The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Episode 03 (2009)

Director: Ken Burns
Stars: Peter Coyote, William Cronon, Dayton Duncan

Film Distributor: PBS

The history of the U.S. National Parks system, including the initial ideas which led to the world's first national parks and the expansion of the system over 150 years.

Episode 03: "The Empire of Grandeur" (1915-1919)
America boasts a dozen national parks as the park idea turns 50 years old. A millionaire businessman named Stephen Mather impulsively accepts the offer to oversee them for one year. Mather and his right-hand-man Horace Albright launch a campaign to publicize the parks as a unified system and to persuade Congress to create a single agency to oversee it: the National Park Service, established in 1916. Mount McKinley, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Acadia and Hawaii's volcanoes are set aside as national parks, but Mather's top priority is in Arizona. After a bitter fight, the Grand Canyon is designated a National Park in 1919.

Extras:
- Disc three contains Musical Journeys Through the National Parks, a piece divided into six segments that feature various imagery set to music: National Parks Timeline (1080i, 8:51), Peace at Last/Across the Ocean (1080i, 5:31), Horizons (1080i, 2:09), Green Groves of Erin (1080i, 3:14), The Shores of Ogygia (1080i, 2:33), and Teddy Bears' Picnic (1080i, 3:14).




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