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The National Parks. Part 5, Great Nature (1933-1945) : America's Best Idea, A Film by Ken Burns

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In this episode, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to battle unemployment in the Great Depression, created the Civilian Conservation Corps, which spawned a "golden age" for the parks through major renovation ...

In this episode, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to battle unemployment in the Great Depression, created the Civilian Conservation Corps, which spawned a "golden age" for the parks through major renovation projects. In a groundbreaking study, a young NPS biologist named George Melendez Wright discovered widespread abuses of animal habitats and pushed the service to reform its wildlife policies. Congress narrowly passed a bill to protect the Everglades in Florida as a national park - the first time a park had been created solely to preserve an ecosystem. As America became embroiled in World War II, Roosevelt was pressured to open the parks to mining, grazing, and lumbering.

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