How to Destroy a National Park

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Sources/Further Reading:
Robert W. Righter – The Battle over Hetch Hetchy: https://tinyurl.com/5hf86r2r
Timothy Egan – The Big Burn: https://tinyurl.com/3c6c8cbn
Yellowstone Act: https://tinyurl.com/598e5h9p
Yosemite Grant: https://tinyurl.com/5n5bjte9
NPS – Hutchings: https://tinyurl.com/2s59ybad
Hutchings’ Journal: https://tinyurl.com/5n96tsdb
Hutchings – Yosemite: https://tinyurl.com/bprpdn2
Hutchings’ Magazine: https://tinyurl.com/m2w2uxx7
https://tinyurl.com/3yc8vx7s
NPS – Muir: https://tinyurl.com/25569n5h
Muir – The Yosemite: https://tinyurl.com/54am2xys
NEH – Muir/Pinchot: https://tinyurl.com/4pktae3z
Forest History Society – Pinchot: https://tinyurl.com/ye9ju8hn
NMFSH – Forest Reserves: https://tinyurl.com/ycy8th3k
Muir – Hetch Hetchy: https://tinyurl.com/ystvtjsp
NPS – Hetch Hetchy Timeline: https://tinyurl.com/2uxckr7j
SF Earthquake: https://tinyurl.com/yck26ake
Freeman Report: https://tinyurl.com/e2yz9hu4
Raker Act: https://tinyurl.com/5bh2ha4h
NPS Organic Act: https://tinyurl.com/27p95ww5
NPS – Olympic: https://tinyurl.com/yc77c97z
NPS – Glacier: https://tinyurl.com/5n8suvd6
JSTOR Daily – Grand Canyon: https://tinyurl.com/3c2s298a
Great Smoky Mountains: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41445620
https://tinyurl.com/43uyzexn
Richard Preston – The Wild Trees: https://tinyurl.com/3zmvf2rr

Illustrations:
JR Browne: https://tinyurl.com/2uztajet
LOC: https://tinyurl.com/4e73v8y7
USF: https://tinyurl.com/2m3bvpfz
Harper’s Magazine: https://tinyurl.com/255mxwch
Muir’s Sketches: https://tinyurl.com/mvrr84x5
https://tinyurl.com/39mtxcjs
Yosemite Collection: https://tinyurl.com/57mv6k3c
https://tinyurl.com/ecyfcerp
Bierstadt – Looking Down Yosemite Valley
Bierstadt – Study for The Hetch Hetchy Valley
Bierstadt – Hetch Hetchy Canyon
William Keith – Hetch Hetchy Side Canyon
James Baker Pyne – The Aqueduct at Arricia, Near Rome
Muir Cartoon: https://tinyurl.com/mttk4nxh

Maps:
David Rumsey: https://tinyurl.com/yc328289
https://tinyurl.com/3w5ufrzf
https://tinyurl.com/5fum3eah
LOC: https://tinyurl.com/yr8xjexb
https://tinyurl.com/2psn9av9
https://tinyurl.com/2fsavcpy
Lake Eleanor: https://tinyurl.com/3ceyypyc

Photos:
Sierra Club: https://tinyurl.com/3j5b227w
LOC: https://tinyurl.com/55vy6f94
https://tinyurl.com/2sspekth
https://tinyurl.com/5du9xsjt
https://tinyurl.com/2er5nws4
https://tinyurl.com/yha66y83
https://tinyurl.com/6y8c3z7d
USFS: https://tinyurl.com/4bxsef8d
https://tinyurl.com/rfacuzm3
https://tinyurl.com/yrywbrj2
https://tinyurl.com/3hr3wz9m
NPS: https://tinyurl.com/3etkvmy9
https://tinyurl.com/59tus3ey
https://tinyurl.com/yy4bp5p5
https://tinyurl.com/49wexjm4
https://tinyurl.com/bdfupm3r
https://tinyurl.com/5337pc52
https://tinyurl.com/42xybexm
UOP: https://tinyurl.com/yzxh6mj9
National Archives: https://tinyurl.com/yck26ake
UC: https://tinyurl.com/5fwtx5px
https://tinyurl.com/3yecv5s9
https://tinyurl.com/34enyjcp
https://tinyurl.com/5h5xbh7f
https://tinyurl.com/2rfzc6b7
https://tinyurl.com/h4jujd37
https://tinyurl.com/yurphn9w
https://tinyurl.com/ye93mf3j

Documents:
Sierra Club: https://www.loc.gov/item/03022601
Earthquake Report: https://tinyurl.com/4yt2phat
Pamphlets: https://tinyurl.com/6339fmyv
https://tinyurl.com/2sj7389j
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7268060
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7268075
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7268069
https://tinyurl.com/mpzr64sp
https://www.loc.gov/item/tmp93000846/
Hearing: https://tinyurl.com/y45z7vds

Articles:
Gold: https://tinyurl.com/4ux6mbvy
Muir: https://tinyurl.com/bch7yj2v
https://tinyurl.com/mryuzs87
https://tinyurl.com/yruct8bz
https://tinyurl.com/bdeewd63
https://tinyurl.com/2nef8n89
Spring Valley: https://tinyurl.com/4cwb4m7t
https://tinyurl.com/5fy6cfjr
https://tinyurl.com/4j6pfna8
https://tinyurl.com/mrybwy8h
Legal Battle: https://tinyurl.com/5ek6az9p
https://tinyurl.com/y2wzpkzs
https://tinyurl.com/e36p9spv
https://tinyurl.com/2p9uy72y
https://tinyurl.com/ekapusck
https://tinyurl.com/wepyttyw
https://tinyurl.com/ypwruttw
https://tinyurl.com/2m8xz7dx
https://tinyurl.com/yb4228ef
https://tinyurl.com/yc5pvd7v
https://tinyurl.com/4jkdamba
https://tinyurl.com/5brhb34f
https://tinyurl.com/y43eyv6b
https://tinyurl.com/4eczypsb
Construction: https://tinyurl.com/ycxt3evh
https://tinyurl.com/bdepmy8s
https://tinyurl.com/3su6xwhd
Elwha: https://tinyurl.com/5abt7cty
Restoration: https://tinyurl.com/y9x4w986
https://tinyurl.com/23jw8baz
https://tinyurl.com/yufanufn
https://tinyurl.com/2uy7hfnz
https://tinyurl.com/48xabjm5

0:00 Intro
0:30 1. GOLD
1:47 Yosemite
4:05 sponsor
6:06 Muir
9:05 Pinchot
11:19 San Francisco
13:44 Hetch Hetchy
15:32 2. WATER
16:24 The Disaster
17:09 The Legal Battle
20:07 The Big Red Book
21:26 The Desision
22:58 Muir/Pinchot – reprise
23:27 San Francisco – reprise
26:57 3. SPECIAL PLACES
30:41 Water – reprise
32:06 Hetch Hetchy – reprise

22 Comments

  1. Hey dude, if you heard news about Indonesia's Raja Ampat and nickel mining problem, you are going to love to make video about it!

  2. Mother Earth’s sorrowful weeping, over the ingratitude of humanity, has ceased. Any living entity has an innate survival instinct. If we fail, to APPRECIATE & care for OUR Jetson home base…? well, good luck trying to breathe, out in space. As ya gaze fondly, back at the once Blue Planet, thinking, “How!? How did we all F this up so badly?”

  3. As a ranger at Mount Rainier and a former USFS and WA DNR employee, our public lands were ruined by the left long before this.

  4. Just watched this in Yosemite. It's a frekkin banger. Actually might head to Hetch Hetchy in the next couple of days. One minor point, though: too-all-uh-me
    Really, though, absolutely excellent film you've made here

  5. Population growth, the greatest enemy of nature. There's way, way too many people in California and its pushing the land to its limits. The greatest thing that indigenous people did for the land was keeping low numbers. Even europeans could live in balance as long as there weren't too many of them. But now, few places on the planet can handle the levels of pressure put on them, no matter who it is. Few can live in the redwood forests anymore because there's too many people and too little forest. If Hetch Hetchy dam is removed, then San Francisco will still need to get its water from somewhere.

    In Chile, the Cochamo valley, an analogue of Yosemite, has remained in great shape. Some of it is held by small private landowners who live there, a large portion has recently been turned into park (after some rich jerk gobbled up a bunch of the private land for himself and then was basically pestered into giving it away as parkland lol, a happy ending at least). It has minimal infrastructure and remains largely natural. The secret? Basically nobody lives in Patagonia.

    Humanity never had to have these formal protected areas and massive legal battles to keep amazing natural places natural in the past.

  6. I just returned two days ago from four days backpacking in Yosemite, I appreciate the park more and more each time I visit. I met a woman one night at camp who knew a ton of history of the park, she taught me the meaning of the word "Yosemite", my mind is still a rattled. Great video, thanks for helping to tell the story of this magical place.

  7. What an emotionally moving video, Aidin. Your talent for storytelling is undeniable. Thank you for advocating for these beautiful places. Please keep doing what you are doing. It matters!

  8. Went from liking the video to disliking it. Don't want to hear about wonderful natives and horrible white men every 30 seconds.

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