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Filmmakers Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan received a standing ovation Wednesday evening, at the Bellows Falls Vermont Opera House, following the screening of a clip of their latest series: The National Parks, America’s Best Idea. The event was hosted by SCA and the Walpole Historical Society.

It was a local crowd of nearly 600 cheering for local folks, but the subject was anything but local. Covering 58 parks and at least 150 years of US environmental history, the 12 hour series is a long love letter to America’s most awe inspiring wild places and the people who have worked to keep them that way. Mesa Verde, Wind Cave, Mount Desert Island, Mount Rainier, Yosemite, Yellowstone – the clip captured each through a fine layering of archival photos, live film, ambient sounds, narration, and powerfully evocative original music.

“I keep making the same film over and over again,” Burns said, “by asking .the deceptively simple question: ‘Who are we? What does the past tell us?’ It’s a kind of emotional archaeology.” Noting the ten years of work, 100 hours of film, thousands of photos, and the enormous intellectual and artistic effort invested in winnowing this film down to 12 hours, Burns said “I hate clips. So we are going to lock the doors and show you the whole thing. If no one takes a bathroom break, we can be done by about 8 o’clock in the morning.” Nervous laughter…

Dayton Duncan, the producer and author of the series, spoke eloquently of the skill and contribution of the rangers who hike their park and know each and every vista, marking them for other to enjoy, such as Thomas Moran’s Artist Point in Yellowstone. Duncan told of searching for something equally outstanding in another park, hiking up peaks, checking angles, backtracking and finally coming to the end of a path where there was bench and a sign labeled “Best View.” And, yes, they knew it was. "The national parks," he said "allow us all to go to a transformative, awe inspiring, spiritual place."

Duncan acknowledged SCA founder Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam who was in the audience, the organization she launched 50+ years ago to help rebuild and restore national parks, and, choking up briefly, the impact the SCA experience has on young people.

Crediting Wallace Stegner, who said: “The National Parks are America’s best idea.” for the title of their film, the filmmakers might equally have used words from the legislation creating Yellowstone, America’s first national park. Carved in limestone at the Gardiner Montana entrance they read simply, “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” As one of the narrators noted, it did not say some of the people, it said [all of] the people.

Thanks Ken and Dayton for an inspiring evening and a brilliant new film.

Screening Hosted by SCA and the Walpole Historical Society

July 1, Bellows Falls, Vermont - Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan's most recent film, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, played to a Sold Out audience at the Bellows Falls Opera House. The rain broke just long enough for the patrons to line up around the block. Inside, as Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan prepared to introduce their film, the crowd buzzed with anticipation.

Ken Burns and SCA Founding President, Liz C. TItus Putnam

Ken Burns Introduces the Film

Dayton Duncan Introduces the Film

By Andon Zebal - SCA Alum '08

Andon Zebal (SCA Alum '08) is currently traveling through Mexico, volunteering for as many ecology, sustainable development, and reforestation projects as possible. He is reporting his experiences on his website.

I'm breaking chronosequence today to bring you this important report from the jungles of Campeche. I've been working with Mauro Sanvicente, a veterinarian turned burocrat turned wildlife vet, to capture and place a radio transmitter on a King Vulture in the area around the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Mauro's been at this for three months, but he hasn't captured any of these elusive beasts. In fact, no one has ever captured a healthy adult specimen in Mexico. Until today.

We've been at the Ejido "Veinte de Noviembre," just north of the Reserve, for three days with no luck. Mauro says it takes a couple of days for the roadkill & cowguts to get stinky, so the third day is usually when they take interest in the bait.

Our trap consisted of a net laced with tiny nooses meant to snag a foot or a claw, placed on the ground and with the meat in the middle. We had almost given up and were talking about what to do tomorrow when I mentioned, in passing, a sound I had heard last time I went over to check the trap. It was kind of a low roar, a sound I thought was associated with a wild boar or a howler monkey.

Mauro asked me to describe the sound, and as I did he got excited and headed to the little tent from where we check the trap. He came back with images of a juvenile checking out our bait, but decided to give them some time (they're extremely cautious) to explore the trap and get their
talons caught in it.

See Video and Continue Reading Breaking: King Vulture Captured on Andon's Blog

Mauro Sanvicente's project to capture, radio-collar, and track the movements of the King Vulture is on-going and always requires volunteers. If you can get yourself to the Chetumal in the Yucatan Peninsula, and are willing to work, he'll pay for your food and provide housing. He can be reached at msanvicente67@yahoo.com.mx

WFA Training for Crew Leaders by Aerie Backcountry Medicine.

Watch the video below, then pledge to take part this summer by signing the Conservation Declaration.

Our goal is to reach 5,000 signatures by Monday, June 22nd - the launch of the president's United We Serve campaign.

Once you've signed, you’ll be entered to win a National Parks Annual Pass!

Training simulation at Crew Leader Training in Charlestown, NH.

SCA just learned that the Massachusetts Senate recently voted to eliminate $750,000 in funding for the Massachusetts Service Alliance (MSA). This action would effectively shut down the MSA, the state agency that administers all AmeriCorps funding for Massachusetts.

Stripping the $750K for MSA puts at risk $10 million in federal funding, another $10 million in private matching funds, and nearly $5 million in post-service education awards for members. No matter how you add it up, it just doesn't make sense. And it would be a real blow to SCA’s Mass Parks program.

Please help by sending a letter to your State Senator in the next week. (See sample text below. Find your senator's email address here) http://members.thesca.org/site/R?i=WYs6hx0hARC7k4IcNZ2BIg.

This week, the first wave of 93 SCA high school trail crews started work. In Denali, Inyo Mammoth, Chief Joseph Dam, Saguaro, Acadia, Cumberland Island National Seashore and many, many other national parks and forests, SCA members are building trails and bridges, making new friends, and taking up the challenge issued by President Obama to engage in national service. You can sign our Conservation Declaration to show your support for the important conservation work they are doing.

Acadia National Park, ME - Summer 2007 - Photos by Crew Members

This is the 31-38 (we got a little behind, time to catch up!) entry in our ongoing series, Photograph Fantastique, in which we count down 50 days until the Unofficial Official Start of High Season for conservation programs.