The Cousins Roosevelt & America's Best Idea

Explore how the United States’ national parks developed and how two presidents from different political eras—cousins Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt—helped shape and protect that legacy. The program connects presidential history with the origins and growth of the park system.

Presenter Stephen A. Engelhardt is a career interpreter and storyteller whose national-park experience includes Denali, Acadia, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, North Cascades, and Organ Pipe Cactus. His presentation draws on science, history, wildlife, and life in park communities to make the story accessible to the public.