July is National Ice Cream Month, so let’s talk about cattle, cost, drought, and methane.
Carbon pollution raises temperatures and increases drought. Excess heat makes it much more difficult to produce ice cream. Dairy cattle require copious water to drink and for their feed. Heat stress makes them drink more and hurts their health and fertility. Dairy farmers need to invest in barns with cooling equipment to make cows more comfortable. All this makes ice cream more expensive.
Cows also produce methane. Some dairy farmers are trying to reduce this greenhouse gas, but the process also makes dairy products more expensive.
Some folks are concerned about the cost of stopping carbon pollution, but doing nothing will cost far more. Here are some other ice cream ingredients at risk.
Banana crops lost due to fungi thriving in warmer weather.
Blueberry drought in Maine.
Chocolate hurt by longer dry seasons.
Peach crops lost in unseasonal freezes due to increasingly volatile weather.
Peanut yields decreasing with heat.
Here are some basic foods at risk.
Chickens & turkeys have been dying in heat waves.
Coffee, especially premium Arabica, has been hit by heat and resulting fungus.
Corn & wheat affected by floods & heatwaves and become less nutritious.
Orange crops in Florida hurt by hurricanes & insect-borne diseases exacerbated by climate change.
Potatoes hurt by less reliable water.
Rice yields fall with heat.
Tea grows in a narrow climate band, and moving plantations is difficult.
French cheese production is down due to shorter cattle grazing shorter seasons.
Grapes ripen too quickly under heat to make good wine.
Italian olive oil prices are up sharply due to climate change.
Lime prices up sharply due to drought & flooding.
Lobster pushed out of their natural habitats by warming waters.
Shellfish threatened by acidification, rising toxicity.
Snow crabs decimated by billions in marine heatwaves off Alaska.
I could go on, as the foods affected increase every year. Extreme weather events, wildfires and pests more frequently wipe out crops globally. Our quality of life decreases as the abundance of life is reduced by climate change.
This is a fun river up in the Sequoia National Forest above Bakersfield California, with various rafting trips both above and below the Lake Isabella Dam. The north fork of the river starts up in Sequoia National Park and includes much more challenging whitewater. Kernville, where most float trips meet, is a cute town with some good places to eat, and it makes a good stop if you’re heading up this way Giant Sequoia NM. The south fork travels through some wilderness and has an Audubon Preserve for birds. Nice area to retire in if you travel to a lot of national parks by EV.
The US Forest Service manages this National Monument inside the Sequoia National Forest. I took the photo on the popular Trail of 100 Giants in the south part of the monument, and you can see some of the fire damage from many huge carbon-pollution driven wildfires. Outside the monument, the devastation is far worse, and I drove through over 30 miles of fatally burned trees to get to the protected Giant Sequoia grove above.
Despite all the fossil fuel and timber industry attempts to avoid talking about the actual cause of the unprecedented new age of fire, it’s very clear that the climate surrounding these groves has changed dramatically due to man. The snow is on the ground for a much shorter period of time, the air and soil are drier, the temperature is higher and there’s even more wind and lightning. These trees evolved for cold, high altitude winters with lots of runoff all year long from snowmelt. On a hot day, a mature Giant Sequoia needs to consume 500 to 800 gallons of water. Today, the creek is tiny, the soil is very dry and the climate is much hotter than it was before the oil industry began. Forest fires, once limited to small areas in cold wet forests, now burn unprecedented huge areas, hotter than ever before, for a longer fire season than ever before. Make no mistake, the primary threat to these trees is our carbon pollution.
The few remaining multi-thousand year old Giant Sequoia are surrounded by giant stumps, where loggers once cut them down to make shingles and pencils, seen at places like Stump Meadows in the north part of the monument. Environmentalists began saving the groves, creating Sequoia National Park in 1890 and expanding the area over the years to protect more groves. Clinton made this grove a national monument in 2000. Now the forest service must treat the groves as special gardens, regularly removing other trees, spraying fire retardant in the area, wrapping famous trees with fire resistant tarps, and even using sprinklers and helicopters to spray thousands of gallons of water per day to protect specific trees from imminent fires.
I first visited the Trail of 100 Giants with my family many years ago, when we appreciated the stroller-friendly hiking trail. Years later, my grown kids wanted to stop here again, and I took the photo below on August 14, 2020. I remember saying how terribly dry everything was. A few days later, I was driving them north on I-5, and I watched the incredible lightning storm that sparked the SQF Complex fire that burned 171,000 acres around here, killing around 10,000 Giant Sequoias. I remember saying that it was the most lightning I had ever seen in my life. The next year there was the 98,000 acre Windy Fire, which killed 1,000 Giant Sequoias, and also the 88,000 acre KNP Complex Fire, which killed 2,000 Giant Sequoias. And the fires continue to threaten the last remaining groves, while we continue burning fossil fuel unnecessarily.
UNESCO has designated many pre-Hispanic world heritage sites in Mexico, but the country has many more ruins, some still undiscovered or un-excavated. In the caves of Mitla & Yagul, there is evidence of agricultural cultivation from 10,000 years ago. The 25 ton Olmec Head #1 above is over 3,000 years old, reflecting the early civilization that arose in the fertile river valleys in southern Veracruz and Tabasco. El Tajin preserves both later pyramids built in this region 600-1200, and UNESCO also recognizes the living, continuing cultural heritage of the Papantla Flyers that reflect rain ceremonies dating back over 2,000 years.
The Mayans also date back over 3,000 years, with new discoveries still being uncovered in the Yucatán jungle. Along what’s now the Guatemalan border, the Mayans eventually built great pyramids at Palenque flourishing between 100-740 and Calakmul 50-850 among other temple jungle cities, like Uxmal which displays the artistry of later Mayan temples. Chief among the Mayan cities was Chichén Itzá, an important center for 12 centuries, used at the end by the warrior Toltecs.
2,500 years ago the Zapotecs began building grand pyramids atop Monte Albán overlooking the valley of Oaxaca, a cultural, trading and religious center for 14 centuries.
2,000 years ago, perhaps the grandest pyramids, below, were built in Teotihuacán in central Mexico, reflecting an ancient empire with influence over most of modern Mexico for seven centuries. After it fell, a smaller set of pyramids continued many of the same traditions in central Mexican for six more centuries at Xochicalco. And trade continued, even to the far north as seen at Paquimé, 1150-1350.
The Aztecs built and ruled Tenochtitlan between 1375-1521, and the ruins of the Templo Mayor can be seen under the foundations of Mexico City and the network of canals and lakes seen at Xochimilco. Before its downfall, this city was larger than London or Paris.
As you can tell, many of the pre-Hispanic pyramid empires co-existed on the gulf coast in Veracruz, the highlands of Oaxaca, the Yucatán peninsula and the center of Mexico. These civilizations created sophisticated calendars, used math (based on 20), made detailed observations of the stars, constructed great pyramids engineered to reflect sounds, light, follow the seasons and align with the stars. The four Papantla fliers each spin 13 times, representing the four seasons in 52 revolutions. These civilizations preserved their heritage in traditions and their history in both images and their written script. They traded goods, practiced medicine, built roads, maintained diplomatic relations and held public games, as in contemporaneous Rome.
We still know little about these pyramid builders, as many of the hierarchical societies collapsed. Apparently lacking draft animals, with limited useful applications of the wheel, and without advanced metallurgy, it is difficult to imagine how they built their grand markets and pyramids. The pre-Hispanic empires also went to war, took prisoners and engaged in brutal human sacrifice, often on a large scale. And our knowledge of even the surviving cultures is also very limited, as their religious beliefs, their temples and much of their culture was destroyed by the Spanish and diseases brought from the old world. Not all ancient culture was destroyed—the Huichol still practice their beliefs that date back over 1,500 years—, and many pre-Hispanic traditions survived conquest and forced assimilation to continue today.
Exploring the ancient pyramids of Mexico is a thrilling glimpse into our mysterious past.
While the broad plazas of Teotihuacán in central Mexico are justifiably crowded with visitors, there you can only look up at the pyramids. Here in the remote Yucatán jungle where I saw more monkeys than tourists, climbing pyramids is delightful. The scale of the ancient Mayan city of Calakmul is difficult to comprehend, and only a small fraction of the ruins have been excavated. I thought the pyramid in the tall trees on the left was big, until I climbed this one, which has both the lower top in front and the higher one from where I took the photo. But the third was even higher with 360° views including tops of both other pyramids.
Above the trees you get commanding views of the jungle into neighboring Guatemala, where rival city Tikal also sits on the Mayan Meridian. Since many Mayan hieroglyphics have been translated at Calakmul, we learned about the changing alliances, wars and fortunes of these related jungle empires. Our knowledgeable guide explained the beautiful carvings near the base and answered many questions, although a knee injury kept him on the forest floor.
Up there we saw an Ornate Hawk-Eagle, which is a magnificent bird, the largest here, with a spiky blue crest, orangish plumage, black and white stripes and more stunning designs. Near the ruins we saw both howler and spider monkeys, including two juveniles play-fighting below. This is the jungle ruins of my dreams, with stunning steep-stepped temples rising out of a great forest with dense foliage and hidden jaguars. I recommend taking a guided tour for the long drive into the biosphere reserve and to interpret the stylized carvings around the temples.
To avoid heat, July is all about high latitude and altitude, and I recommend visiting these northern mountain parks: Glacier, Lassen Volcanic, Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Rocky Mountain . While many other parks are hot and crowded, these are at their peak with plenty of space to explore.
The key to visiting Glacier is to understand that there is only one road through the park, and it doesn’t open until late June. The park is full of activities by June, but the accumulated snow takes a long time to melt at Logan Pass. And it’s a long way around. So if you want to see the sights and do the activities on both sides of the park, then you need to wait until July. August is even busier. The high mountain waterfalls are glorious along the Going to the Sun Road in July.
Lassen Volcanic similarly has its main road blocked late by snow, but by July almost everything is open including some wildflowers. For Bumpass Hell, the full trail usually opens later in July, but there are boiling mud pits and other fascinating volcanic features around the park. Fire damaged parts of the park have mostly reopened this year.
Mount Rainier too is better if you wait until July, when leftover snow recedes to open up roads and trails. I hiked the Paradise Trails in mid July and only crossed one patch of snow. Wildflowers were out, temps were pleasant and the mountain is big enough to handle many happy hikers. Plan your arrival, as the parking lots fill up.
North Cascades is also glorious in July, with wildflowers and waterfalls. Depending on where you want to hike, you may need to go later in the month for all roads to be fully open. But there are many great hiking options all month.
Rocky is another high elevation park, and July is a good time to see wildlife up there. I realize it’s crowded, but if you reserve campgrounds in advance you can reach the best areas early. Visiting in July means that you can move around early, like the elk, and it’s a good time to find bighorn sheep or pikas. I’ve visited in September and felt limited by wind and storms.
In 1990 while studying rock art in the American southwest, James Jacobs noticed that Aztec Ruins and Chaco Culture were on the same meridian or north-south longitude line, and he raised the point with the archaeological community. Then in 1991, he expanded his view to include sites in Mexico, adding Paquimé to the ‘Chaco Meridian’, and he identified a ‘Mayan Meridian’ running through sites in the Yucatán to Tikal in Guatemala. Jacobs believes that this is evidence that ancient Americans practiced geodesy or took accurate measurements of Earth’s size, and he provides analysis of arc distance ratios to support his theory.
In 1999, Stephen Lekson wrote a book called The Chaco Meridian, bringing wider attention to Jacobs’ discovery. But Lekson argues that this is only evidence that the ancient people moved in straight lines north and south. He believes the Ancestral Puebloans used a series of north-south visual bearings to align the sites on the Chaco Meridian, and he points to the great north-south roads of Chaco.
Some critics dismiss both theories and argue that there are so many ancient sites scattered all over North America that any straight line will pass through 3 or more, so any meridian is merely coincidence. So, who’s right? First, the odds that a straight line will run north-south are 1 in 180, so a meridian is not just a random line.
Second, UNESCO recognizes 20 Pre-Columbian settlements as World Heritage Sites in North America, including 1 pre-Mayan, 8 Mayan, 3 Ancestral Puebloan, 5 other contemporaries of the Maya, and 3 post Mayan. All three of the UN-recognized Ancestral Puebloan sites are at 108º longitude: Chaco, Mesa Verde and Paquimé. 6 of the Mayan sites are at 89º longitude: Calakmul, Chichén Itzá, Copan, Quirigua, Tikal and Uxmal. The other 2 Mayan sites are Palenque at 92º and Tak’alik Ab’aj at 91.5º. But Palenque and Tikal are both at 17º latitude. So 100% of the UN-recognized Ancestral Puebloan and Mayan sites are on the same longitude or latitude lines. Statistically, the odds that all 11 independently selected sites share the same three longitudes by accident is 1 in a trillion. Unintentionally, UNESCO confirms both meridians.
The Difficulty of Calculating a Meridian
So, how did the ancient native people build cities on the same latitude and longitude lines before GPS and even before 250 BCE when the Greek Eratosthenes first recorded the idea of plotting longitude and latitude on a grid?
Calculating latitude is easy in the northern hemisphere. Simply measure the angle between the North Star and the horizon. If it’s 90º then you are at the North Pole, and your latitude is 90º. If it’s 0º, then you’re at the equator, latitude 0º.
Calculating longitude accurately is much more difficult, since although the stars stay in place, we orbit the sun every year and rotate every 24 hours. Every 4 minutes, the Earth turns one degree of longitude. So to calculate your longitude, you need to measure a star’s angle on a specific date and time, which requires both a calendar and an accurate measurement of time. For example, we know that the sun is directly overhead at noon, and if we knew which star was directly overhead at midnight on a given date, then we would know our longitude.
There’s a common misperception that calculating longitude requires knowledge of the size of the globe or the location of Greenwich England. While Eratosthenes calculated the Earth’s circumference, longitude measures angle, independently of size, which is why it works the same at every latitude. Greenwich was chosen by committee as our 0º Prime Meridian in 1884 over 100 years after longitude entered common use in navigation with marine clocks. So a useful relative longitude just needs a clock, not membership in any Royal Astronomical Society.
Lekson’s theory of north-south visual bearings might possibly explain the now desert Chaco Meridian sites, but I’ve driven the route which includes some rough elevation changes that would have made it extremely difficult to take accurate bearings over hundreds of miles, even with signal fires. And Lekson’s theory fails completely on the Mayan Meridian, due to the jungle. The hilly Yucatán terrain is covered by fast growing tall trees in a thick jungle that’s difficult to pass. While they built temples that reached above the treetops, that doesn’t explain how they chose the sites in the jungle before building the tall temples. There’s certainly no view of the horizon from the middle of the jungle, even if you clear all the trees for a few miles. So any line of sight explanation is wrong.
Alien Technology or Magic?!?
But the experts say that neither the Ancestral Puebloans nor the Mayans kept time accurately. So, the lack of a satisfactory explanation for how ancient people could apparently calculate longitude has caused a few people to speculate wildly. They imagine that the Knights Templar visited the Mayans while searching for New Atlantis, that maybe aliens gave technology to the Mayans, or that some other magic knowledge of invisible Earth energy—ley lines—is the explanation. No.
Cultural Clues to Calculations
While his original book was criticized for a few errors, Lekson is correct that there is a cultural connection between the ancient sites that made the meridians important to the people who built temples there. The sites share some historic overlapping, they were on established trade routes, and there are some basic architectural similarities, such as buildings oriented north-south. Agricultural societies are acutely aware of seasons, and each season has a different view of the stars at night as the earth orbits the sun. There are observatories at many sites, including at Chichén Itzá below, at Palenque and Xochicalo—with view holes in the observatory roof similar to a planetarium—, so there’s lots of evidence that accurate angles could be calculated on specific days and even at specific times of night. So Lekson’s basic theory, that there was an educated priestly elite with detailed knowledge of astronomy that likely traveled between sites, fits the known facts well.
Importantly, the three main sites on the Chaco Meridian all have advanced irrigation systems. The Greeks used water flowing through fixed diameter holes to measure time, like an hourglass measures time with the flow of sand. Surely, some Ancestral Puebloans tried to measure accurately how long their water supply would last. Yet for some reason, the idea that the ancient North American natives could calculate time is dismissed.
The Mayans were obsessed with the passage of time. The Mayan calendar has 365 days, uses a base 20 number system, and describes cycles of both 52 years and 5,125 years. You may have heard that the Mayans predicted the end of the world on December 21st, 2012. What they actually said was that their long count would reset on that day to begin a new five millennia era. Counting the days and monitoring the sun were central to their daily lives. The pyramid at Chichén Itzá has 365 steps, and the shadow of a serpent appears to climb them on the solstices. They believed the Sun God brought order to the day and transformed into a jaguar to pass through the perilous night.
And similar beliefs were common across pre-Columbian civilizations. From the Caves of Mitla & Yagul to El Tajin’s 365 daily shadowed alcoves, the ancients contemplated the underworld and the sun’s ordered journey across the sky. The tallest temple in Mexico is the Temple of the Sun at Teotihuacán, where a ‘town crier’ would beat his drum to signify important events. And yet some experts today would stand at the feet of the pyramids, perfectly aligned with the sun at noon, while shadows cast points across the plazas and claim that not one of the ancient people knew the time of day.
I do not understand how anyone can argue that the Mayans recorded their dynasties for centuries without having any interest or ideas on how one might calculate shorter time periods. These ancient agricultural societies had tens of thousands laboring in the fields, military groups coordinating jungle raids, traders delivering on precise daily schedules over hundreds of miles—in Tenochtitlan Montezuma ate fresh fish carried by relay runners from the Pacific—, and had thousands of laborers building precise pyramids, and yet some otherwise smart folks maintain the absurd position that none of the natives had any idea how long a day was nor could anyone organize anything that today requires a clock.
The simplest and only remaining logical explanation of the meridians is that some elite of both the Ancestral Puebloans and Mayans had a rudimentary way to calculate time accurately, most likely some type of shadow tracking and water flow systems, as they used both. They may have guarded that secret and kept it from the masses, but someone must have figured out how to tell time or there would be no meridian mysteries. Once we recognize that ancient American astronomers had the ability to measure time accurately, then we know that they could measure the angle of the a star on a particular day and time and calculate their relative longitude at different places. The time would only need to be accurate to within a few minutes at each location in order to mark a new temple within a degree of any known meridian, even in the jungle without a view of the horizon.
But Why Did They Build on Meridians?
But why bother? This is another problem with Lekson’s theory. Even if you accept that ancient people were very attuned to direction and solstices, such annual calendaring doesn’t require longitude at all, while latitude is only incidentally useful. So what’s the practical benefit of building two buildings on the same meridian? For that matter, why bother calculating the size of the earth, if Jacobs is correct about ancient American geodesy? Who cares that the arc distance between two distant buildings is 1% of the circumference of the globe, especially if your number system isn’t even based on 10 or 100?
To understand why, consider your last visit to a planetarium show. They likely showed which constellations appeared in the skies on that date and showed how the stars moved over time. If an ancient priest knew in advance which stars would rise into the sky at what time, then they could plan to tell a story about the stars that fit each day of the year. We know from many sites that the ancient Americans had a deep belief system involving day and night, believing that the labor of those on earth and the struggles of those in the underworld were connected to the rise of the sun each day. The stories of the stars may have revolved around heroes or rulers who had passed on to the afterlife, like the Greek myths that appear in the constellations.
If you had two temples on the same meridian, you could tell the exact same story on the same day beginning at the same time, and the sky would follow your words precisely. Even in daylight, using the same measuring sticks, the shadows would appear exactly at the moment you predict. This, perhaps, was the purpose of building your most important temples on the same meridian: to demonstrate the power of math and knowledge before the ignorant masses.
Although much of the history, language and culture of the ancient Americans was lost, the Yucatán pyramids and great kivas of the southwest have survived, demonstrating that there were at least a few ancient people who maintained the same astrological, calendaric, cartographic, chronologic, geometric, mathematical and navigational knowledge across generations and across cultural boundaries. They intentionally convinced others to build multiple cities on the same meridians to keep their predictions and myth-making consistent for at least a thousand years. The alignment of North American Native American World Heritage Sites proves this indisputably, without a plausible, logical alternative explanation. And if we refuse to recognize their accomplishments that still stand today, then we are the ignorant and irrational ones.
Palenque is both photogenic and filled with important hieroglyphics, describing the rulers who lived and were buried here, especially Pakal the Great, who ruled the city for most of the 600s. Even arriving at 8 am, the popular archaeological site already had a few bus loads of tourists, especially Europeans who are currently avoiding Mexico’s northern neighbor. Part of the jungle loop trail was blocked, so I didn’t see any monkeys or toucans, but I did see an agouti, which is a fairly big, long-legged rodent that’s critically endangered. I spent most of my time appreciating the various carved stone monuments on top of the palace above. The tower is an observatory, and beside it there’s a sunken courtyard memorializing defeated rivals.
It’s wonderful to see many important artifacts still on site, although many of the finest are in museums now. The ancient Mayan builders were skilled at vaulted ceilings, and I admired the stonework in the tomb of the Red Queen, whose sarcophagus is indeed colored red inside. Being able to step inside the pyramid at all is a rare treat, and, although Pakal’s tomb is closed, there’s a large replica at the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City. Many of the inscriptions—which reveal the royal history—are partially covered or off limits to preserve them, and considering the age and jungle atmosphere, the ones I saw were in remarkably good condition due to higher quality stone and innovative carving techniques. Most of the site is still covered by jungle, where new discoveries await.
Overall, Palenque is an excellent site, a mix of well-tended atmospheric grounds, grand architecture, historical importance, intricately detailed art, jungle ruins and active digs.
As they have for over one thousand years, vendors sell art, crafts, fabrics, jewelry, and more near the grand pyramid at Chichén Itzá. As usual, the experts downplay the role of merchants here, but since merchants are included in a number of the elaborate carvings here, they cannot be forgotten. One area is designated as a market, and it is likely that more of the buildings were also used for commerce. It must be remembered that the Mayans did not use the wheel much, so it wasn’t practical to move goods any more than necessary. Nobody wants to carry around large amounts of copper, jade and obsidian on their back. Except maybe thieves. One of the plaques mentioned that the roads may have included checkpoints, which again makes sense if you’re trying to protect your treasure from raiders.
The guides explain in great detail about the ball courts—including the largest in the Americas—, calendars, gods and temples, which is all interesting, but I wonder why they used to sacrifice humans by throwing them into their own drinking water supply. Even though the water is replenished by an underground river system, that wouldn’t be tasty or wise, even if you’re pre germ theory. Perhaps the most sacred cenotes were more ceremonial and were not always used for drinking water as some guides claim. It’s difficult to imagine a highly organized society thrived for centuries without strict rules.
Anyway, this is a magnificent UNESCO world heritage site with both many intricate details and grand structures, once protected from colonial excavation by a few centuries of jungle overgrowth. The Mayans used exceptionally durable stone and mortar here, conveying their sophisticated culture to us in sharp relief. Consider El Castillo—Kukulkán, the feathered serpent—below, with 91 steps per side, which chirp like a Quetzal in echo response, perfectly and artistically aligned with the solstices casting serpentine shadows, plus one step on top, making 365 steps to mark the year. For 2,000 years Native American people have marked the days with similar calendar accuracy, displaying their advanced mathematical literacy at the core of their accomplished civilization.
But my hero Teddy Roosevelt is not the man I write about today. The secret behind the first NPS Director, Stephen Mather, was hidden from view until 1987 when his faithful assistant and successor revealed near the end of his own life that Mather was suicidally bipolar. A contemporary and kindred spirit of Muir and Roosevelt, Mather climbed Mt Rainier in 1905, explored Kings Canyon and Sequoia and helped found Save the Redwoods. Upset over the inconsistent and weak protection in the parks he visited, Mather lobbied Washington and got a job as Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Using his own funds, he organized an expedition and invited the head of the Appropriations Committee and the press, including the National Geographic Society editor. Mather’s enthusiasm was both manic—jumping into waterfall pools—and inspiring. As a direct result, President Wilson created the National Park Service, and Mather became its first leader.
Despite his months-long ‘Death Valley lows’ Mather was responsible for many of the decisions that converted protected public lands into the National Park experiences that we enjoy today. He pushed back the loggers, miners and ranchers who were extracting private wealth from our public lands. He lobbied to create many park units, including Indiana Dunes (postponed due to the urgency of WWI). He had iconic lodges built, like Old Faithful Inn above, and he limited development in many spectacular parks to just one dramatically scenic road. These exuberant and thrilling experiences in nature were his ‘Going to the Sun highs’, and he devoted all his energy to perfecting them. Mather was a staunch environmental defender, a visionary parks evangelist, and a brilliant marketer who wanted to share the joy of these wonderful places with everyone.
Humans have long sought solace in nature, so preserving havens in national parks is essential for humanity. People like Stephen Mather, who suffered from debilitating bouts of deep depression, desperately need nature both to recover from sadness and to be inspired into joyful action. This human bond with natural beauty and affinity with wildlife is what drove Teddy Roosevelt to rebound from his tragedies and Stephen Mather to overcome his mental illness. And as President and NPS architect, both worked tirelessly to protect our public lands for future generations.
Mather is well remembered in many NPS sites, from Mather District in Yosemite, Mather Gorge at Great Falls, Mather Parkway at Rainier, Mather Point in Grand Canyon and Mount Mather in Denali. His friends created bronze Mather plaques that can be found at over 50 park units across the country. Despite our current crazy and dangerous warming of our atmosphere, the plaques thank Mather with the following quote.
“He laid the foundation of the National Park Service, defining and establishing the policies under which its areas shall be developed and conserved unimpaired for future generations. There will never come an end to the good that he has done.”
1929 House Speech by Michigan Congressman Louis Cramton
