’ next opus that will air this fall on PBS. Burns and about 2,000 people gathered for an outdoor “sneak preview” of his film “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” at Paramount Ranch south of Agoura Hills. The place explained the saloon, part of a Western town set on an old Paramount Studios lot in the scenic Santa Monica Mountains.

Ventura County Star: New Ken Burns film series explores America's national parks

Ken Burns frames that dry enemy called history in fresh, entertaining poses and makes it so seductive that you want to find the nearest time portal to jump back there with him. For what only seems an eternity, his film lens has focused on Americana, its might and its warts, its glories and shames, its epic moments and subtle cultural shifts. “I’ve been curious about how our country works,” Burns said simply of his life’s work during a recent interview from his home-office in Walpole, N.H., a tiny town near the Vermont border. “I’ve been exploring our institutions and individuals for 35 years now.”

LA Times: Ken Burns turns his lens on the trees

The documentarian films 'The National Parks: America's Best Idea' and finds a rare occasion to relax in Montana's wilderness.

LA Times: Ken Burns on vacation/location at Glacier National Park

The documentarian films 'The National Parks: America's Best Idea' and finds a rare occasion to relax in Montana's wilderness.

Associated Press: America's Best Idea' brings parks to the screen

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — Before the national forests were designated, before the interstates were even a glimmer in the mind's eye, Congress started making national parks. Their creation, Ken Burns relates in his latest blockbuster documentary, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," was a triumph of democracy. It secured forever and for everyone some of the continent's natural jewels – Yellowstone's otherworldly geysers, Yosemite's granite towers, the Grand Canyon's endless depths.

NY Times: Ken Burns To Document the Nation's Parks

A new documentary by the filmmaker Ken Burns, detailing the history of America's national parks, is scheduled to run in fall 2009 on PBS, The Associated Press reported.