Kuiper looks out at the Grand Canyon. The dog is in focus.

100th Anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park

Kuiper looks out at the Grand Canyon. The background is in focus.

Kuiper celebrates the 100th anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park.

No space today; instead, a very important historical milestone! On February 26th, 1919, the Grand Canyon was officially declared a National Park. 11 years earlier, it had been designated a National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt. During a visit on May 6, 1903, Roosevelt had this to say:

“In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which, so far as I know, is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to do one thing in connection with it in your own interest and in the interest of the country to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is….Leave it as it is. You can not improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American if he can travel at all should see.”

“We have gotten past the stage, my fellow-citizens, when we are to be pardoned if we treat any part of our country as something to be skinned for two or three years for the use of the present generation, whether it is the forest, the water, the scenery. Whatever it is, handle it so that your children’s children will get the benefit of it. If you deal with irrigation, apply it under circumstances that will make it of benefit, not to the speculator who hopes to get profit out of it for two or three years, but handle it so that it will be of use to the home-maker, to the man who comes to live here, and to have his children stay after him.”

“Keep the forests in the same way. Preserve the forests by use; preserve them for the ranchman and the stockman, for the people of the Territory, for the people of the region round about. Preserve them for that use, but use them so that they will not be squandered, that they will not be wasted, so that they will be of benefit to the Arizona of 1953 as well as the Arizona of 1903.”

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? Leashed dogs are allowed on the South Rim trail. Kuiper gave it 2 ears up and left a review: “excellent use of negative space.”

Original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BuU5K0AjB7M/

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