Development of the Naturalist Program in the National Park Service

Bryant, Harold; Drury, Newton; Fry, Amelia

One day in 1964, during a series of interviews which were being tape recorded with conservationist Newton B. Drury, he suggested that perhaps in the next taping session we should include his longtime friend, Harold C. Bryant, an early pioneer in nature interpretation in the national parks. At that time we were about to finish Mr. Drury's account of his days as Director of the National Park Service, and it was easy to see that an account of the development of the naturalist program would make a significant addition to our attempt to preserve the memories of those formative years of the service. Dr. Bryant not only had undertaken the first "vacationist education" service (at Yosemite for Stephen Mather) but, by force of logical progression, was called to Washington by Director Horace Albright to organize interpretation programs and personnel for the entire national park system. Those were times when the growth of the naturalist progr~-if there were to be one at all--required someone with thorough training in biology and the ingenuity to apply this knowledge to a situation unique at that time: the education of tourists on the wing, a random type of student body with a range of intellect and background as broad as the world's population. Mr. Bryant was the man on the spot at that time with the talent, training, and imagination for just such a challenge. In this interview, held in the recording laboratory in Dwinelle Hall on the University of California campus, Dr. Bryant answered questions from Mr. Drury and myself, with occasional dialogues developing between him and Mr. Drury over such perennial uncertainties as the relative merits of the factual versus the inspirational approach. Mr. Drury also contributed his own comments and anecdotes during the process of the interview. Basically, however, the story unrolled to show how the idea of naturalist programs developed, where the earliest support was found , and what happened when, with fortunate timing, Dr . Bryant opened the Division of Education and Research in the National Park Service in Washington just

Development of the Naturalist Program in the National Park Service

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