The one-hour documentary, "National Parks - Troubled Edens," examines the future of America's national parks from Grand Canyon to Yellowstone, and looks at issues ranging from over-crowding and wildlife management to the long-standing rub between conservation and development.
Since the early 20th century, lands designated as national parks, forests, monuments, and historic sites have all encountered controversy.
Political machinations abound; two thirds of the current national parks were opposed when they were announced.
Environmental issues such as global warming, reintroducing wolves where they had been exterminated, and invasive species affect the parks in ways never imagined.
Finally, in an ironic twist on the very reason the parks were originally created, visitors are putting stresses on our national resources like never before.
Weaving black and white photos and stunning imagery of the national parks with interviews from several experts — including: Jonathan Jarvis, former director of the National Parks Service, and Andrea Brunelle, chair, department of geography at the University of Utah — the documentary examines the unique challenges that America's national parks face in the 21st century.
Distributed by American Public Television.
