Inside PBS Blog

PBS viewers across the country have gotten to know Shelton Johnson since Ken Burns’ “The National Parks” aired last week. Johnson, a park ranger at Yosemite National Park, is featured in the film and has left an incredible impression on millions of viewers.

Last week we invited him to take your questions and this week we have his answers. Check out his responses below and let us know what you think.

In addition to Yosemite and Yellowstone, what other parks are you especially fond of? Maria

Maria, I'm particularly fond of Grand Teton, especially the area around Jenny Lake.  I also like Canyon de Chelley, Navajo National Monument, Dinosaur N.M., and Arches National Park.  I've never met a national park I didn't like!

What type of music goes through your head in a typical day out in the Park, and away from people? Tom

Hi, Tom.  I was trained as a classical clarinetist, and for me the music of the Romantic composers seems to mesh pretty well with national park landscapes.  I'm particularly fond of late 19th century composers such as Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius, Neilson, Dvorak, and especially the music of Debussy, Ravel, Satie, etc...  I also love the music of Aaron Copeland.  But sometimes I "hear" fifties jazz such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. People don't normally associate jazz with wilderness, but both, for me, generate deep introspection.

What would YOU say to the world about the National Parks and its preservation? Sue

Hello, Sue!  Thoreau said it best, "in wildness is the preservation of the world", so when we set aside national parks we are creating sanctuaries for the earth itself, and by association, places where we can reconnect with that ancient part of ourselves that remembers what it's like to be indigenous, so parks become those places where we remember what it means to be human.

I have an 18 year old Grandson and am wondering what type of education or preparation you might recommend for him to become a Park Ranger? A Grandma can only wish for her Grandchildren the happiness that you have found in your life's work. Joy

Hello, Joy!  A background in biology, geology, botany, ecology, or park management, is good, but I wouldn't forget experiencing a good grounding in the humanities such as literature.  John Muir was a great naturalist, but he was also influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emerson being one of the Transcendentalists such as Whittier and Bryant, was also influenced by the Romantic poets, folks like Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, and Byron.  Reading Rachel Carson is great but you can't leave out Wordsworth's "The Prelude".  The head must be balanced with the heart so you need both science and art.  Feeling is just as important as thinking.

If you could direct children to a handful of books that might inspire them to seek solace/inspiration in the wilderness, what books would you recommend? And for adults, what books would you recommend? Betsey

Hi, Betsey!  Any book that nourishes a child's imagination is a wonderful thing, and any work, or activity, that impoverishes a child's dreams is to be avoided.  Again, this is just my opinion.  The classics in Children's literature, works by folks like Shel Silverstein or Maurice Sendak, are to be embraced.  They have survived the judgment of the world's best literary critic which is Time itself.  As for adults, I would use the same argument.  For kids, I'm thinking of "Where the Wild Things Are" or "Green Mansions" but there are more recent books that today's youth might connect with more easily.  Librarians are good resources to use as well. Some of my favorite books that I read to my son are "Stellaluna," "The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses," but we also read "Anderson's Fairy Tales," "The Arabian Nights," etc.. etc.. Again, works that stimulate the imagination, that expand our sense of the world, are all good.  I think "The Polar Express" is a very beautiful book.  For adults, well, you can't go wrong with John Muir or Thoreau, Emerson, or Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez or the poetry of Gary Snyder.  I also greatly admire Terry Tempest Williams and Gretel Erlich.  One of my favorite books is "Cane" by the Harlem Renaissance writer, Jean Toomer.  I love the poetry of Pablo Neruda, St. John Perse, Aime Cesaire, Anna Akhmatova, Constantine Cavafy, the list goes on and on, it's like walking through a garden, so many scents, fragrances, colors, how do you pick one without feeling that you've committed an injustice to the others?  The best inspiration is the thing itself, wilderness, mountains, deserts.  That's the book to start with, the book of the earth, and once you're there in wilderness, it's being written all around you, and you're part of what's being created.  Yellowstone, Yosemite, Zion, Canyonlands; those are the best teachers and classrooms!