Southwestern Gems: Our Desert National Parks, a one-hour documentary from the producers of The Desert Speaks, showcases the best of America’s national parks, monuments, preserves and historic sites of the four major North American deserts. The new documentary airs on Sunday, Sept. 27 p.m., preceding the PBS premiere of The National Parks: America’s Best Idea from producer Ken Burns. Southwestern Gems brings to life the four major North American deserts: The Great Basin Desert of Nevada and Utah; the Mohave Desert of California; the Sonoran Desert of Arizona; and the Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico and Texas. Insight from experts and researchers from national parks within each of these locations guides viewers through the biology, geology and research that inspired the protection and preservation of these natural microcosms. While each of these major desert areas has its own defining individuality, each park, monument, preserve and historic area within these deserts has the character fitting their protected designations. Some of these sites showcased in Southwestern Gems: Our Desert National Parks include:
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Meet some of the kids who spent a week camping at the Grand Canyon, as part of a program called "Parks in Focus," a collaboration between the Morris K. Udall Foundation and the Boys & Girls Club.
For many of the children, it was their first real encounter with the great outdoors.
Fewer children learn and play in nature as they did in days past, deprived of the natural setting that shaped the thinking and aspirations of previous generations. Many underserved kids never leave their communities.
Boys & Girls Club member Victor Preciado at the Grand Canyon
Parks in Focus changes that dynamic by giving young environmental leaders (Udall scholarship alumni) the opportunity to pass their knowledge to children who might never have seen a national park.
For 10 years, the Morris K. Udall Foundation has been introducing middle school students, all from local http://www.bgctuc.org/, to the wonders of their nearby parks. The foundation has put cameras in their hands, field guides in their pockets, and with the help of Udall Scholars trained as trip leaders, guided them into canyons, through creeks, over boulders, and past ruins.
Watch Video Slide Show of the Kids' Pictures:
The story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence, and just as radical: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone.
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Episode One: The Scripture of Nature
Premieres Sunday, September 27th 8pm.
The astonishing beauty of Yosemite Valley and the geyser wonderland of Yellowstone give birth to the radical idea of creating national parks for the enjoyment of everyone; John Muir becomes their eloquent defender.
Episode Two: The Last Refuge
Premieres Monday, September 28th 8pm.
A young president, Theodore Roosevelt, becomes one of the national parks’ greatest champions; in Yellowstone, a magnificent species is rescued from extinction; and in Yosemite, John Muir fights the battle of his life to save a beautiful valley.
Episode Three: The Empire of Grandeur
Premieres Tuesday, September 29th 8pm.
In John Muir’s absence, a new leader steps forward on behalf of America’s remaining pristine places; a new federal agency is created to protect the parks; and in Arizona, a fight breaks out over the fate of the grandest canyon on earth.
Episode Four: Going Home
Premieres Wed. September 30th 8pm.
As America embraces the automobile, a Nebraska housewife searches for peace and inspiration in park after park, while a honeymoon couple seeks fame and adventure in the Grand Canyon; and the future of the Great Smoky Mountains becomes caught in a race with the lumbermen’s saws.
Episode Five: Great Nature
Premieres Thursday, October 1st 8pm.
In the midst of an economic catastrophe and then a world war, the national parks provide a source of much-needed jobs and then much-needed peace; the park idea changes to include new places and new ways of thinking; and in Wyoming, battle lines are drawn along the front of the Teton Range.
Episode Six: The Morning of Creation
Premieres Friday, October 2nd 8pm.
A stubborn iconoclast fights a lonely battle on behalf of a species nearly everyone hates; America’s “Last Frontier” becomes a testing ground for the future of the park idea; and in unprecedented numbers, American families create unforgettable memories, passing on a love of the parks to the next generation.
