President Abraham Lincoln

Celebrating the Birth of America’s National Park System

Yellowstone–the World’s First National Park–Created 150 Years Ago

  American author, historian and conservationist Wallace Stegner once observed: “National parks are the best idea we ever had.  Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than at our worst.” More recently, Ken Burns channeled Stegner in titling Burns’ award-winning PBS documentary, “The National Parks–America’s Best Idea.” The National Park System …

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Happy Birthday, Yosemite–and California’s State Parks System

The Core of Yosemite National Park, & California’s First State Park, Were Created 150 Years Ago

2014 marks the 150th anniversary of the creation of what we now know as Yosemite National Park.  It’s also the sesquicentennial anniversary of California’s State Parks System.  The two events are, in fact, inextricably related.  And how they occurred is a noteworthy and truly inspirational story. In 1864, in the midst of the Civil War, …

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