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SALT LAKE CITY -- The first installment of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' latest work made its television debut on PBS Sunday night. The project is a six-part, 12-hour series about our National Parks -- a topic very relevant to Utah.
Burns began working on the project 10 years ago, and it took six years to do all the filming. Earlier this year, as he was beginning a long promotional tour, I had a chance to sit down with Burns and we talked about this new project called: "The National Parks: America's Best Idea."
"What a great country to say that we can set aside these places as, as the first director of the parks service Steven Mathers said, ‘as vast school rooms of Americanism.' What could be better than that?" said Burns.
His passion for America's national parks is obvious the minute he begins talking about them.
For the record, there are 58 "natural" national parks -- that is, those that have the incredible forms and shapes created by Mother Nature. There are a total of 391 units in the national park system, which also include monuments and historical sites. They are all unique and all beautiful.
Burns' latest work doesn't just focus on the visuals.
"We're telling the story of the national parks. It's not a travel log, It's not a recommendation of what lodge to stay at. It is the story of the ideas and the individuals who made this happen," he said.
This past year, Burns was in Salt Lake speaking to the Outdoor Retailers Convention. The attendees are manufacturers and buyers of recreational equipment that many Americans will use while they visit our parks.
Burns said the U.S. was the first country to set aside pristine acreages for everyone's enjoyment. It's an idea that has since been copied around the world.
Burns said, "Part of our identity of who we are is rooted in the land. What better place to focus on than these places set aside, that have been protected forever, that sort of represent our collective sense of our physical self?"
Five of those places featured in the documentary are right here in Utah.
Burns told me he can't decide which of our parks he likes the best, which causes him to come back here from time to time.
"What better thing to do than give yourself an excuse to come to Utah and spend a lot of time at Arches and Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Zion and Bryce? Don't stop me!" he said.
E-mail: kmccord@ksl.com
