the rapids. And I could breathe again, literally and metaphori- cally. My friend said, “This is how I can live in D.C. This place keeps me sane. It’s my sanctuary.”
What can be done to make sure that national parks like Great Falls can survive — and matter — for another hundred years?
I would like to see an endowment that would provide a per- manent source of funding for our national parks and monu- ments. This to me is a much more sustainable idea than open- ing the doors to corporate America to fund our parks. I don’t want to see billboards or ads on buses, or natural wonders named after banks and businesses like sports arenas.
Given its limited resources, what does the National Park Service do well?
I think the Park Service has done a terrific job of highlighting the centennial and expanding the national conversation about public lands. Both Park Service Director Jon Jarvis and Secre- tary of the Interior Sally Jewell have made a conscious and compelling effort to reach out to more diverse audiences and communities. I think the fact that every fourth grader in the
28 · LAND&PEOPLE · FALL/WINTER 2016
United States can receive a free park pass for their family is a great step toward building future advocates for our national parks.
I also have a real soft spot in my heart for the interpretive staff. They are passionate about what they do, and they do it well. They are our storytellers—and at our big western wilder- ness parks, they may provide many visitors with their first or only exposure to environmental education and ecological literacy. I see the national park naturalists as true heroes and heroines. I love them.
You’ve written about the history of tribes removed from land that became national parks. How do you reconcile the benefits Americans derive from the parks with this legacy of displacement?
This country has a complicated history, a shadowed history— beginning with the tribes. With the enslavement of African Americans, with migrant workers. American history within our national parks has not focused on people of color. It’s only been in the past decade or so that one could go to Gettysburg and hear the word “slavery” even mentioned. We must not avert our gaze from the multiplicity of stories
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