Honorary Park Rangers

Honorary Ranger Ken Burns

Acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns can now add “honorary park ranger” to a resume that already includes two Academy Award nominations, seven Emmy Awards, and 20 honorary degrees. Acting National Park Service Director Dan Wenk recently presented Burns and his production partner Dayton Duncan with honorary park ranger certificates and traditional ranger hats during a ceremony in the Department of the Interior Auditorium. After receiving the awards, Burns and Duncan previewed and discussed a short film based on The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, their six-part, 12-hour series scheduled to premier on PBS stations nationwide September 27.

Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature's most spectacular locales — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska — The National Parks: America's Best Idea is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background — rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

It is a story full of struggle and conflict, high ideals and crass opportunism, stirring adventure and enduring inspiration - set against the most breathtaking backdrops imaginable.

National Public Land Day at President's Park
Saturday, September 26, 2009

Please help us make America's Best Idea even better. Join us for a national day of service and celebration in your 391 national parks.

Click here for more information on "Schedule of Events" page.

With You, We are Making America’s Best Idea Even Better

Writer and historian Wallace Stegner called national parks "the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."

For nearly 100 years, this best idea has been nurtured by the National Park Service. Over time, the number of national parks has increased and our mission has become more complex as the range of services we offer has grown beyond parks to meet the needs of thousands of towns and cities across the country. Filmmaker – and Honorary National Park Ranger – Ken Burns tells the story of the national parks and the people who helped create them in his new PBS film The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.

See how we are making America’s Best Idea even better www.nps.gov/AmericasBestIdea