Our National Parks, Past and Present: A Conversation

The Huntington and the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West present a program focused on the history and present-day opportunities and challenges in the ongoing preservation of natural land in the form of national parks and monuments. How are the goals of the conservation movement and government agencies different now than they were in the late 19th century? How can we continue to improve our interactions with the landscapes that surround us? The newly expanded San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, located in Los Angeles’ backyard, builds on the history established at Yellowstone and Yosemite, but it differs from those parks. In particular, ideas about pristine “wilderness” and Indigenous land rights have evolved in the past 150 years. Together we will consider what that evolution means for the 21st century.

This program derives from the exhibition “Storm Cloud: Picturing the Origins of Our Climate Crisis,” which traces the rise of environmental awareness throughout the long 19th century. The show focuses on the work of British and American writers and artists who helped garner public and government support for conservation, including the establishment of the earliest national parks in the United States.

About the Speakers

Join us for a conversation among Rep. Judy Chu, who has long worked on the San Gabriel Mountains designation; Kimberly Morales Johnson (Gabrieleno/Tongva), tribal secretary of the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians; and Megan Kate Nelson, historian and author of Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. The discussion will be moderated by Josh Garrett-Davis, The Huntington’s H. Russell Smith Foundation Curator of Western American History.