Originally given on  October 27, 2021, 12:00 – 1:00 pm
By Fredrick Swanson, Freelance Writer and Author on National Parks

From Delicate Arch to the Zion Narrows, Utah’s five national parks and nine national monuments display some of America’s most amazing scenic treasures. Author and historian Frederick Swanson delves into the human stories behind the creation of this mini-empire of national park lands, showing how geologic marvels such as Natural Bridges, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, and Capitol Reef emerged from obscurity to become destinations for travelers worldwide. Drawing from his book, Wonders of Sand and Stone: A History of Utah’s National Parks and Monuments (University of Utah Press, 2020), Swanson introduces the explorers, scientists, artists, writers, and travelers who brought these and other masterpieces of sculptured rock to the attention of the outside world in the early twentieth century. Competing visions of what our national parks represent led to controversy over the establishment of landscape-scale reservations such as Canyonlands National Park in 1964 and the recent designation of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments.