‘You See the Best of People in the Parks’

Former U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards has long been an advocate for national parks — first as a child discovering these treasures with her family, and later sharing their beauty with her own son and while serving nearly 10 years in Congress. A new documentary showcases the Maryland representative’s attempt to visit all 63 national parks after leaving office, despite the challenges of multiple sclerosis, and why we should protect these places for the next generations.

There’s no better time to heed her message than as the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary and imagines what parks will be like in the future.

“From the Hill to the Horizon” will be shown July 15 at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center at 6 p.m. The free event, followed by a discussion on national parks conservation and funding, is hosted by NPCA, Parks Channel and Former Members of Congress Association.

Edwards represented Maryland’s 4th Congressional District from 2008 to 2017, the first African American woman to represent the state. After serving four full terms, which included advocacy for the environment, she left behind the hectic pace of Washington politics — but not her support of public lands.

With her cat, Midnight, alongside her, she packed up a loaned RV and hit the road. “I just had in my mind that this is a thing I wanted to do. It was great to decompress in the parks,” she says in the film, adding, “And I saw the country in a different kind of way.”

What she imagined would be a two-week trip turned into a three-and-a-half-month adventure — exploring dozens of states, more than 50 national parks and talking to fellow park lovers along the way. Her three sisters often joined her at the parks. The 17-minute film captures their travels, while sharing the family’s park and outdoors story. “From the Hill to the Horizon” has been featured at film festivals around the country.

In a recent interview with NPCA, Edwards said the journey changed the way she thought about parks in terms of their ability to unite people across political lines, “because when you’re in the park with people of varying politics, there is something you all share — the love of the park. That kind of transcends all the other stuff.” Nature’s soothing environment made any discourse about current events less mean and vitriolic, she said. Overall, people in campgrounds and on trails are friendly, kind and helpful to one another — “You see the best of people in the parks,” she says in the film.

What does she hope viewers take away from the documentary?

“I hope they see the value of the parks — not just the environment value, which is preeminent, but also the economic value. There are whole communities in the middle of nowhere thriving because people are visiting the park, using the services, and are being employed in their community,” she said in the interview.

“I also hope they take away that parks are for everyone. When I was on the road, I was saddened that I saw very few people of color on the trails, in the campgrounds and using the parks. I hope people get out of this that parks are for all of us, and that they get that sense from my family’s time in the parks.”

Edwards told NPCA she struggled internally with how much of her MS issues should be revealed in the film, such as her difficulty in walking. But after letting the film crew simply follow her in her activities and interactions with others, a message that came through from the footage was “that pretty much whatever your issues are — mobility, sight or whatever — that there’s something in the park for you. The park rangers are unbelievably helpful in trying to figure out how you can use the park in the best way, whether you’re with children, with a senior or are able bodied — what trails are accessible, what activities are accessible and what vantage points are accessible for you.”

One of her favorite park memories, Edwards said, was visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park, an area of North Dakota’s Badlands where President Roosevelt once retreated to grieve the loss of his wife. The time there gave her the opportunity to reflect on how our country’s landscape preservation began.

“He left with this idea that we should be protecting these amazing spaces. Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican. We have a long, long history of adding to the protections of our public lands. When people come to the U.S. from around the world, they can actually see that. The way we protect our parks, staff our parks, the way they are cleaned and the way flora and fauna are protected in our parks is a model for protection around the world.”

Now, she said, “We are in danger of losing that — losing it to mining, losing it to development, and losing it to lack of investment in the maintenance.”

Still a frequent visitor to parks, Edwards said the past couple years’ funding cutbacks and lack of investment in parks are evident. Trails seem less maintained, trash pickup less frequent and there are fewer rangers available to help visitors.

“I hope both this film and a lot of the advocacy work going on is going to bring (these issues) to light, and those millions of people who visit our parks every year will say, ‘You know what, I have something to lose here’— and that (loss) crosses every kind of political and ideological line.”

As the country celebrates its 250th anniversary, Edwards said our nation’s choices today determine what parks will look like in the years ahead.

“When I close my eyes and think about the generations forward, I only hope that what we’re doing today can ensure that 250 years from now these amazing spaces are still preserved in a way that generation upon generation upon generation will be able to enjoy them the same way. Everything we do today is about ensuring that can happen.

“We have huge energy challenges in this country, but we also have the brain capacity to figure out alternatives… to envision and work on a world in which technology can work in tandem with our ability to protect our open spaces. I believe that to be true. We are smart and talented people, and we can figure that out.”