Bryce Canyon National Park Hosts
“A Conversation with Dayton Duncan”
Park Welcomes Longtime Ken Burns Collaborator
for Interactive Evening Program
On September 29th visitors to Bryce Canyon National Park will have the unique pleasure of meeting award-winning author, filmmaker, and longtime Ken Burns collaborator Dayton Duncan. The program, which will be held from 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. in the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge Auditorium, is entitled “An Evening with Dayton Duncan” and will feature an interactive, question and answer format encouraging audience input and engagement on a variety of topics.
As a filmmaker, Duncan is perhaps best known to lovers of America’s natural treasures as the writer and producer of Ken Burns’ dual Emmy-awarded documentary THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA. He has also served in a consulting role on all of Burns’ other documentaries from THE CIVIL WAR to BASEBALL, JAZZ, THE WAR, and many others. Articles written by Duncan have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, American Heritage magazine, and many other publications. He has also written twelve books, including Out West: A Journey Through Lewis & Clark’s America, and Miles From Nowhere: In Search of the American Frontier, as well as companion books to documentary films that he wrote and produced.
Accolades and honors for Duncan’s work abound. His work as a writer and producer has earned him distinction as the recipient of numerous Emmy awards, the Erik Barnouw Award from the Organization of American Historians, multiple CINE Golden Eagle and Western Heritage awards, as well as in 2009 when, along with Burns, he was named an Honorary Park Ranger—an honor received by fewer than 50 people in history. He has also been distinguished with honorary doctorates from Franklin Pierce University, Keene State College, and Drake University.
In addition to his work in film and literature, he has served in numerous governmental roles, to include chief of staff to New Hampshire Governor Hugh Gallen, deputy national press secretary for Walter Mondale’s presidential campaign in 1984, chair of the American Heritage Rivers Advisory Committee, and director of the National Park Foundation. Currently, he serves on the board of the National Conservation System Foundation, New Hampshire Humanities Council, as well as the Student Conservation Association.
His work inspiring our nation’s future conservationists is in large part the purpose of Duncan’s visit, as it will coincide with Southern Utah University’s “Semester in the Parks” program, which is an innovative, semester-length program designed to immerse students in the multitude of public lands, national parks, and monuments that surround its campus. The inaugural cohort of twelve students is currently based at Bryce Canyon National Park.
The program is free to attend with park admission. Additional information can be obtained by calling the park’s main information line at (435) 834-5322.
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About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 413 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.
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Kathleen Gonder, Chief of Interpretation and Visitor Information, Bryce Canyon National Park, 435-834-4740 office, 435-690-0084 cell