Transcripts For CSPAN2 Frederick 20240704

Second part of the Calvin Coolidge centennial Conference Marking the centennial of the 30th residence extension to the white house at 9 30 p. M. Eastern on the presidency pete souza for white house photographer for president S Ronald Reagan and barack obama talked about the daytoday workings of the presidency including the history making moment he witnessed, exploring the american story. Watch American History tv saturdaysn cspan2 and find a full schedule on your Program Guide or watch online anytime cspan. Org history. I am delighted to move us to our second panel. The Conservation Movement and state and National Parks. We are lucky to have lauren meyer a historic on an Landscape Architect serving as moderator kick off speaker for this event. Lauren has a longstanding relationship having edited a master list of Design Projects which i just mentioned, as well as parts of the papers of Frederick Olmsted amiri 12 volumes thousands and thousands of pages. She screw the coach of the friends the nonprofit partner of the Frederick Law Olmsted as well. With that welcome lauren. Thank you dd. If i could figure out the technology here i am going to pull up the next and might need someone. I am not a. User. There it is. Doubleclick in the middle. Different thann mine. [laughter] welcome everyone to session two. I am going to kick off this panel covering sort of a flyover National Park service. Followed by scholar and historian who will do a deeper dive and ending with sam potter who will it talk about thevi important historics and current work of saving and california. We are going to do this panel just boom, boom, boom speaker after speaker in order to create the most time possible for questions from all of you. During olmsted 200 we celebrate the bicentennial of Frederick Law Olmsted senior part i will begin with three areas in which 19th century precedents contributed to this development of the National Park service. Some of these you have of course heard before. First we heard previously about Frederick Law Olmsteds advocacy for reservations such as an niagara and yosemite. It was an important responsibility of government to create parks for the people and of the healing power of natural scenery. There are two other areas where the olmsted firm influence the work of the National Park service. As the first fullscale office of the practice of architecture the olmsted firm developed a site based design process that integrated both Landscape Architecture and preservation into a single project that transforms a given place into a park. Their approach form the basis for conserving large areas with carefully designed public access. This was emulated and expanded by the National Park service and the 20th century and the development of park planning through the creation of general plans as well as more detailed studies for individual park facilities. Third olmsted collaboration with richardson resulted in parks that were enhanced with architectural features inspired utilizing materials for connection between the olmsted firms designed a static on the rustic architecture of the National Park service has been well documented by many including linda mcclellan, Laura Harrison and ethan carr. The National Park service took designed to new heights. Sometimesk called up architecte giving early National Parks a distinctive architectural field. Of character. Was one of the founding members of the American Society of Landscape Architecture jon charles served as its first president. In 1915 National Parks and National Forests. Devoted annual meeting in boston to aon discussion of National Parks. Articles presented by olmstedar junior, manning, James Sturgis and Henry Hubbard all called for an organized somatic approach to creating National Parks with the fundamental goal of preserving natural scenery using the art of eckert and chan of architecture to successfully design your parks. Olmsted also wrote about the importance distinction between National Parks and National Forests. I am referring to olmsted junior mostly in this talk. At that time there already approximately 14 National Parks and 28 National Monuments. But the administration was fractured as we heard earlier amongst the department of interior, war, and agriculture. Sorry i forgot to mention following the meeting olmsted work collaboratively with several legislatures and park advocates to draft the legislation that would create National Park service. Olmsted contribution toward the organic the legislation that created the National Park service as we know it today is its statement of purpose. The olmsted firm was involved in the National Parks in many ways, this included bothl external ad internal advocacy. When i sit external i mean working outside of the National Park service through organizations and congress to advocate and protect existing parks as well as advocating for new ones. Olmsted junior was embroiled in the controversy regarding event before the passage of the organic act and hope to talk more about that. After the 1906 San Francisco fire city officials increase their efforts to expand the citys water supply and select the valley in the northwest part of yosemite National Park is the best option. Olmsted was called upon by many to help fight the proposal. From 1910 until 1913 he wrote letters to members of congress and joined with Many National leaders opposing the project were the most eloquent record of his objection was a lengthy editorial in the boston transcript, noting potential damage to the scenery of the valley, a lack of definitive need for the project the potential precedents that would create regarding private interest and public land. Regardless the bill passed both the house and senates and the project advanced. Olmsted juniors role in the asl a committee such a consultationn with local florida National Park Service Officials regarding potential of the everglades as the new National Park. Ernest company and architect had been promoting the idea at a time when florida was undergoing a surgeon population. Speculation and poaching of a re wildlife and plants. Legislation to investigate the everglades passed in 19209. Olmsted was simultaneously engaged in an adversarial dialogue sterling yard of the National Park association who felt National Parks should be based solely on profound natural scenery. Olmsted argued for a broader interpretation including a wide range of landscape type and ecosystems and habitats including the everglades unique tropical ecosystem. He agreed to lead a special committee of the National Parks association and in january , 32 olmsted and others embarked on an extensive trip by automobile, motor cruiser, small boat, on foot and by blimp and airplane. [laughter] to examine the photos are fabulous by theto way. [laughter] to examine hundreds of miles of the everglades. The outcome was a written resolution of the National Park and hision by olmsted president William Wharton that conveyed the organization strong support which had a critical impact on the passage of legislation to create the park. Olmsted junior also prepared many planett reports for the National Park Service Related to the Current Conditions with recommendations for future actions. In 19209 he traveled to the territory of hawaii he made a detailed report on various issues related to design and planning. With a focus on the section of the island of hawaii part of what was then called hawaii National Park established in 1916. Olmsted reported on the challenges of human use d in development in a fragile setting with significant cultural and Natural Resources and advocated for the preservation of native species and that use implanting projects. He addressed the management of the parks foundry recommending Design Review for areas visible from the park. He wrote extensively on the appropriate design of park facilities in order to preserve the essential quality of the park and for the creation of the general plan. The resultingor report stands aa thorough and thoughtful evaluation of park planning and design in a sensitive, visual, cultural and ecological setting. The first and largest project undertaken by Frederick Law Olmsted junior in his role as National Park service collaborator an official position he held from 1941 until 1950s the Colorado Riverin basin recreational survey. This project came at a time National Park servicece needed a representative to work cooperatively and collaboratively with other federal agencies around the complex issues of water rights, dm construction, waterbased recreation and scenic preservation in the areas southwest. I think it is very, very interesting to think of this project 30 years after the controversy it had become that water was needed but olmsted clearly was so committed to the importance of National Parks he was a great outside entity to help facilitate the National Park Service Interest in this work. In his first set of assignments he covered some 3500 miles in 1941. Resulting in a list of potential recreation sites from Steamboat Springs to Dinosaur National monument and working continually through 1942 in 1943 covering a vast t geographic area. He continued to consult on matters of water and reclamation on the Colorado River as late as 1950 when he was asked to todevelop pros and cons relatedo the inclusion of the echo park and splits the mountain they had in Dinosaur National monument. In 19206, Steven Mather asked olmsted junior for his assistance in evaluating the area in the vicinity and grand Canyon Village of the south rim. Daniel whole had taken of the design of the village but the National Park service remain concerned about the potential expansion of the hotel which was operated by concessionaire. Olmsteds role was to assess if and how the hotel could expand without a detrimental effect on the park and its facility. Its primary concern was preservation of the view the arrival sequence for visitors. And also the canyon. He recommended separating arrival from internal circulation and the establishment of corridors keeping new development away from the rim and creating soil conditions that would facilitate recovery of the landscape through revegetation. Picking up on something talked about the grand canyon is one of the few parks mecca nationall parks were junior was involved in land issues with Indigenous People. When the tribe s the federal government for boundary adjustments to provide more suitable grazing land. What is interesting to note is olmsted provided input because t he was asked to. Solely based on the preservation of the parks scenery. But not on the merits of the proposal. The firm had the longest relationship with yosemite. Olmsted junior began officially advising the National Park service as early as the 1920s related to conflict and overcrowding in Yosemite Valley. In 19208 stepped in as the first chair of the committee of expert advisors. A position he held intermittently until 1953. The committee was to provide guidance and a broad plan for it yosemite that would ensure it scenic preservation of the National Park service considered Park Development to accommodate increasing public use. It also gave the park service the opportunity to address outside criticism by selecting a committee the agencys critics could support. Served with mcduffie with whom his work on the california state park system and a geologists at caltech. The committee studied several locations inn the park and advised on topics from winter orecreation activities to public sanitation, to a proposed cable away from the valley floor up the rock face to palatial points in a lieu of costly road construction, which of course you know he opposed. This work was most often cements the National Park service in the form of letters and reports that did it sometimes require solving sitespecific designs for which olmsted junior turned to the firm for help as in the case of the parking area at glacier point. The proposed development of a new village in Yosemite Valley was a major activity of the board in the late 1930s. Particularly with respect to a public uses were appropriate. Where to locate new trails on how the vehicular circulation and placement of New Buildings would occur. The board also advised on road alignment to minimize potential scarring of the steep slopes and rock cliff that wouldld diminish the parks scenic value. Often involving the olmsted firm and the development of design options. The olmsted firms work and im really just talking about acadia began with bar island in 1908. It was the work on the motor roads that left the greatest imprint on the new National Park. In 19206, daniel hall and thomas visited the road were rockefeller junior was doing his private estate on the island. The patronage of the motor road. Rockefeller contacted the office in 19209 regarding the opportunity in over the next six years the olmsted brothers completed approximately 130 design plans for the park focused primarily on the roads rockefeller hope this would ensure protection of the serene Natural Beauty of the island with the olmsted brothers also serving as a neutral party to mediate differences of opinion with the parks first the superintendent perhaps you are seeing a little theme here. Indi 1937, the National Park Service Director wrote to olmsted junior regarding the design of the memorial at the newly established Great Smoky Mountains National Park this is also funded by jon the d rockefr junior. Henry hubbard stepped in to assist the National Park service rockefeller was design. The new cap site was selected the new design created stone terraces built which provide outstanding views of the gap. Construction of the memorial beganr in 1939 with local labor and local stone served as a setting for the dedication of the parks in 1940. The National Park service also consults with the olmsted firm regarding the bureau of public roads plans and hubbard was appointed as consulting Landscape Architect to assist with the design with you. and in 1951 of olmsted juniors last projects for National Parks was the developmentlo of an poly on wilderness values and National Parks that was necessitated by public concern regarding the preservation of the south appalachian and smoky mountains. As you heard earlier, the Olmsted Brothers Firm made a significant contribution to the public landscape of the National Capitol now managed by the National Park service. In 1901 olmsted junior was appointed to mcmillan also known commission. E park in 1910, the u. S. Commission on fine arts in 19206 the National Capitol and planning commission. The firm understood took in the vicinity of the mall potomac park, the washington monument, the Jefferson Memorial, white house grounds in roosevelt island. While olmsted a junior served in the finance commission between 1910 in 1918, the firm carefully avoided Design Projects under their jurisdiction. He did often provide recommendations regarding how the landscape of the mall, Federal Building grounds and memorials should be treated. Olmsted junior provided recommendations for the white house grounds in 19208 was later designco work completed between 1934 and five by olmsteds and Henry Hubbard during the fdr administration. The nps asked olmsted to serve as an informal consultant to the Jefferson Memorial project in 1938, they hired the olmsted brothers Landscape Architects for the memorial with Henry Hubbard completing the majority of the work there 1941 comment during multiple disagreements, over planting, traffic, workmanship and the governments construction sophistication. Olmsted senior had considered the appropriate treatment of a rocker creek and projects undertaken with the d. C. Street thets National Zoological park d in 1917 the olmsted brothers undertook an effort to document the park lands preparing diagrams that analyze the landscape and a narrative report should. Olmsted junior and Edward Clark Whiting were largely responsible. O illustrations using an overlay existing conditions which can be lifted to reveal the proposed landscape treatment. Several Historic Sites with olmsted involvement became part of the National Park system at a later date. This includes 1913 design for Washington Square in philadelphia. Which was incorporated into the national in 1991. 1914 the mayor of baltimore as the olmsted brothers to assist with the design of the landscape for mchenry in the vicinity of the Francis Scott key monument that included road design, grading, planting. Critical olmsted junior and valley proposal for the treatment of George Washingtons birthplace in 19208. By the Wakefield National Memorial Association in advance to the bicentennial which was funded in part also bite jd rockefeller junior. Reconstructf the Wakefield House shed considerable light on his preservation philosophy, grounded in a commitment to authenticity and the historical record. Frederick law olmsted jr home and office in brookline, massachusetts, became a unit of the National Park svice in 1979 and 1980. And you heard from jay newman from brookline. The olmsted firm had advised cated for National Parks both directly and indirectlthrough National Archives that organizations of which many of the olmsted Firm Partners were active as well as design and planning projects directly for the National Park service. While Frederick Law Olmsted jr jr. Singly contributed the most to the entire most to the entire portfolio a broad understanding of the diversity of ecosystems and landscape types that would make suitable National Parks. The importance of preserving historic and archaeological sites using appropriate methods, the critical need for National Parks within easy distance of major urban populations and the role of sitespecific sustainable designs to address safe and appropriate action to National Parks. I think youre going to hear some overlap in our panel but whats fun for me in that is you will see some of these issues through a variety of different lenses will and with that i would like to turn the podium over. [applause] hello. Im delighted to be here today to celebrate thishe explorationf the conservation in america. Ive got to do my thing first. I forgot. I particularly want to thank you for your exuberance and deliberations and for including frederick junior. The younger olmstead was in nature and wilderness to the lifelong tutelage of his father combined as it was with the exposure to landscapes and hroutdoor activities throughout his growing up years from an early age he was kept apprised of his fathers commissions including conservation efforts. He proved an eager pupil for the duration of his life the significant amount of time reflecting upon the lessons he had absorbed and building upon those contemplations through his own subsequent consideration of the conservation matters. Sharpened as they were by his awareness of the expansion of human habitation that rapidly transformed and compromised landscapes and wilderness in the late 90s and early 20th century. A job where the United States coast surveyed deep in the colorado mountains in 1994 and through his association with forestry experts during the 1894 and 95 apprenticeship in North Carolina is exposure and training and experience provided a natural segue into the presentpractice of the rapidly unfolding field as well as the prominence in establishing Landscape Architectural education inn america. He led these transformations every day honing his practical and aesthetic oriented intellect and sensibilities traits that facilitated his role in the development of modern planning. A key to his approach in all landscape matters it should be remembered the end race of continuously balancing practical necessity with the safeguarding and beauty. There was a forceful call as you heard in order to provide water for the city of San Francisco. When the debate reached congress in 1913 with powerful voices on both sides, Rick Olmstead led writing forcefully against the flooding of the valley. Although hed always considered himself open to arguments for combining utility and Natural Beauty and wilderness places he was firm on his opinion such deviations must be accomplished without harmful impairment to the site in question. He wrote with a distinctive scenic charm would be irreparably injured by the alteration. Bo the last century he wrote in the boston evening transcript has shown such an enormous increase in theth appreciation of and resort as a means of recreation for the intensifying strain of our civilization and the amount is so rapidly shrinking that its a very unconservative thing in the present time of transition to o abandon or make over into andi essentially different thing and any such that has once been deliberately set apart to be saved as a sample for posterity. Ngas well he concluded altering the valley would set a precedent. At that battle was ultimately lost of course but had the effect of further incentivizing already active advocates for the establishment of what they initially called the National Park bureau although as a member of the newly established commission of fine arts, Rick Olmstead felt he worked quietly along with a more public advocate over the following years during repeated attempts to formulate and pass the bill that would establish an independent entity to protect existing parks and create and protect wilderness areas in conjunction with safekeeping of National Monuments provided by the Antiquities Act of 1906. In 1911 he was asked to write a letter delineating priorities for the proposed bureau the strongest suggestion made us for what he called the importance of and ier quote some kind of unmistakable terms of the primary purpose for which the parks and monuments are satisfied accompanied by the prohibition of any use that is directly or indirectly in conflict with that primary purpose. Ultimately plaintiff fact ultimately it was he who ubprovided those subsequently widely quoted words. The National Park service, he wrote would promote and regulate National Parks monuments andto reservation which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the National Historic objects and wildlife therein to provide for the enjoyment of such for the enjoyment of the future generations. Although the passage of the National Park service act in 1960 depended upon the compromise of allowing for School Scientific management preferably in remote areas after this timere olmstead himself remained committed to preserving as much as possible without such intrusion. By the time of the bills passage, the olmstead firm was involved in the planned community of california a deepening its already developing affinity for the western United States. In the early 1920s the olmstead junior family consisting of himself, his wife sarah and daughter charlotte moved to the area and while he still traveled a great deal the family began putting down roots in their new environment. Shortly before the move, rick spent the months of july and august touring the National Parks with members of the National Park Service Staff including yosemite where he wanted to see firsthand how the construction on federal land in response to the federal power act of 1920 was being put into practice. From sequoia National Park and into kings canyon first by automobile and then a series of strenuous horse packing trips, he writes home and lyrical passages to his wife and daughter of his devotion to the unspoiled portion of the western land. Two years later speaking of that trip to the american civicin association in ad talk entitled use of inexperienced outsider the usually dispassionate dispatched and an overt heartfelt manner his deepest feeling about the unspoiled natural world, and i quote no matter how impressive or beautiful the one thing that made the deepest impression on me and which i believe to be the most priceless recreational quality was the sense of freedom and independence they give to be and to know that one is free of his own right as a human being without trespasser intrusion to go in the spirit moves pill in any direction day after day with the web of Property Rights and the other restrictions on personal liberty that is built to keep its life from chaos and goes more than anything else to calm nerves and cool the temper and rest of the mind of the ordinary modern civilized man harassed by the struggles in that web grown too complex for him to understand and affix accept in its entirety as reasonable. Hed already clarified his unwavering position on the equally important but fundamentally different functions of the National Forests and parks. In a 1916 speech, the American Society of Landscape Architects and this talk for the aca he reiterated his conviction. National forests, he said, or set apart for economic stands in the recreation as a byproduct prproperly to be secured only insofar as it does not interfere with the economic efficiency of the forest management. National parks in contrast, set apart primarily in order to reserve to the people for all time the opportunity of a peculiar kind of enjoyment and recreation, not measurable in economic terms, but to be obtained only from the remarkable scenery, whichch they contain. Despite the sharp distinctions he felt must be made between policies for the two entities, olmsteads involvement in the matters never ceased. 1934 a forrester for the United Statesic Forest Service wrote perhaps not a single man in contemporaneous american light has given more constructive thought to the subject of forestry matters then has frederick homestead. As early as 1903, long before he moved to california, olmsteads advice had been sought byte the Outdoor League of california in theirth efforts to preserve the redwood groves along the northern coast. Eight years after the day it was founded in 1918, the new president brought olmstead in as an advisor resulting in serving onon its board for 29 years. In 1943, olmstead was hired by the league along with the former chief to make a farreaching survey and report for the redwood conservation master plan. The following year, when the garden club of america focused on the idea of purchasing a grove to honor americans who had fallen in world war ii, it was to the league they turned to purchase, establish and manage the memorial. The league immediately interested olmstead with the selecting of the location. After his usual thorough survey of the entire northern coastal redwood, he recommended a site near the city 4 miles from the coast. The subsequent Fundraising Efforts by the league and the garden club of america made enough to preserve 5,000 acres in what is now series, creek, redwood and state parks. The olmstead survey became the comic book, by the look redwood conservationists not only in california, but in other states as well. Significant and as his years of championing the California Redwood and conservation was, it could be argued that the most consequential impact of his work weremm the california state pars committee quickly morphed into the California State Parks commission. It was a group consisting of businessmen, conservationists and government officials who gathered to discuss the predicament of the rapid unregulated growth across the state beginning in 1925. Enlightened citizens andon officials concerned for the Historic Monuments of the state as well as for the varying and unique natural features succeeded in getting 6 milliondollar bond to pass in order to fund the comprehensive statewide survey of the potential park and to plan for the subsequent acquisition. When the bill passed in january, 1927, they immediately hired olmstead to spear the effort and gave him one year until december, 1928 to complete thehe entire enterprise. Remembering the expanse of california, it was and is astonishing to contemplate such a task especially given the fact the commission of allotted a in a year to completeth the entire project. The ever resourceful olmstead immediately devised a system for covering the greater part of the state with a skeletal staff of architects working at lower than normal rates and supplementedd,e said by periodic help from the olmstead firm staff. He divided the area to be covered into 12 districts and that his suggestion the commission, quote, selected and appointed representatives represented a citizen informed on the general subject to act as advisors. These representatives recruited close to 200 volunteers, men and women who gave their time and travel expenses without charge. Consultations were made with organizations public hearings and state and federal officials. It was a massive feed to spread across the state. In the end he declared, quote, despite the fact that limitations of time and funds made it more hurried and less thorough than would have been desirable it was tolerably complete. As always, olmstead felt that it was essential to visit the sites up and down the state and during the summer of 1928 they set out on trips of varying lengths and conditions over roads that differ dramatically in quality. The newly licensed daughter age 14 behind the wheel charlotte subsequently reported we drove all over california on all sorts of roads. One thing it took away any fear i might have had about mountain driving after driving over some of the roads we did that summer anything ive come across later has always seemed a piece of cake. [laughter] the ensuing detailed reports illustrated recommendations to cover every aspect of resources in the state emphasizing the importance of providing increased recreational facilities with a fast growing increasingly prosperous population balanced as it must be with preservation of the natural and Historic Site up and down the state and offering examples of forests inevitably redwood, water features, geology, mountains and hill country, the many immensely popular beaches, deserts and last but not least this iconic image of the cyprus set against the rippling see. After a Campaign Around the state the people voted 31 to test the state bond act allocating 6 million toward the acquisition of land and park reservation. This data then allowed olmsteads plan even then followed the plan through the Great Depression. It purchased 80 of the sites proposed in the report and eventually affording california to the outstanding park system they enjoyed to this day. At the same time he and embarked upon the California Survey of parks, he also assumed the role that was referred to, the chairmanship of the newly formed yosemite National Park service supported expert advisors. It was an entity that he suggested as early as 1911 and the acceptance respected the commitment to the park maintained until 1956. I could be wrong about that, you said 53. Three years before his death. For years before his death. One of the major issues confronting the board dealt with how to plan for and cope withnt the intensification of the visitation to the increasingly popular park. As you can imagine, the words were heaped upon him throughout his life. The one that may have designated with them the most came on his 83rd birthday the very spot that he had chosen as a memorial for the garden cb of america. So many years before. His friend at the focused rate expert had been honored with a grove in his name and it was his idea to create contiguous with his own for his good friend as well. Earlier, writing to a friend and describing the memorial grove, olmstead subsidized of the various site, and i quote, the valley presents one of the most impressive and beautiful examples of the forest enlivened by a sparkling dancing stream of clear water that ive ever seen in my explorations of redwood country, completely selfcontained with densest pooped forests of fine quality. And now, it was olmsteads turn. On july 4th, 1953, a group of family and colleagues assembled in a towering grove carpeted with urns. The ever modest olmstead was immensely pleased. Surely such Close Association with one of his chief passions and conservation could not have been a more perfect manner in which to honor his work and his legacy. Thank you. [applause] hi, everybody. How are you doing. All good . Ready for some more . Okay. We are going to keep that theme going. Let me get to the next presentation. All right. Hi, everybody. My name is sam, president and ceo of save the Redwoods League. To follow on some of the themes today o of the connection betwen olmstead, the red white and the broad Conservation Movement, but i want to start by saying thank you so much for being here. Thank you. What a great opportunity to honor such a critical voice in the american landscape and the Conservation Landscape. Im pleased to be here in celebration of the olmstead legacy, and today im going to share a bit about how that legacy is rooted in the mighty redwood forest as we just spokes a little bit about them how olmsteads connection to the efforts to save the redwood helped to launch the land Conservation Movement in this country. And in my view, positioned us collectively to lead in the new era of urgency at the time when the natural spaces played in unprecedented role in the resilience of the rapidly changing world, we would do well to ask ourselves what would olmstead do today. As we all know, fredeRick Olmstead senior and junior were visionaries who saw the parks as elemental to American Society, part off the fabric of American Life that reflected the purely american sense of place. Like schools, churches and museums, parks were a critical element to the infrastructure of a healthy and vibrant community and the power and beauty of nature that took center stage in olmstead sparks was critical to our health and our wellbeing. A core element of that philosophy was to make the beauty of nature a part of our lives. They believed that it was theer american way that our most beautiful landscapes were not just for the landed gentry and the landowning class but should be set aside for all of us. The physical manifestation of the right and the pursuit of happyness. Personally, i am lucky to have lived in and around olmstead design landscapes my whole life. My childhood neighborhood in cambridge, massachusetts, the acadia National Park where my grandmother lived and i spent many weeks. Every year, the emerald necklace of parks around Portland Maine where they practiced Land Conservation for many years, olmsteads light hand was behind all of those landscapes. And then when i moved to california to work in the Land Conservation where the modern Conservation Movement began from the views of many, i learned once again that the park systems and the ready access to the beauty of nature that so defines the evo set the golden state was again part of olmsteads vision. As was mentioned, frederick posted junior was a counselor for 29 years. Through much of the early phases of the Organizational Development and activity and Land Conservation. And as such, the dna of our organization is really tightly linked with the family. And as many of us have talked about today, and as we see both around this room and in the broad celebration of the t bicentennial, we feel we represent one of the organizations that are carrying that legacy forward through the ongoing conservation activity. But i want to talk about olmstead junior and his creation of the california state park system as was mentioned earlier. He was actually commissioned by save the Redwoods League as we were kind of a core component of the state Parks Commission in 1928 to develop that master plan for the california state park system. The park plan recommendedit acquisition of 125 parks throughout the state, and i think it is remarkable to think about the fact that almost all of them were turned into parks within just a matter of a few years. Thats remarkable. Think of that today. Imagine proposing a plan today for 125 new parks in a single state and havingg it actually happen. That is just mindboggling. And that were not enough to demonstrate the ability to catalyze or harness Community Support for conservation and translate that support into transformational investment, just a decade later he was hired again by many of the same area leaders to design a parks system for the hills. And to advance that planet, the residents of the east bay in the middle of the Great Depression voted to tax themselves in order to create more parks and open spaces. And that launched the largest park system in the country, the east bay Regional Park district. To this day it is the goldd standard of Regional Park systems. Again, in continuous dna between the garden club of america, save the Redwoods League and the parks district, doctor reinhart, who spoke at the dedication of the garden club of america in humboldt read park is the first woman elected to public body in california as one of the board, founding Board Members of the Regional Park district. And tohi this day it bears her name and at that is my Neighborhood Park where i go almost every weekend. So, the primary message from my remarks today is that we could use a little bit more olmstead these days. We need the communitybu building power of parks more than ever. If weve learned anything from this pandemic its that we need the healing power of nature in our lives and that if theres anything weve learned from the changing climate and its impact on the communities, we need more spaces where nature can hold sway. When olmstead began to plan, there were around 5 Million People living in california. Now there is around 40 million and its growing. And its been almost 15 years. More than 15 years since the California State Parks acquired any new landan of substance, let alone created a new park. In contrast to the substantial public investments in parks and open space to the era, when olmstead and at the league together with our partners inspired the creation of an entire park system in a matter of decades, today funding for California State Parks is less than 1,100th of 1 of the overall state budget. We are about due for another olmstead era. So, as we think about how it inspired the transformation of the nations relationship with public spaces and think about that transformation in the context of the challenges and opportunities we face today i keep asking myself what would olmstead junior do today. In the face of the existential threat of Climate Change, the Global Pandemic into the movement to reimagine the inclusive and equitable parks and public lands, what would olmstead junior do today . So to work towards that answering going to start with what i know best. Olmstead juniors philosophy has been infused in the mission of save the Redwoods League ever since he joined the board of counselors in 1926. And he served again there for the next 29 years. He sought to immerse the visitors and the restorative and therapeutic Natural Landscapes and experience he viewed as the most profound and effective antidote to the stress and ailments of urban life and indeveloping the plans for California State Parks, he drew inspiration fromre the redwoods for good reason. Then you know to be in the presence of trees so massive and so ancient inspires a sense of resilience and community. A radical to forests of places where life decisions are made, where anxiety finds perspective, where life finds its balance, even as they clean our air and breathed in and out like the lungs of the world, they are our places. So a little bit about the why. What drew olmstead to the movement to save them . So, indulge me in some quick facts. We know for example redwood t trees are the tallest in the world, the tallest being over 380 feet tall and still growing. We know that they are massive, which they are giant sequoias that have a circumference of over 100 feet. And they are mind boggling legal world. Some today are over 3000yearsold. They were already mature trees when homer wrote his first draft of iliad. We know from the fossil recordss that the forest itself is truly ancient dating back millions of years to the era of the dinosaurs. Theyve survived through Global Change of millions of years. Lt they use to circumnavigate but after multiple ice ages, thes redwood forests were wiped out across much of the world with a redwood surviving only in the narrowband just 450 miles long going north and south along the coast of california and into southernin oregon. And the giant sequoia and the scattered groups found only on the western slopes of the sierra nevada. Fast forward to the 1840s when millions of years of stability turned on a dime as a reference erpoint the population of settls in San Francisco in 1848 of course there were indigenous communities throughout the landscape for thousands and thousands of years, but the 1 settlers in San Francisco in 1848 it was a community of a thousand people. In 1849, 25,000 people. By 1870, the city grew to more than ten times larger. There were 265,000 people who lived in the bay area in San Francisco and was a fullfledged city, a city built almost entirely of redwood. And of the land was cheap thanke to the timber and stone act, the federal government was selling the redwood forest. Again, selling the redwood forest that they owned because of the war that was mentioned earlier to the newly formed Timber Companies for 2. 50 per acre. When the timber value per acre was hundreds of times that. And within just a few years and forfi the first time ever, the redwood forest was privately owned. And it began to disappear. Within a lifetime following the gold rush, just to 75 years later in the early 1920s, almost half of the redwood forest and about a third of the ancient a giant sequoia trees had been shut down. By the 70s only about 5 of the old redwoods remained standing. Primarily in parks identified by olmstead and protected by save the Redwoods League and our partners. Here of course you see the kind of dark green, beige is the former redwood range and the red represents the old forest that remains. In just a few generations, the mighty forest went from over 2 million acres of oldgrowth down to about 120,000 acres. And remember in 1849, when the Timber Harvesting began, the concept of Land Conservation didnt exist. Manifest destiny was still all the rage. The forest was seen as a challenge to be tamed, and endless Economic Resource to be harnessed. Then as weve learned about several times today in 64, inspired by olmstead senior and the giant sequoia, president lincoln took the first great step of Land Conservation. In the middle of the civ war, lincoln set aside at the grove the giant sequoia in thete Yosemite Valley is publicly protected land for the firstld time in American History, wild nature was protected for public enjoyment. This was a watershed moment in the development of a land Conservation Movement in america and the redwoods and of the Olmstead Family were right there at the starting line. In20 the early 20th century when the league was founded to protect the remaining oldgrowth forests, environmentalism didnt exist. There was no Rachel Carson is silent spring. There was no land Conservation Movement. Most of theta parks we were talking about were designated from the federal land as opposed to created or acquired from public land so l the save the Redwoods League was established for private land and Public Benefit and had to make up the rules as we went creating the tools the Conservation Community has been putting to use ever since. There wasnt even a structured Public Agency with whom to partner in the longterm stewardship of the special places that we were working to protect. Again back to the story in 1927, the year after fredeRick Olmstead junior joined save the Redwoods League council, the League Initiated and led to the legislative efforts to create the california state park system to own and manage the forest about the league and the partners were working to acquire. Then in 1928, the league launched what at the time was the biggest Publicity Campaign in california history to promote. The california state park act was the states firstever interest of its kind inn. The nation that passed in every county and by a margin of 31. It was the Funding Program that launched the acquisition of the california state park system. The same year the league recruited frederick a junior to create a master plan, a visionha for the parks that would become californias state park system. His plan in 1928 i did and weighed 128 which are today core to what is often said to be the finest state park system in the world, and given his love of redwood, he designed a California State Parks plan around a spline of redwood forest perks stretching up and down the california coast. So the league got to work protecting the forests, acre by acre. Humboldt redwoods state park, Prairie Creek state park, Jedediah Smith, these were all parks that were identified in the plan is critical opportunities to protect the last of the ancient forests. Today the state parks alone, those identified by olmstead and his plan contained more than 40 of the worlds remaining oldgrowth redwood forest. And they are the heart and soul of the network of parks that welcomed more than 31 million visitors every year. Now a century after seeing the league began, we remain focused on protecting the redwood forest. The initial objective, the gold goalin the beginning was to prot what we deemed the representative stands of the ancient redwood forest before they were all lost. And today with the devastation and the clearcutting of the forest surrounded the representative stands, indeed they are just that. Theyse are like museum exhibits before the forest used to be. We know now that that is not enough. The grove doesnt the forest make and we need healthy, resilient forests to sustain the planet. To further compel the more expensive conservation vision in recent years we have learned that forest sequesters more carbon per acre than any other forest on the planet by a longshot. The second place finisher isnt even anywhere near close. Again, more carbon per acre than any other forest on the planet. One of the parks and olmsteads plan, Jedediah Smith redwood park, that is the one up north by the oregon border contains more aboveground biomass per acre than anywhere in the world, more leaf surface area than anywhere in the world. More life at plants that grow on other plants. The van anywhere else in the world. The researchers found a mature fruit tree growing out of the canopy of a 2000yearold red tree. More carbon sequestered per acre than anywhere in the world. There is one tree in the park that puts on a metric ton of wood every year, in a single tree. There historically had been the belief that old forests were static. Not so. The bigger and older the redwood tree, the more it puts on in a year. In a single year, just one tree. And at the time that we are struggling to mitigate the proliferation of carbon in the atmosphere to save the planet, it is worth paying attention to that little piece of data. I would wager that olmstead would suggest that we incorporate that information into the Investment Choices that end of the time of Climate Change, we need to expand our park vision to a landscape scale protecting andnd restoring the islands of the oldgrowth and a in ahealing forest to be the oldgrowth of the future. After acquiring the redwood state parks in the 1930s, again based on olmsteads plan, in 2002, 70 years later, the league acquired a 23,000acre watershed, the scene of the clearcuts with those that link together the spectacular islands of oldgrowth. We added this to the Redwood National state parks and are currently actively managing it. Removing miles and miles of abandoned logging roads with the stance to encourage the dominant trees. The tribal crews to help restore the areas to bring back the salmon. Olmstead believed in natures hand guiding the aesthetic of parks. A light touch architecture. Today we know that the landscapes have suffered. That now because of the devastating impact of the timber harvest active stewardship is critical in helping to heal the natural places. So with what we learned about climate and of the Carbon Sequestration and the vebiodiversity and the redwood forest, olmstead no doubt would have expanded his vision for why we need to save these critical forests. I also think it is urgent that we evolve our understanding of for whom we are saving it. For all of our data to the early founders of the Conservation Movement, we know now that many of our Community Works were excluded in the process and indeed the roots of the league are tangled with of the leadership of the Eugenics Movement of the early 1900s and of the exclusion of the marginalized communities from earlyy conservation and in california and many parts of the bewest while he was being distributed for the industry and agriculture in parkland, tribes were being forcibly removed from the places that were fundamental to the cultures and histories. In california, tribes were gsystematically eradicated through governmentsponsored genocide in the years preceding and following california statehood. Today Indigenous People continue to restore the relationship with their Ancestral Lands and stewardship traditions. Pursuing opportunities together with many partners to support california tribes and restoring their connections with their ancestral land is through seeking opportunities for the comanagement, tribal acquisition, the culturally significant Conservation Land or traditional stewardship and cultural access. And most fundamentally, and alignment with the olmstead vision knowing that the parks really are overrun and often inaccessible to many. We are accelerating that piece and scale of the work creating new parks that connect all of us to the beauty and power of nature with more and better redwood parks for all people. In 2019, we acquired and protected 530 acres of the sequoia forest the missing piece of the Sequoia National monument. And the landscape of the indescribable beauty with the meadows and wildflowers and hundreds of the sequoia including many that are more than 2000yearsold. In 2018 we acquired and protected the second largest and protected giant Sequoia Group after altar creek which was the largest. Most recently, we protect in that same year and the coast red blood we is called the redwood reserve in Sonoma County and a 730 acres it was the largest unprotected Coast Redwood grove left in the Coast Redwood range. Most recently, we protected the property including 5 miles of the Pacific Coast it isd the large shoreline on the range with extraordinary redwood forests. Its the missing link of the southern end of 60 miles of the famed lost coast of california that is collaboratively and jointly owned and managed by the bureau of Land Management and the California State Parks, the intertribal Wilderness Council owning the culturally significant tribal lands in that landscape and now save the redwood looking to add to this o thatal predicted fabric of the critical recreational, culturally and conservation value. We know that it isnt just about buying the land especially when so much of the land we are working to protect suffered from years of extraction and intense management. We have to expand on the vision of protecting land and parks to include active management for restoration. In recent years the league in partnership with the National Park service, California State Parks all three of us with olmstead in our dna launched the most ambitious restoration project ever considered in the redwood forest called redwood rising. In the northernmost works of the range where the trees grow taller than anyone else in the world, we are actively restoring formere clearcuts that surround the oldgrowth groves that olmstead identified 95 years ago accelerating the healing of the young redwood forest on its path to be the oldgrowth of the future. This is another example of that opportunity for restoration. This is the former mill site where the oldgrowth from this collection of parks, Redwood National and state parks are harvested up on the hillside and came to that 45acre block of pavement to be mailed into boards. We brought that property in 2013. We are currently working to remove all r of the pavement. Again we are working with of the theconstruction crew at this prcritical junction of Redwood Creek and Prairie Creek in the core of the ancestral territory. They are restoring the landscape, reintroducing then the end of the stream and the winter channels for the salmon rearing and that is the place where there is going to be in at a gateway into the National Park. Together with the village site and with cultural access for ceremony and traditional use. And in addition to protecting andd restoring, olmstead would likely have lots to say about how todays parks should curate the unprecedented volume of the visiting public. For example, downstream from the restoration work upward in millcreek in the heart of Jedediah Smith redwood state park, visitors have been wandering off trail to find the legendary grove of treesia publicized on social media. Visitors eager for the inspiration of nature were trampling on beyond her story and clambering over roots and what had been hidden from the view for years until just a few years ago. After years of the stay on the trail signs failed to protect the forest floor, we installed a walkway that allows for that access without impacting the mosses and huckleberry or the roots of the most massive trees in the world. And here in this primeval wilderness where more aboveground biomass than anywhere else in the world, the interpreted signage was designed by the descendents of the original stewards of the land. The storyf of the place in its history and culture and importance is told in the language of the people by their cultural leaders. Today visitors come from around the worldvi to visit this extraordinary example of the power of nature identified for consideration by olmstead of nearly 100 years ago and of those visitors are now welcomed and guided by the voice and of the language of the Indigenous People of this place. So the league created a system in partnership with frederick homestead junior booth for the sake of the forest and because the parks make our lives better, the communities stronger and our families healthier. Today california is home to 40 Million People with a level of culturally and Ethnic Diversity that would never consider when the parks were created. Sa olmstead and his fellow counselors and to save the Redwood League in the 30s and 40s believe deeply that the parks particularly redwood parks were fundamental to healthy communities. And today we collectively are advancing thatit fundamental belief in its fullest implementation. We are bringing the voices and the communities that were excluded in past areas to the table to lead in the conservation of the parks and special places to ensure that they are welcomingng to all of. Ingh conclusion, the more i thought about the legacyof of olmstead and of the relevance of the philosophy to the challenges we face today, the more i am convincedol that we need another olmstead era. We need to inspire another unprecedented level of investment in the n n naturebad solutions to Climate Change through landscape scale conservation and active restoration management. We need to be inspire to elevate the importance of parks and public spaces in both public and philanthropic investments and to keep pace with the growing population by protecting more parkland and reimagining the parks to inspire a new generation of visitors. By broadening the community of the partners in the process in the forest into the natural land that would help in turn to heal the communities. In so doing we have an opportunity to restore the routes that link us together and build back the natural resilience of our landscapes. Our world has changed so much and is so vast and as we climb out of these years of Health Crisis of economic crisis and political crisis and climate and wild fire crisis and wrestle with of the world we hope to create in its place, we would be wise to remember how fredeRick Olmstead clearly saw the power of the forests to inspire a love hof nature and healthier lives. He understood how the peace and beauty of the forests can provide respite and resilience from the stresses of modern life, and we are deeply proud of how olmstead set in motion the conservation vision 100 years ago and today we take that philosophy that centerses the power of resilience of nature and its connection to all of us as we look to accelerate the pace and the scale of the work that he helped us start. Thank you very much. [applause] i know that we have another session coming up, but im told that we can take two questions. So, . Anybody, quick. I am curious about frederick junior. Was there any sort of animosity between father and son or jealousy or because so much of what the sunday it is credited to the father, that kind of thing. Absolutely. They were extremely close [inaudible] [inaudible] thats one reason why the grandson of frederick junior offered a grant to write something about him because he really wanted those entities toa be drawn apart and evaluated separately so that olmstead junior got credit for a lot of the things he did. I will add to that i think f one of the challenges that all of us who deal with olmstead, the legacy in some way struggle with is the fact that there were in fact three olmsteads and there were a number of individuals, particularly at that later firm who contributed significantly to the work of the olmsteadit firm. So i think that is kind of a misconception that happens and we hear the name olmstead and most people connected with olmstead senior but in fact the biggest legacy happened the largest number of projects happened after the death of olmstead senior. Anybody else . Great. I want to thank my fellow panelists so much, and to the architects of the capital, we look forward to the next session. [applause] you think this is just a Community Center . It is more than that. Partnering with Community Centers to create wifi enabled would love to zones so students can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. Comcast along with of these Television Companies supports cspan2 as a public service