and let's be uncomfortable. next year, more victories. because animal rights happen if hard. and we try so please do everything you can possibly think of to do all the time. thank you very, very much. [cheers and applause] announcer: tomorrow night on c-span, talking about islam and the misperception westerners have about the religion by sharing her own experience of getting to know a muslim cleric and his family. she writes about in her book "if the oceans were ink." islam get more than its share of negativity in the united states? you write about that from your standpoint. yes. i mean, i think the sad thing is andre -- you and i are in event-driven business and being -- the violent extremists have figured out a way to insert themselves into the headlines and the vast majority of the rest of the 1.6 muslims in the world have not. it is depressing but the old saying, if it bleeds it leads is true for all groups. not tooy, there are many counter narratives that make it into the news headlines about islam. there was a recent study that asked people about what the face of the various religions was and because islam is so diffuse, there is no pope. no organized clergy in mainline islam -- in shiite it is different. is theholics, the face pope. unfortunately, among americans the face of islam is all baghdadi, the head of isis. announcer: you can see the entire conversation tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern here on c-span. >> at c-span.org, you can watch our public affairs and political programs at any time. or to our home page c-span.org and click on the video library search bar. type in the name of the speaker, the sponsor of a bill, or even in event. click on the program you would like to watch or refine your search with our search pools. if you are looking for a most it is readyrams, for your immediate feeling like today's washington journal or other events. c-span.org is a public service of your cable or sadness. -- of your cable or satellite provider. >> the national parks service celebrated its 100th anniversary. washington journal takes a look at the agency and its operations. then members of congress at an event in iowa as a tribute to veterans. later, another chance to see animal-rights activists speak at a recent conference in los angeles. ♪ >> good morning. a live look at the washington memorial andy whallon washington, d.c., with the washington monument in the foreground and the u.s. capitol on this thursday, august 25. today marking an anniversary. on this date 100 years ago, president woodrow wilson created -- signed a bill that created the national parks service. 413 national parks, memorials, battlefields, and historic sites. 310 million, near these iconic sites. as the travel season winds down on this anniversary, we are devoting the next 90 minutes learning about your park experiences and we want to hear from you. 202-748-8000 for those in the central and eastern time zones 202-748-8001. what had been your experience at national parks across the country, including a new one designated this week in the state of maine. you can also send us a tweet at spambingswj or join us on facebook.com/c-span. good thursday. thanks very much for being with us. if you pick up today's "wall street journal" or "washington post," two editorials commemorating the national park service including this from terry anderson. happy 100th birthday national parks and jonathan janis writing these lands are your lands, america. read them online at wsj.com. some background on the national park service. it was signed into law on this date by president woodrow wilson in 191. congress established yellowstone national park back in 1872 as the world's first national park. 1916, the date president wilson signed the law creating the national park service and the system began to include areas of historical significance back in 1933 designated by president franklin d. roosevelt. and earlier this summer, president obama commemorating this centennial anniversary. president obama: we have to have the foresight and faith in the future to do what it takes to protect our parks and to protect this planet for generations to come. and that's especially true for our leaders in washington. it's what lincoln did when he set aside this ground for all posterity. that's what roosevelt did when he inspired the national park system. that's what our generation has to do. we have to sum up that same vision for the future. we made good strides and we're reducing carbon pollution and preserving landscapes. we're rallying the world to tackle climate change together but we've got to do a lot more. and on this issue, on like a lot of issues, there's such a thing as being too late. the good news is i know we can rise to the challenge. over the last seven years we've proved it and if we keep at it, we're not just going to safeguard this place, we're going to protect our communities from rising fees and stronger storms and brutal droughts. but we're also going to protect our children's lungs from breathing dirty air and protect vulnerable people from displacement. we'll protect our national security because we won't be seeing refugees displaced because of conflict and scarcity. and we'll build on that legacy of all those who came before us, who stood in these parks a century ago and talked about an america that lasts through the ages. host: in june the president commemorating what is a summer of celebration for america's national park service. again, we want to hear from you. when you send us a tweet, if you have a photograph, if you've visited one of the national parks or historic sites, you can do so. tweet your photos at c-spanwj and show them on the air as we commemorate the national park service centennial. let me read what terry anderson writes in the op-ed at washington journal, a fellow at the institute, called happy 100th birthday national parks and writes the following, few federal agencies command more widespread support than the national park service. a 2015 gallup poll found 73% of americans were satisfied with the government's handling of national parks despite their overall dissatisfaction with the federal government. there are now 84 million acres in the national park system, including 59 national parks, 20 of which were added after 1980 and 353 national monuments, battlefields and historic sites. every year congress creates more marks, often referred to as park barrel politics. but loved as they are, the national park systems and monuments are not being treated well. adding more makes matters worse. there is already a backlog of maintenance projects including deteriorating roads, buildings and sewage systems that will cost $12 billion to fix. this morning from terry anderson and his op-ed in "the wall street journal." e're joined in washington with noel straub and covering for green wire and thanks for being with us on the washington journal. guest: thanks for having me. pleasure to be here. host: let me begin with the disrepair in america's national parks. what needs to be done that isn't? guest: as you heard, there's a $12 billion backlog with the national parks. there's a whole host of projects all across the country that need to be done. it's an astonishing task they have to accomplish. the park service in addition to the normal monuments you would think of also has more than 5,000 miles of roads under its care, 1,000 bridges. it's got pipelines bringing water into the parks that are often failing. so they have a lot of infrastructure that they need and it's easier to get donations to repair the washington monument or lincoln memorial and the well known parks and harder to get money for the basic things like keeping the water flowing into parks or keeping their roads paved. host: the washington monument having its own problems with the elevator which is now shut dunn because of disrepair and was recently renovated but still a lot of issues for those who want to travel to the very top of that iconic, historical ite. guest: it's going to be shut for nine months to fix the elevators. they've been closing it on and off for a day or two here or there and it's scary for visitors who get stuck at the top and have to walk down or get stuck partway up and they decided they need to take it out of service for a good nine months and go ahead and redo the elevators. host: that are the problems with the washington monument elevator and why wasn't it fixed right the first time? guest: some of the problems started with the earthquake which was five years ago. there was quite a bit of damage to the washington monument. some of the blocks at the top came loose and that sort of thing. but they've been having problems for years. and they've tried to do more temporary fixes to try to get it up to speed so people could use it but haven't done a full shut it down, repair the whole thing so that seems to be what needs to happen now. host: you put together a series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the national park service. take us through from 1872 when yellowstone national park became the world's first national park to 1916, the law that president woodrow wilson signed. guest: yeah, we actually have 14 articles in our series on the national park service, the last one coming out today, is a look at how the park service was created, so it's right on topic for today's anniversary. but yes, the first park, as you mentioned, the world's first park was created and then 35 other parks and monuments were created, but they were being overseen by the interior department but not a specific agency within the interior department, just the larger department. and eventually, you know, lawmakers realized they probably needed its own agency so that there is unified management over all of these 35 parks that existed. so there's a lot of congressional wrangling as you can expect. it took about six years from the time that the first bill was proposed to when it actually passed. there were fights over jurisdiction and whether the forest service should get some of the sites or whether the park service should get them. there also is wrangling over whether there should be grazing allowed in parks, livestock grazing. so they deliberately -- the way they ended up passing the bill is they deliberately kept it a little vague and had an overarching mission statement but didn't have too many specifics so there wasn't too much people could object to, so they ended up passing the bill in 1916 and the park service went on from there. host: let me go back to the bill signing ceremony and what congress and the president hope to achieve, the fundamental service of the national park service, to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. and since 1980, we've really seen a huge growth in the number of designated areas of national parks and u.p.i. pointing out that president obama has designated more areas of national parks than any of its predecessors. guest: he has. yesterday there were 412 park units and then yesterday there were 413. president obama has created a dozen parks in his tenure. president bush, the younger, created one. president clinton created three. so as you can see, president obama has created more and there's been some controversy over whether additional park units should be created. both the president and congress can designate parks. congress by passing a law and the president by using the antiquities act which is a 1906 law that lets him bypass congress and do it on his own. but some people think given the $12 billion maintenance backlog and all the -- what the park service already has to take care of, it's not a good idea to give them additional parks to add to their growing list. host: we move into late august and the 25th of the month, the 100th anniversary of the national park service. we want to hear from those who live in the eastern time zones nd for those out west, 202-748-8001. your thoughts on the national park service or send us a tweet. there's this from dean who says walking down from the top of the washington monument is awesome. you get to see all of the artwork. let me go back to your earlier point about the new park that was designated just yesterday in the state of maine but not without controversy. what's this area about and why are some questioning the president's motives, including the governor? guest: the co-founder of burt's bees, roseanne quimbley, wanted to give 80,000 acres in the maine north woods which contains a lot of beautiful woods and streams and she wanted to donate it to make it a national park. there were opposition in maine and people were worried about restrictions as far as access, hunting, getting into the park, and they also, you know, wanted -- people were worried about the government taking more land. so yes, there was quite a bit of opposition. the park service leaders held several public hearings up there which were pretty controversial, got a lot of good comments on both sides. and the co-founder of burt's bees had been pushing for congress to make it a national park but the legislation stalled in congress so she then turned her attention instead of pushing it through congress to get president obama to create it through as a national monument and what he did yesterday. host: from "the washington post," these lands are your lands, america. and this tweet from jan who says everyone should see the ken burns series about the national parks. he is a national treasure. and we'll be joined by noelle straub and her work is available online at eenews.net. first we want to hear from you. michael from new kensington, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: yes, steve. thank for you taking my call and c-span as usual. it's a great program. i have done a good deal of traveling throughout the park system, death valley and the grand canyon are my favorites. but i do think you bring up good points with the maine acquisition. there's way too much parkland -- too much land under federal jurisdiction and i think the atistic was 75% of nevada or something was federal lands. i think that's outrageous. there was even a controversy when clinton was president, they took all this land in utah nd just for the escalate mountains and one of the mountains, the main purpose -- i think it was nevada. the main purpose was to keep them from the yuca mountain that was going to be used for a nuclear storage facility, to keep it out of the hands of the public -- of the private industries could not be used for that purpose. and i think that they could sell some of these federal lands. roles ep adding to the and can't roles and can't maintain them, as your guests pointed out, they keep it limited to the public in certain areas. host: thanks for the call. you're seeing some of the iconic scenes of just a few of the national parks as we devote the first 90 minutes of our program on this send tennial -- centennial anniversary of the national parks system. there's a tweet with a photograph of yellowstone national park and this from kybel who has a question, is the most visited national park still the great smokey mountains in tennessee? i know it has been for years. you know the answer for that temperature guest: yes, it is still great smokey mountain national park. host: you have been there? guest: no, it's high on my list and would like to make it soon. host: we'll go to allen who joins us from brooklyn, new york. caller: great topic. i noticed when you had the language of the act on the screen it said specifically to leave it unimpaired for future generations. when they passed the laws as when they pass laws about landmark preservation or species preservation, the intention is that we can look at the specific objects we're going to present from specific hark we can see and as president obama emphasized in his talk there are other ways we can lose these pressure -- treasures even if they're not attacked or taken directly and that's through climate change. i don't know if the people who started the park system can imagine that kind of threat but their obligations to be adult enough to realize that kind of threat and protect our parks and landmarks and our species from loss to future generations given that they're under the effect of climate change. this campaign has been marked by an infantile focus on distractions from things that allow us to act as adults. and we can't protect our parks from climate change unless we're did dult enough -- adult enough to realize we're responsible for our actions and responsible for the cause and effect knowledge of scientific truths about how climate is being harmed. and also we finally have to recognize the future has the property interest in the atmosphere and we cannot take it from them without violating the conti substitution spirit. we don't own it but are holding it in trust. host: thank you for the call in brooklyn, new york. we have an email from the great smokey mountains and this one with this photograph which is a spectacular place in tennessee. another tweet, i've been to many national parks, i believe one should tour the u.s. rather than europe for bragging reasons. and "the washington post" has this piece, national park service turns 100 and some sites are showing their age. the story available online at "washington post."com saying yellowstone national park interior secretary saly jewel is expected to kick off a commemoration of the 100th anniversary. on c-span 3 america history tv we'll have our own celebration and take you to arlington house at the robert e. lee memorial at arlington national cemetery across the potomac in northern virginia and our live coverage at 7:00 plm eastern time live on c-span 3, part of american history tv and check it out online at c-span.org. to howard. good morning. >> i don't know if your book touched on the homeless population in the national arks because -- hello? obviously the homeless -- and almost homeless people who can't survive, they can't pay their rent, they're literally starving in order to pay rent. and the park service has a crackdown on anyone camping for an extensive length of time in the park. i thought as a citizen i had a right to camp indefinitely in the national park and seems and that this service paid for by taxpayer money won't allow camping. i remember going to boy scout national park living in their cars in bad economic times in a national park and didn't seem to be a problem. what's going on? do you have any idea? host: let me turn back to noellestraub. she's the editor of natural resources issues and put together a series available online at eenews.net. what about the homeless and people who want to camp out in national parks around the country? guest: each park has its own set of regulations and rules where it will allow camping and where it won't. i'm not sure whether there is extended camping allowed or what the time restrictions are. it would be -- the park service mission is to protect and take care of the parks as well as allow them to be enjoyed by the public. they do need rules and regulations that would govern where and when people are allowed to camp. it can't be a free-for-all because the park service needs a little bit of management and guidance in there. there were articling saying it was a national forest more than the national park which is are dealing with the homeless problems. there are more people camping out in forests than actual parks. host: a related story available at nytimes.com with the headline focused on the homeless who want to visit national parks and camp out as they find refuge in the forest, the anger is palpable in nearby towns. let's go to derek, annapolis, maryland. caller: thank you for taking the call. host: have you visited the national historic sites? caller: i have and enjoyed many parks throughout my visit and can't say enough about the services provided there. i think the ranger staffs i've encountered at each park have been absolutely phenomenal with their wealth of history and excitement about and passion for the lands they are taking care of. i wanted to touch base on climate change and do agree with his point there. my question is, is there a movement coming from obama and maybe even other administration officials to get that groundswell population back, to have that ccc and wpa kind of atmosphere to help restore some of the parks that we have? again, thanks for the call. host: thank you. we appreciate it. let's go to cecil joining us from pittsburgh. good morning. >> i'm really thankful for c-span and i have to admit the first entrance into a park was grand canyon, but yellowstone was impressive because of the geyser. and i think we ought to preserve these parks. i had an easy time getting in and think you ought to know, i've been trying other times and i really admire the parks and the project that franklin delano roosevelt put people to work in because of this, we had a depression -- were coming out of the depression but everything but slowly entered slowly got de and us out but the parks are beneficial to this country. and really enjoyed it going across route 66. host: thank you for the call. we appreciate it. victor sending this fweeth, my best visits are yellowstone and the grand canyon. we'll be back. send us a photograph and we'll show your photos as we continue to look at the 100th anniversary of the national park service and we welcome our listeners on c-span radio. join in on the conversation, the eastern 000 on half of the country and 202- 748-8001. before his death, kennedy toured parks and here are some of the highlights. president kennedy: this country has become rich because nature was good to us and because the people who came from europe predominantly are also among the most vigorous. the basic resources were used skillfully and economically and because of the wise work done by theodore roosevelt and others, significant progress was made in conserving these resources. we made the proper position today in how we should use our our and air and land and ocean and unless we make the com probable efforts, an effort theodore roosevelt and others made years ago we're going to waste it. today the conservation moments are to embrace discipline well known in the past. it must marshal our vast technological resources and be part of our resource supply. it must concern itself with nuclear energy as well as agriculture with the physics and chemistry, as well as t.b.a. with the economic and engineering factors of open pace, we save our scenic treasures. our task now is to increase our understanding of our environment, to appoint but enjoy it without defacing it, use its bounty without detracting permanently from its value. and above all, maintain a living balance between man's actions and nature's reactions. for this nation's great resources is a lasting and productive ingenuity can make it. our national asset belongs to all of us. children born in the west will grow up in the east and the east will grow up in the west and define by contraiting our energy on natural resources on conserving them and not merely saving them but by developing and improving them, the united states will be richer and stronger. we can fulfill our responsibilities to ourselves and those that depend upon us. host: from september 24 to september 28, 1963, you're watching and listening to president john f. kennedy as he traveled to a number of national park services and site as and in fact was an 11-state tour and those were the highlights traveling from utah, california, utah and nevada. at 7:00 plm eastern time we'll look at the 100th anniversary of the park service and hope you tune in live on c-span 3 and every weekend we focus on american history tv. the national park service by the numbers, 307 million visitors in 2015 and counting. a budget of over $2.6 billion. 20,000 permanent employees as well as temporary and vonal workers and 246,000 volunteers that donate 6.7 million hours annually according to the national park service. ore details available at nps.goff. we're joined by a listener in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. good morning. you with us? pam is next in florida. good morning. caller: good morning. host: you're on the air. go ahead, please. caller: i wanted to say i've been to several parks and love them. i can see what happens, though. you have to draw the line somewhere because there's so many people that love to get out and camp and get out and see nature. i've been to the red woods and sequoia. i've been to the oceans. i've been up in washington. i just love going there and that's all i have to say. host: thank you for the call. let's go to noelle straub. she works for e and e green wire and someone saying we need more dollars to maintain them. how much more money does the park service need and want and what are its priorities? guest: the park service asked for $3.1 billion for fiscal 2017 so for next year. congress is still working on its appropriations bills so the house and senate are still working out how much money they'll actually give the park service. right now it looks like they'll probably give the park service $2.9 billion which is slightly less than the park service asked for. but on a separate track, both democrats and republicans have introduced separate bills in honor of the park service centennial that would provide additional funding to the park service. the democrats introduced the version that the obama administration would like which is -- which would provide the park service $1.5 billion over three years and would be a funding boost for the park service. republicans have said that that figure is not very realistic and introduced their own bill that would give the park service quite a bit less guaranteed funding but would change how some endowments work with the national park foundation, which is the charitable organization linked to the park service and change how money could be spent out of the endowment and make more funding available. they have different takes on that. the one thing both bills do agree on, senior citizens can for $10 buy a lifetime pass for all the national parks and both the republicans and democrats would like to change that to $80 for a lifetime pass and would also bring in a little more revenue for the park service. host: as part of your special report you take a look at hampton, virginia, at fort monroe and i want to focus on this for a moment because it's an area some question its historical significance and also struggling to maintain a lot of visitors. what are some of the challenges with the lesser known historic sites, monuments inside the national park service? guest: president obama, the first park he declared, it was a military base and it was changed through brac with the military realignment commission and handed it over to the park service. it is the fort where the very first slave ship bringing slaves to the english colonies,ening learn at the time, colonies came through and then in the civil war slaves fled to fort monroe and sought refuge and was given shelter by the northern side. so it did play a big role in the history of slavery. . and the park service hasn't gotten all its signage up and it isn't clear when you go to visit but it's actually national park property there. you still work on getting signs up and the word out that this is somewhere to go and visit, so it takes a lot of effort to -- effort to get the word out there that the parks are out there this you can visit. host: we'll be joined in 15 minutes on the mall here in washington, d.c. which is operated by the national park service, and we're looking at the centennial on this date as in woodrow wilson signed into law the creation of the national park service and we're taking your tweets. we're asking for photographs. this is from one of our viewers, steve, who says rats, no available photos but i like yosemite, glacier, acadia, grand canyon. do you have a favorite? guest: mine i think would be a little bit different. when i first got out of college i worked for a national park, worked for homestead national monument of america which is in beatrice, nebraska, 45 minutes south of lincoln, and it's one of the very first homesteading sites in the country. so they had the cabin there where the homesteader lives and they have a hundred acres of tall grass prairie and was there summer into fall so the tall grass really by the end is six or seven feet tall and was taller than i was and can you go out and stand in the middle of the prairie and be completely surrounded by this amazing natural beauty. so i have to say i am partial to that park. host: keep the tweets coming in. we love them. this from steve harrison with a photograph in independence, missouri. harry truman's iconic home, the national park service also manages places like harry truman's house which is a must-see place if you're in independence, missouri. and deedee fredericks who tweets quite often said money to rebuild the world, no money to rebuild our parks. from johnson, south carolina, good morning. your thoughts on this centennial of the national park service? caller: i think it's an amazing thing that we have, the park service, and the natural forest service because it gives us a chance both to see our heritage and our history in the smaller parks and just to connect with nature. i spent many years happily riding my horse in the smokey mountains. they were kind enough to provide us with access and trails even though, of course the horses do have a larger impact on the trails than human footprints but it's a wonderful thing. passport golden age that gives me camping anywhere i want to go that honors that. i can remember 30 years ago in the smokey mountains, there was the effect of acid rain in the higher elevations. and it just pointed out to me that we need to have conservation in place and not just pretend like this will always be with us. travis smiley interviewed betty reed hoskins who works for, i'm sorry if it's the national forest service or the park service, and she is a national treasure. i urge people to engage with the officials of the parks and the volunteers to learn more about the area and just find out what motivates them to become either a volunteer or an employee. i worked with the forest service many times to help put in new trails in different areas. it's a great experience for anyone and i urge everyone to get out and enjoy it. host: thank you very much for the call, connie. jan has this, my sister and her husband visiting all of them as a bucket list item. tell us your thoughts of the national park service and share your tweet with us at c-spanwj. let me go back to two photographs from 1903. this is president teddy roosevelt and conservationist john pure at 234r5eusher -- flasher point in yosemite. and many would have thought it was teddy roosevelt who created the national park service but came during the woodrow wilson things. -- wilson administration. you know why? guest: it took a while to push the bill through and there were 35 parks in existence by the time the agency was created so it wasn't that they weren't creating parks, they definitely were creating parks and teddy roosevelt was very in favor of that. they just didn't create the agency to oversee them until the woodrow wilson administration. host: we want to share with you some exclusive photographs, exclusive because shawn duty of our staff just returned from yosemite national park and you'll see these only on c-span because our c-span employee took them. let me share those with you. john, good job. we go to neva joining us from oregon. good morning. caller: thank you. thank you for carrying my call. my question to you is who owns the mineral rights under the ground? because right now in burns, regon, we have hillary clinton and sold 18 million pounds to yellow cake to russia and iran and there was a newspaper in oregon and reported on january 8, 2012, would you please tell me who and why they can do something like that? host: thanks. i don't have the answer to that. let me turn back to noelle and see if you can answer that issue of the mineral rights. you know the answer? guest: sometimes there's a situation called split estate where one person owns the mineral rights below the ground and somebody else owns the surface rights above the ground and is actually a fairly common practice especially in the western united states where they split the two ownerships and can lead to conflict, naturally, as somebody above the beyond and someone else owning below the ground might have different intentions on with a they want to do with the lan. host: when you think of the national parks, there's seashores and parkways to reserves that make up the national park system, 413 in all. talk about some of the lesser known national park service designations. guest: we did one story looking at parks that are less visited than other parks. we sent a reporter to thomas stone historic site in rural, maryland. he was a signer of the declaration of independence. but even in his own park they admit that he wasn't too charismatic and didn't speak up much in congress. so nobody really knows too much about him. so this is a park that was created in 1978 when congress passed what was known as the park barrel bill where it's the biggest park bill that ever passed congress and affected a hundred parks and conservation projects across the country and created 11 new parks including this one in maryland. so sometimes the parks that were created were pet projects of local politicians, and the park service didn't always want those sites to join the park service. this one in particular, the park service didn't want. but once congress tells them, you know, this is going to be a park, they take it on and do the best they can with it and include it in the system. host: victor has this tweet, the grand canyon is worth several visits. it's almost spiritual if if not least a out of body experience. we're joined by a listener in maine. maine is the most recent designation as a national park service site. good morning. caller: good morning. yeah, it's very hot weather up here today, as it is everywhere but i would like to say that my favorite national park is j.f.k.'s birthplace. john f. kennedy's birthplace in brookline, massachusetts. you can go in and look at the room where he was born, where his kitchen, everything where the family lived. and it's a very moving experience. and i do commend the new national park in maine. i wish all of maine was a national park. and i need to stress to everyone that the national park service must begin to curtail and stop the massive amount of hunting of our wildlife animals and birds. times have changed, it's year 2016 and with the almost constant forest fires going on, we must protect and preserve the birds, bears, deer and fish. just don't gaga at the beautiful scene you encounter, look in and see weas happening. we're losing so much wildlife to hunting and to the wildfires. and money and effort has to be put in by the national park service, volunteers, everyone, to take this new problem and stop it and make national parks with a they're supposed to be, and e for our wildlife nature to be preserved so we can enjoy it. host: thank you for the call. jody has this point, there's a national forest a few miles from my home so i feel like i live in one. let's go to debbie joining us from naples, florida. good morning. caller: good morning, sir, how are you? host: fine, thank you. caller: we went this vacation with the kids, we live in naples, florida, and we traveled to jackson hole, wyoming, and then we went to yellowstone and it was just beautiful. from there we had, you know, a whole day in yellowstone and it was just the most wonderful thing you can see. ou know, the kids go to play in the mountain because my daughter never seen the snow so we had a very nice time. so from there we went to another park, the rocky mountains. and it was just beautiful, too. so we had a very nice time in vacationing in those parks. i think it should be preserved and, you know, we all should give a little bit of our money get that place maintained and for the future generations. host: debbie, thank you for the call. marie is joining us next from reston, virginia. good morning. welcome to the conversation. caller: yes. good morning. it's a wonderful show. and years ago i saw a program about the national parks and so forth, and they interviewed a native american that his tribe lived out there in the yellowstone auerbach in the 19th century, and they -- the natives that lived out there got pushed off of their land and this happens in many, many areas in this country where they have national parks, this native man said it's wonderful the white man loves the trees and nature and animals but what about the humans, the indians that live there, the indigenous people? didn't they have a right to live there in the beauty there? they loved it there and why they lived there throughout the centuries. my point being that i think it uld be nice if the land in the park possibly a 1/3 of it might be made available to people from tribal descent, native american tribal descent in the various states they're from, which we live in all states. and it would be a wonderful thing. and also, i don't think any of the parks should be spoiled by mining and so forth. let them stay in their beautiful natural state. what does your guest have to say with regards to that? host: if you want more information on the park service, it's nps.gov. the iconic hat worn by the park ranger with confetti celebrating 100 years. let me go back to virginia and really take it one step further, whether or not there's anything future presidents can do that would rescind an order that would create a national park put in place? guest: i don't believe the president can unmake a park. they can make parks but don't think they can unmake them. congress would have more control over that and often passes bills that change the boundary of parks and may add or subtract certain amount of land from parks. the congress can do that. but i don't think any parks are going to be -- once they are a park, they're pretty much always a park. host: let me go back to the issue of drilling rights and issues in some of these national parks and maybe not necessarily yosemite or grand canyon but areas that are designated wilderness area that might have potential for energy resources down the road. hat are the guidelines if any? guest: certain parks had is ing going on and cypress where there has been controversy in the park for oil and gas deposits. there's a limited number of parks that do have development going on inside their borders. host: a few more calls. i have one final question for you before we wrap it up. michael has been waiting from hyattesville, maryland. good morning. caller: thank you, c-span. good morning. i love the parks and i love wildlife and i love animals and everything. but let me ask, i want to know one thing. where are you getting $2.9 billion to take care of the park or take care of these parks when you have people out here starving? i'm sitting in my car right now looking at these homeless people sleeping in the park, in the park they're sleeping, these homeless people but yet you say you have -- congress is going to give them $2. billion to run these parks and all that. well, i'm going to say why don't you take the state prisoners over there and let them take care of the park and congress give the $2.9 billion to these people that are sleeping in the homeless park right here? why, what's wrong? the human race don't have a right no more? host: michael from maryland. we'll go next to dottie joining us from port angeles, washington. good morning, dottie. caller: good morning and thanks for taking my call and i live on the northern border of the national park and was raised in this area. it's really beautiful. i invite everyone to come and visit us. but my question is, the mineral rights question, that wasn't eally answered like who does own them? there is maybe a difference between the surface and underneath, but does the united states own those or does a previous owner where the national park was established, does the family, person still own them? what is the split? host: dottie, thanks for the call. let me go back one more time to noelle straub who has been with us 45 minutes. a lot of interest in mineral rights and ownership. can you illuminate further on that? guest: in the parks it's on a case by case basis. i can't say the federal government owns all surface rights and other people own -- you have to look at it at each park. there's a different owner for where they are split, there's different owners for the mineral rights but you have to look at it on a case by case basis to see who owns which areas where. and i just wanted to make one point to the previous caller who talked about the park service budget. congressional funding for the park service is .07% of the overall federal budget. so i just wanted to put in perspective, $2.9 billion seems like a ton of money but in relation to the overall federal government spending, it's .07%. so just to put that in perspective, there are other programs that deal with poverty and other issues that are also very important. host: and your centennial series available online at eenews.net. what one thing surprised you the most? guest: i guess it would be some of the parks that are the least visited. you always think of -- when you think of parks, you think of yellowstone or yosemite and some of the very well known parks and you know, when we looked into the least visited parks there are some that only get a couple hundred visitors per year. and some of those, granted, are in alaska where it's difficult to get to and that sort of makes sense but there are historic sites that don't have a lot of visitors and that kind of surprised me. e straub.oell the full series is available online. thanks for being with us. guest: thanks for having me. i appreciate it. host: c-span's john mccartle has moved outside the studio and one of the iconic sites in washington, d.c. along the mall with a member of the national park service staff. john, good morning. john: good morning. we're out here with the deputy director of the national park service, mike reynolds is our guest. we're at one of the most highly visited national park sites. this is the national mall. a term that's been thrown out this morning is happy birthday to the park service so happy birthday. mike: thank you everybody. john: talk about what's happening here specifically on the national mall today? mike: the national mall is often what we call america's front yard and it's the place all americans can come see their heritage. so today we're going to celebrate with over 1, 600 people will join us just over here to do what's call a living arrowhead. you ever seen marching band do their symbols on the field, we'll do something that will match the arrowhead on my sleeve here which is symbolic of all of america's heritage the national park service has. we have ranger palooza for the kids to try on uniforms and understand what it might be like to be a park ranger, celebrate heritage. we have one of the more important things today is a naturalization ceremony and at least 40 to 50 people will be sworn in which we do all over the united states. there will be 450 people sworn in today. john: the naturalization ceremonies have been happening all year during the centennial year. why is that such an important part of the park service of the centennial? mike: not only must it be terribly exciting for people to become american citizens and be their dream but can do it in a place that represents the heritage, the history and resources of the country they've decided to love and embrace. so imagine being sworn in below mount rushmore, here at the washington monument or the lincoln memorial and what it might mean about freedom and what their lives are ahead. john: 413 national park sites around the country. do you have a favorite? mike: my favorite was the last one i was in. john: which one was that? mike: the national mall today and i look forward to seeing our 413th which was named yesterday by president obama. john: what is that? mike: katadin woods and waters in maine. we're looking forward to being good partners with that state and those communities. john: 100 years since woodrow wilson started the national park service. what are the big threats to get you to the next 100 years? mike: climate change is a very large threat. we have a very large science teamworking on that with partners in the science community and we're very concerned with how to deal with species at risk, for example, and landscapes and maintaining places, even historic areas. we have certain weathering that goes on now even in the monuments in washington we're studying. so climate change, staying relevant to our constituents, to the american people, making sure we tell the stories, a full diverse story of the american experience. those would be a couple things i would be worried about. john: when you talk about climate change are there parks that you think might not be around in a hundred years? mike: i think the parks will be around and will be different. we may have in glacier national park fewer glaciers. we're trying to figure out how to change that process, mitigate those processes. we may have to show stories and show parks in a different way ahead. i hope not. john: when you talk about staying relevant, who is your average visitor to a national park right now? mike: we tend to have a lot of the boomer generation that grew up in station wagens that faced backwards and families had two weeks or more and could travel the country. we still have many of those people and families but are trying to appeal to the newer generation. we have an awful lot of the millenial generation and we have a very diverse country and it's growing in that diversity and want to make sure everyone knows and understands with a their heritage is in the 413 units. john: what's the pitch to the millenials. mike: come out. and you can me your interest and there's a national park. come out and experience it. john: several of our callers are concerned whether the park service has enough funding and whether it's properly taken care of by congress. what are your funding challenges, do you have enough to keep the parks going? mike: we do. congress has been helping us as of late and had modest growth and reaching out to new generations and dealing with our infrastructure. we're 100 years old and have things to refurbish but we're on the trend. we think it's going the right way but want to make sure the american people very much support that. john: you're here with us on the mall. where is director john jarvis? mike: in yellowstone national park and there will be a few people at the roosevelt arch where theodore roosevelt celebrated years ago, along with a lot of other people. john: director jarvis had an editorial in today's "washington post" and mentioned a lot of those that work in the park service end up staying for life. why is that? mike: it becomes for many a job that's a lifestyle as well as a life. i think maybe military families can understand that. you often live and work together in places and you are transferred and moved around so you develop sort of a family across this but you also become very dedicated to the resources. we have very passionate people and look forward to improving their lives, too, in this next century of service. john: how long have you been in the service? mike: 30 years. john: what are some of the parks you worked? mike: yosemite, olympic national park, fire island national seashore to my friend in new york which is right off the long island barrier islands and i've been a fortunate person to have this chance. john: mike rind is the deputy director of operations. appreciate you taking the time this morning. back to you, steve. host: john, thank you, on the mall in washington, d.c. this tweet from jim with reference to those station wagons that face backwards. yep, that was me. we all remember if you're old enough the space station wagons that face backwards. we're talking about the 100th anniversary of the national park service. we'd love to hear from you. at 7:00 eastern time tonight we will devote 90 minutes to the anniversary, part of c-span 3's american history tv and be live in northern virginia at arlington house and the robert e. lee memorial. we hope you tune in. john mccartle was mentioning mr. jarvis is directorship of the park service and he has an op-ed entitled "these lands are your lands, new york." and he concludes, it is pretty hard not to feel a wash of pride for our country when you stand at the rim of the grand canyon national park and the alpine glow of the grand teton national park on the steps of the lincoln memorial or the blood stained field of gettysburg national military park. these are our american cathedrals. they belong to you. come and enjoy them and refresh your memory of what it means to be an american. that from jonathan jarvis, director of the national park service. 202-748-8000, if you live in the eastern half of the country and those in the mountain an pacific time zones, 202-748-8001 and for those listening on c-span radio, join in on the conversation. stephanie is joining us from mammoth cave, kentucky. good morning. caller: hi. host: good morning, stephanie. caller: i live at mammoth cave and that's my actual zip code. i understand out here at sequoia and you apparently have to pay to even just get on to the park is what i'm understanding. at mammoth cave, you can drive all over the park, walk all over the park. you only have to pay if you take a tour. so on this weekend, is that free to take any of the tours? do you know? host: stephanie, i don't, i'm sorry to say. our guest is no longer with us. we'll look into that and if we have an answer we sure will. what do you like about where you live and for those who haven't been here, tell us a little bit about it. caller: oh, goodness. the county has a lake and a cave so we have pretty few residents and we have zero stoplights. so one of the few counties with no stoplights. we have two caution lights. host: you recommend we come and visit? caller: oh, certainly. and the last that i heard a few years ago is they've mapped mammoth cave to 400 miles. so it's the longest cave. host: thank you, stephanie. we showed you a moment ago the statue of liberty, which is of course part of the national park service as well. and a must-see visit in the greater new york city area. frank is joining us, houston, texas. good morning. frank: good morning. the lady asked me which was my favorite park. yellowstone national park is my favorite but my home state of national padre island is my second. i make two visits per year, one from texas, padres island and one to yellowstone national park. yellowstone national park in the wintertime is completely overrun with snowmobiles. it has really gotten out of control. a lot of people are making a lot of profit. you go into the nearest town and it is just covered with snowmobiles to be rented. host: thanks for the call. cape lookout national seashore in north carolina is part of the national park service. this is what it looks like as we listen to barbara joining us from marlton, new jersey. good morning. caller: hello. host: go ahead, please. caller: when i was working, i'm retired now. when i was working, every day my friends and i would go right across the street from where we worked to independence hall. and we'd have lunch right on the grounds. and once in a while we'd go inside. it was very easy to do. that was when the liberty bell was very close by and since then has been relocated. but was wonderful working right across the street from the national monument, independence hall. host: we were there for the democratic national convention. matter of fact, the backdrop of the washington journal was independence hall and it's amazing how much is around there . not only independence hall but the quaker meeting house and other locations that are within a short walking distance of that location. caller: people from all over the world would show up in the park. as tourists. and we'd make friends with them. they'd have many questions. very positive. for philadelphia and the world. it's a beautiful park. host: thanks for the call from new jersey. hank has this tweet. olympic national park is one of my favorites. lori is from wisconsin. caller: my favorite is grand teton national park. it is the most gorgeous, beautiful, wonderful place. there is a big financial thing going on there right now. we have all of the world leaders going on there now. it is a magical and beautiful place. many people forget that is just down from yellowstone. there are some fires there right now. i want to encourage young people, and encourage our get -- educators to get people to work there during the summer. right now, the park and concessions are hiring people from poland and russia and latvia incentive college and universities here. -- instead of colleges and universities here. it is one of the best experiences you can have in your life. i have friends that i've met in this experience that 35 years later are still my best friends. it was just magical. it is still our lovely home and where our heart is. we had a wonderful experience. i encourage people to go do that because you need people from everywhere. a broadwayy who was choreographer. people who were amazing we got to work with in a national park. you met people from everywhere and had a wonderful experience. i encourage everyone to get there, go to the battlefield, do the trips, parents. it is one of the best things you can do. host: your enthusiasm is coming through in your voice this morning. caller: thank you. i love it. host: how many children do you have? caller: i have none. i am single still feared but i have family who live there. i encourage my nephews and my family. host: thank you for joining the conversation from wisconsin. we appreciate it. another location, the badlands national park and south dakota as we listen to beverly joining us from texas. caller: good morning. we live in texas, and our lands that we live on borders a national preserve. there are so many wonderful programs and activities to get young people involved. i wanted to commend my seven-year-old granddaughter, she has received all of her junior ranger badges. there are certain activities they have to do to finish. the park rangers that awarded her badges to her were wonderful. i know it was a great experience that she will never forget. thing that the caller before said, our young people need to get involved in promoting all of these parks. host: thanks very much for the call. this is tom in chicago. caller: good morning. thank you guys for everything. without you guys, i don't know what america would do. host: you are kind to say it. thanks for joining us. caller: i just want to tell you that i thought that, one of my friends that i went to college and hee was in vietnam went to the same high school i went to in chicago. friendse one of my best and he became a national park service ranger. parks, smokey , all the, sand dunes way to washington dc. crater lake. he finished his career at the grand teton spirit i got to see many parks. i got to see all of the back country, which was phenomenal. and letting everybody know, we have to back the national parks. they need more money. we have to keep them up or it will be a sin that they will deteriorate that i have seen they are deteriorating. thank you for c-span. host: thank you for the call. let us go back to the national mall and my colleague john mcardle. we are joined by bruce mcpherson from maryland, he is part of an exclusive club. he is visited all 400 and 12 units of the national park service. how does one do that? time, it takes a lot of enthusiasm, ambition and money. john: how long did it take you? me 30 years.k i just finished the last one, i wanted to do it in time for the centennial. i just found out yesterday there was a new part designated in maine. now we are up to 413. john: are you going to go? bruce: i'm going to have to. john: talk about being part of the club. bruce: it is the national park travelers club. we have about 2000 members from all over the country. our goal is to visit as many parks as we can, tell the public about national parks, try to enjoy them, and collect the passport stamps. people ask what is your favorite, i love the parks in alaska, i love the parks out west. there are a lot of small parks that people need to go out and see. the historical parks, the small parks you have never heard of. there are 59 of national parks, but there are a lot of other units that are historical, battlefields, seashores and forth the people can see. and one in american samoa. bruce: yes, that was one of the most expensive trips. you have to be ready to invest some time into this. john: you do this with family? yes, my wife goes and my sister-in-law goes, and we have a good time visiting the parts. the of not been to all of them, but my wife got me started on this adventure, so i have to give a shout out to her. john: you are wearing your sin tenure t-shirt today. you're going to be part of the demonstration today. giant we're going to do a park service arrowhead today. people will make the symbol of a national park service. john: we spoke to the deputy director earlier, he heard that you had visited 412 units and he said it was an important thing to do, to write it down for the next generation. what would you say to the next generation? bruce: i would say they are a national treasure. we need to get out and see them. the next generation needs to be stewards of our national parks. our kids, our grandkids, they need to be able to see the treasures. get out of the house, get outside, see what our country has to offer. john: thank you so much for your time. back to you. good for you for finding someone who is visited all 412. now i guess he has to travel to maine, which has the 413th designation. it is the 100 anniversary on the state of when woodrow wilson signed into creation the national park service. my family and i had visited almost all of the national park service and the country says edwin. our next colors for massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. i have not been to 413, but it is my life's mission to visit as many as i can. i am ahlight was, disabled veteran, and i was there at the dedication of the veterans memorial and i got the stamp on the day they dedicated it. host: very interesting. thank you for the call. we appreciate it. if you have been to washington, and it is one of the most often asked questions, you can look at the washington monument, if you look carefully, midway on your screen you will see two different types of stone because construction came to a halt during the civil war and resumed after the war came to a conclusion and a different 40 -- quarry was used. there is still a distinct difference between the lower portion of the washington monument and the upper portion. a live view on this wednesday morning. paul is joining us from san diego. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you so much for c-span. you provide a wonderful service. i want to urge anybody out there with kids, young kids were teenagers, if you are planning a trip to europe or mexico or a cruise, put it off for a while and go to a national park. i was very fortunate growing up. we spent two weeks in washington one year, mount vernon and monticello. of course the white house and the capital. when i was 13, over 50 years ago, i took a road trip with my from two entire summer days after school let out until the week before it started in the fall. to south dakota, idaho. little bighorn, the badlands, mount rushmore, yellow storm -- yellowstone, and it was magnificent. i remember it like it was yesterday. i am 65 years old now. i remember meals i had there. i remember we got chased by a bear in yellowstone. sheep bison and mountain and it was wonderful. more kids need to be taken to those places. host: thank you for the call. one of the national parks and alaska, the elias national park and preserve. of 413 national parks and designated areas, battlefields, iconic sites, presidential birthplaces and homes which all make up the national park service. windy has the street -- tweet. i support all of the parts except for the ones that commemorate people like water -- robert e lee and others to our -- were for slavery. entire country of switzerland would fit inside the largest national park in alaska. it would take about 2400 of the smallest parks to fill the biggest parks mountainous terrain. takesng the biggest piece 2-4 weeks. if you go to the lowest spot, travelers are five to prepare to survive. some areas have not even been explored. they will never be. overseen the u.s. national park service in every the district of columbia, guam, puerto rico. let's get back to phone calls. nancy is calling from pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. i have been to a lot of national parks and i really enjoy them. , i know aon i have lot of people know about this and i am questioning myself. why did the united states gives over to the united nations some of our national parks? there andelieve that go on to stuart from virginia. welcome to the conversation. caller: how are you doing? inname is stuart and i am virginia. i myself live on land -- i have my own museum here in petersburg, virginia. i live -- this is an awesome place in petersburg. i live on land that we have a museum on it in this area. host: thanks for the call. we took a look at the anniversary of the end of the civil war from 1865, it is part of c-span3's american history tv program. you can check out the schedule online. it was called the organic act back in 1916 that established the national park service on this date in 1916. it reads in part as follows. the fundamental purpose is to preserve the scenery and natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. john mcardle is on the mall in washington, d.c. ne is here with her daughter. they are from arlington, virginia. how many parks of you been to as a family? anne: maybe a dozen or so. living in the area, you forget that the national mall is a national park. our most recent one is we went to the belmont house on the other side of the capital to learn more about suffrage and the women's right to vote. that was how we found out about the event today. john: i don't know if you can her but she is wearing national park t-shirt. what did you like about yellowstone? geysers.d seeing it was fun. if camping something you want to continue doing? >> yes. john: why did you bring your daughter out today? here, ae idea of being once in 100 year as it seemed like a fun thing to do before she has to get back to school. a big sendoff for summer vacation. deputye talked to the director of the park service. he said that they want to appeal to the next generation. a have a lot of baby boomers but they are working to get millennials out. what you think would be the best way to get that generation involved? think for the millennials probably some sort of social media push. once you are there, the parks i think felt themselves. it is amazing. when we were in yellowstone, you look from horizon to horizon. .ou don't see any wires there is a sense of the great outdoors and the idea that these really are the crown jewels of the united states. such unique landscapes. it is all pretty inexpensive. i think it is probably one of buckiggest bang for the vacations you can take. there is a really wide friday. if you're are interested in history, there are locations, if you're interested in nature and wilderness, there are places you can go to. there is something for everyone. john: do you have a favorite park? to the national seashore a lot. compared to some other coastal communities, it is gorgeous to be able to see the uninterrupted ocean and the seascapes and the dunes and you don't have hotels right up against the beach season just look around. bird and surf and swim and camp. and boogie board. that is one of our favorites. i also have a favorite in wisconsin. john: teacher family grew up going to parks? anne: i went to the grand canyon with my parents and my family. my sister and i explored out west a lot. we went to rushmore and the badlands and arches and down to the grand canyon, also and yellowstone. backs a lot of fun going this august with my daughter in seeing it fresh through her eyes. you wantthere a park to visit or place you really want to go to? to paris,to go france. not really a place in the united states. john: it sounds like mom has a few ideas in mind. back to you. that would be a whole different question is paris, france became part of the national park system. we have about 10 more minutes in our focus is morning on the centennial of the national park service. we would love to have you join in on the conversation. we are live tonight, 7:00 eastern time on c-span3 american history tv. we are at arlington house commemorating the centennial of the national park service. i want to share with you more of what was written in "the washington post" this morning. "in 1956 when planning for a 50th anniversary, the national park service invited world war ii veterans to see what they fought for. in partnership with the automobile industry, the service invited them to see the usa in your chevrolet. veterans came out in droves with their children in the back seats of their station wagons, and from those experiences grew a groundswell of support for conservation and is stored preservation. those children today are the baby boomers, now with millennial children and grandchildren. for our 100th anniversary, in partnership with the national park foundation, we invited , toyone to find your park foster the creation of a new generation of park visitors. david is calling. caller: thank you for c-span. i love c-span. thank you for that. host: we love our viewers. thank you. caller: we had a great experience, my wife and i, out in sunset crater in arizona. interesting -- interested in geology. to see theific landscape. it was so alien. being interested in plan a geology,-- planetary you get a feel for what is out there in our solar system. here it is right on earth. it was black landscape, black lava. but there were green trees growing out of it. it was so alien and yet familiar. it was a beautiful chance for education and my brilliant wife for $10 you can [indiscernible] . we were visiting our son in texas and came across another great park. it is one that president obama recently had dedicated and it has to do with mammoths. i think it is called willing mammoth park or something like that. it is right outside of town and we went there with our son. a couple of boys are gone for a walk on the creek bed and found a mammoth bone and it led to one thing and another, and here is this great trap geologically for this heard of mammoths, about hundred 35 million years ago had been trapped and left their view.ized bones for us to it was incredible. that was about a two acre site. that was a terrific experience. up anduniversity stepped bought more land. the park originally had two acres and baylor stepped up and now they have 175 acres of land to continue their scientific exploits and sharing with the public. it is just fantastic. i totally agree about recommitting financially to our national parks. host: thank you for call. we are looking at the badlands national park in south dakota. we've been showing you some of the iconic locations of national parks including yellowstone and mark -- mount rainier. ellis island, yosemite national park. they are just some of the 413 parks and iconic sites that make up the national park service. this is from the united press international, the president expands public lands more than any of his predecessors, more than any other u.s. president. when says, even though i growth in the grand canyon area, my favorite park is yellowstone. our next color is from ohio. good morning. i am a geologist and i view the parks a little differently. i think one of the things the public needs to understand is that the national parks are not simply for recreation. there -- they are repositories of national -- natural history. one of my concerns about the national parks is the tendency to see them just as a playground , a medium for recreation. geologist,you as a rocks in the environment are far more fragile than people realize. i am an aging rock climber and i can tell you that the boom in rock climbing is having an impact, from the holes that they sometimes drill and the garbage they leave. the number of visitors they go through our parks is mind-boggling. i think about 60% of the national parks for extended periods of time, so i get a good view of it. we need to be protective of them. things like allowing vendors to come in and turn places like yellowstone into an arena for snowmobiles some of the local vendors can make money. we really need to cut back on that. our duty is to preserve these places for future generations. anyway, i just wanted to talk that in. the parks are fragile and need to be treated very gently. host: thank you. from columbus, ohio. you, 21.3share with million visitors to washington, d c last year. more than 307 million american interest around the world visiting the u.s. national park service. to go back to john's earlier iferview, this tweet says united states, there would be no paris, france. john is on the national mall. make is one of the millennials that the national park service wants to reach out to in the next 100 years or sooner than that. 22 years old from louisiana. he is wearing his junior park ranger badges from glacial and -- parks. how did you get so much into the park service? we always been the family that road trips. we did not fly anywhere. we always tried to stop to see parks along the way. i have got my national park passport, i have got stamps and it is almost full from where we've been. tos summer we went yellowstone and glacier and theodore roosevelt national park. it was a good time. every summer we try to do a little bit. john: is it a family event or something you do with friends? >> family event, yes. this lester, i have what it might -- this last year, i had a friend from school and we took her with this. the park service is interested to hear from people your age that had draw in people your age. is thanks to my parents, but i've always loved the outdoors. ,t is nice to go somewhere new summer that is protected and shows with the country look like when it was founded. john: is there anything the park service can do? >> i think events like this are need. i came out here, my dad sent me the e-mail and said i should check this out. it has been nice to do. more events like this, more awareness. are doinght now they free admission for a couple of days, which is pretty cool. in general, i think they're doing a good job. doingonally, they cannot -- be doing anymore for me. john: at 22, can you be a junior park ranger? >> as long as you can fill out the booklet. john: what is that? >> it contains a lot of different activities you do in the parks. findave to find animals, tracks. forces you to go around the park and do different things. it is usually for under 12-year-olds. you do the whole booklet and bring it back and you get a badge. you get to put your hand up and say no spirit -- an oath. parks.ect and defend the it varies. one of the rangers took it off the path and told us not to feed ravens. it was a fun time. john: back to you. host: thank you. on the mall in washington, d.c. let me read for you again, jonathan jarvis, his op-ed today. he says "for the past century, the national park service has been providing for our most beautiful and treasured places, put into our stewardship by congress and both democratic and republican presidents. our employees of join the service for life because this work is more than a career. it is a mission. that mission is unlike that of any other federal agency." amy is joining us from pennsylvania. good morning. caller: i just wanted to mention acadia really quick. that is one of my favorites. tall,ic coastline meets towering pine trees. a beautiful area that draws thousands of visitors. i have raised my kids between gettysburg and valley forge national parks. one thing i would like to ask or bring up, i have a 17-year-old daughter, we're both avid

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