I do love Ken Burn's work but

[MichaelHarris]

one thing to remember when watching the National parks series is the number of American Indians displaced by the park system. Educators, anthropologists, and historians generally tell us about land speculators,commercial developers, and Indian agents in forcing the removal of native peoples from their homelands, they very seldom discuss the National Park system. I would suggest a book by Kroeber "Handbook of the Indians of California", take a look at the map of the different tribes and consider the location of California's National Parks. Consider the story of Ishi, the last of his people to wander in from the wilderness. http://www.thebicyclingguitarist.net/ishi/

[bbinacan]

1. I think we should give all of it back.

What do you think?

[MichaelHarris]

2. Sort of tried that

with the Black Hills, the tribe refused the check. It remains uncashed.

[bbinacan]

4. Not the cash silly

We should give all lands back. Right? Until you're ready to do that, all else is moot. Right?

[MichaelHarris]

5. is your

suggestion practical? Does acknowledging something mean we have to make it right?

[gauguin57]

3. Burns documentary talks about the displacement.

There are a lot of interesting (and disappointing) aspects to the story of the national parks.

[MichaelHarris]

6. There is

For a time they became the playground for the far east, I mean really far east. Americans couldn't afford to go to their own parks during the Reagan administration.

[Hannah Bell]

11. tenting for a month now costs as much as renting an apartment for a month.

it's ridiculous.

[MichaelHarris]

12. It really is

I recently bought one of those teardrop campers and it costs 15 to 30 dollars a night in some places


My Teardrop

[provis99]

13. Man thats a beautiful camper!

Looks like fun for two!

[MichaelHarris]

20. it is!

So much better than tent camping. I was having more trouble with my knees getting up and down and this little camer makes it fun again.

[Hannah Bell]

14. when i was a kid, we camped a lot, & a couple of times we camped alongside migrant farmworkers.

it was free then, even at developed sites.

my theory is that, in addition to nickle-&-diming the populace, reagan-era park fees had something to do with forcing those kind of folks more into the money economy & cutting off subsistence avenues outside the money economy.

I really miss the old park system, the old-time back-country rangers, horse rangers, back-country stations, etc.

There was an iconic poster when i was a kid; it's not even on the net now:

"I am glad I will never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"

[XOKCowboy]

19. I think we found the last free NF campground in CA

It's near Mammoth Lakes also and close to some great fly fishing. It's a dry campground (no water and no trash) but had nice (for USFS campgrounds) clean restrooms. There's not even a sign pointing to it from the nearest highway or even at the entrance. It was great!

The other campgrounds in the area were going for like $16-$25 per night. Ahhh for the old days when they were all No Fee and you didn't have to reserve a camping space in advance on the internet.

[gauguin57]

22. I love that camper!

I want one!

[BuyingThyme]

7. There's a great book out there about Ishi. It's been reprinted a million times.

Ironically, a national wilderness area now bears him name.

[csziggy]

8. "Ishi, Last of his Tribe" by Theodora Kroeber

The wife of the anthropologist who wrote the "Handbook of the Indians of California" and mother of Ursula K. Le Guin. Terrific book which lets the reader into the mind of Ishi and tells the amazing story of how he survived long after his people had died.

[byronius]

18. I read 'Handbook' -- it was amazing. Brilliant.

Plus, I love Ursula K. Le Guin.

[MichaelHarris]

9. That brings up a wonderful point

which made faster work of Indian removal, Land grabbing in the east, or gold claims in the west? It took around 50 years to officially start an Indian removal program under Andrew Jackson, it was going on well before that though. I'm using 1776 to 1824, when Jackson was elected here. How fast were tribes removed when gold was discovered on their lands? Interesting point.

[Sherman A1]

10. The one thing I note about Ken Burns work is

that I always fall asleep. Might be great stuff, but I can't stay awake.

[soverywendy]

15. I don't like Ken Burns' work.

His gawd-awful "Baseball" series ruined it for me. He overdoes a few sides to a topic and ignores so much else.

Meanwhile his brother Ric's "New York" is magnificent!!

[GivePeaceAchance]

16. Obama can always use the argument that GOP voters opposed invasion of their pricvacy recently...

would they really want that privacy invaded upon?

[malaise]

17. 100% correct

I pointed this out on another thread.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. It's really a great documentary but...

I think Ken Burns needs to point out that John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt were important and influential people involved in the formation of the National Parks.