And lets be uncomfortable. Next year, more victories. Because Animal Rights happen if hard. And we try so please do everything you can possibly think of to do all the time. Thank you very, very much. [cheers and applause] announcer tomorrow night on cspan, talking about islam and the misperception westerners have about the religion by sharing her own experience of getting to know a muslim cleric and his family. She writes about in her book if the oceans were ink. Islam get more than its share of negativity in the United States . You write about that from your standpoint. Yes. I mean, i think the sad thing is andre you and i are in eventdriven business and being the violent extremists have figured out a way to insert themselves into the headlines and the vast majority of the rest of the 1. 6 muslims in the world have not. It is depressing but the old saying, if it bleeds it leads is true for all groups. Not tooy, there are many counter narratives that make it into the News Headlines about islam. There was a recent study that asked people about what the face of the various religions was and because islam is so diffuse, there is no pope. No organized clergy in mainline islam in shiite it is different. Is theholics, the face pope. Unfortunately, among americans the face of islam is all baghdadi, the head of isis. Announcer you can see the entire conversation tomorrow night at 9 00 eastern here on cspan. At cspan. Org, you can watch our Public Affairs and political programs at any time. Or to our home page cspan. Org and click on the Video Library search bar. Type in the name of the speaker, the sponsor of a bill, or even in event. Click on the program you would like to watch or refine your search with our search pools. If you are looking for a most it is readyrams, for your immediate feeling like todays washington journal or other events. Cspan. Org is a Public Service of your cable or sadness. Of your cable or satellite provider. The National Parks service celebrated its 100th anniversary. Washington journal takes a look at the agency and its operations. Then members of congress at an event in iowa as a tribute to veterans. Later, another chance to see animalrights activists speak at a recent conference in los angeles. Good morning. A live look at the washington memorial andy whallon washington, d. C. , with the Washington Monument in the foreground and the u. S. Capitol on this thursday, august 25. Today marking an anniversary. On this date 100 years ago, president Woodrow Wilson created signed a bill that created the National Parks service. 413 National Parks, memorials, battlefields, and Historic Sites. 310 million, near these iconic sites. As the travel season winds down on this anniversary, we are devoting the next 90 minutes learning about your park experiences and we want to hear from you. 2027488000 for those in the central and eastern time zones 2027488001. What had been your experience at National Parks across the country, including a new one designated this week in the state of maine. You can also send us a tweet at spambingswj or join us on facebook. Com cspan. Good thursday. Thanks very much for being with us. If you pick up todays wall street journal or Washington Post, two editorials commemorating the National Park service including this from Terry Anderson. Happy 100th birthday National Parks and Jonathan Janis writing these lands are your lands, america. Read them online at wsj. Com. Some background on the National Park service. It was signed into law on this date by president Woodrow Wilson in 191. Congress established yellowstone National Park back in 1872 as the worlds first National Park. 1916, the date president wilson signed the law creating the National Park service and the system began to include areas of historical significance back in 1933 designated by president franklin d. Roosevelt. And earlier this summer, president obama commemorating this Centennial Anniversary. President obama we have to have the foresight and faith in the future to do what it takes to protect our parks and to protect this planet for generations to come. And thats especially true for our leaders in washington. Its what lincoln did when he set aside this ground for all posterity. Thats what roosevelt did when he inspired the National Park system. Thats what our generation has to do. We have to sum up that same vision for the future. We made good strides and were reducing Carbon Pollution and preserving landscapes. Were rallying the world to tackle Climate Change together but weve got to do a lot more. And on this issue, on like a lot of issues, theres such a thing as being too late. The good news is i know we can rise to the challenge. Over the last seven years weve proved it and if we keep at it, were not just going to safeguard this place, were going to protect our communities from rising fees and stronger storms and brutal droughts. But were also going to protect our childrens lungs from breathing dirty air and protect Vulnerable People from displacement. Well protect our National Security because we wont be seeing refugees displaced because of conflict and scarcity. And well build on that legacy of all those who came before us, who stood in these parks a century ago and talked about an america that lasts through the ages. Host in june the president commemorating what is a summer of celebration for americas National Park service. Again, we want to hear from you. When you send us a tweet, if you have a photograph, if youve visited one of the National Parks or Historic Sites, you can do so. Tweet your photos at cspanwj and show them on the air as we commemorate the National Park service centennial. Let me read what Terry Anderson writes in the oped at washington journal, a fellow at the institute, called happy 100th birthday National Parks and writes the following, few federal agencies command more widespread support than the National Park service. A 2015 gallup poll found 73 of americans were satisfied with the governments handling of National Parks despite their overall dissatisfaction with the federal government. There are now 84 million acres in the National Park system, including 59 National Parks, 20 of which were added after 1980 and 353 National Monuments, battlefields and Historic Sites. Every Year Congress creates more marks, often referred to as park barrel politics. But loved as they are, the National Park systems and monuments are not being treated well. Adding more makes matters worse. There is already a backlog of maintenance projects including deteriorating roads, buildings and Sewage Systems that will cost 12 billion to fix. This morning from Terry Anderson and his oped in the wall street journal. Ere joined in washington with noel straub and covering for green wire and thanks for being with us on the washington journal. Guest thanks for having me. Pleasure to be here. Host let me begin with the disrepair in americas National Parks. What needs to be done that isnt . Guest as you heard, theres a 12 billion backlog with the National Parks. Theres a whole host of projects all across the country that need to be done. Its an astonishing task they have to accomplish. The park service in addition to the normal monuments you would think of also has more than 5,000 miles of roads under its care, 1,000 bridges. Its got pipelines bringing water into the parks that are often failing. So they have a lot of infrastructure that they need and its easier to get donations to repair the Washington Monument or Lincoln Memorial and the well known parks and harder to get money for the basic things like keeping the water flowing into parks or keeping their roads paved. Host the Washington Monument having its own problems with the elevator which is now shut dunn because of disrepair and was recently renovated but still a lot of issues for those who want to travel to the very top of that iconic, historical ite. Guest its going to be shut for nine months to fix the elevators. Theyve been closing it on and off for a day or two here or there and its scary for visitors who get stuck at the top and have to walk down or get stuck partway up and they decided they need to take it out of service for a good nine months and go ahead and redo the elevators. Host that are the problems with the Washington Monument elevator and why wasnt it fixed right the first time . Guest some of the problems started with the earthquake which was five years ago. There was quite a bit of damage to the Washington Monument. Some of the blocks at the top came loose and that sort of thing. But theyve been having problems for years. And theyve tried to do more temporary fixes to try to get it up to speed so people could use it but havent done a full shut it down, repair the whole thing so that seems to be what needs to happen now. Host you put together a series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the National Park service. Take us through from 1872 when yellowstone National Park became the worlds first National Park to 1916, the law that president Woodrow Wilson signed. Guest yeah, we actually have 14 articles in our series on the National Park service, the last one coming out today, is a look at how the park service was created, so its right on topic for todays anniversary. But yes, the first park, as you mentioned, the worlds first park was created and then 35 other parks and monuments were created, but they were being overseen by the interior department but not a specific Agency Within the interior department, just the larger department. And eventually, you know, lawmakers realized they probably needed its own agency so that there is unified management over all of these 35 parks that existed. So theres a lot of congressional wrangling as you can expect. It took about six years from the time that the first bill was proposed to when it actually passed. There were fights over jurisdiction and whether the Forest Service should get some of the sites or whether the park service should get them. There also is wrangling over whether there should be grazing allowed in parks, livestock grazing. So they deliberately the way they ended up passing the bill is they deliberately kept it a little vague and had an overarching Mission Statement but didnt have too many specifics so there wasnt too much people could object to, so they ended up passing the bill in 1916 and the park service went on from there. Host let me go back to the bill signing ceremony and what congress and the president hope to achieve, the fundamental service of the National Park service, to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. And since 1980, weve really seen a huge growth in the number of designated areas of National Parks and u. P. I. Pointing out that president obama has designated more areas of National Parks than any of its predecessors. Guest he has. Yesterday there were 412 park units and then yesterday there were 413. President obama has created a dozen parks in his tenure. President bush, the younger, created one. President clinton created three. So as you can see, president obama has created more and theres been some controversy over whether additional park units should be created. Both the president and congress can designate parks. Congress by passing a law and the president by using the Antiquities Act which is a 1906 law that lets him bypass congress and do it on his own. But some people think given the 12 billion maintenance backlog and all the what the park service already has to take care of, its not a good idea to give them additional parks to add to their growing list. Host we move into late august and the 25th of the month, the 100th anniversary of the National Park service. We want to hear from those who live in the eastern time zones nd for those out west, 2027488001. Your thoughts on the National Park service or send us a tweet. Theres this from dean who says walking down from the top of the Washington Monument is awesome. You get to see all of the artwork. Let me go back to your earlier point about the new park that was designated just yesterday in the state of maine but not without controversy. Whats this area about and why are some questioning the president s motives, including the governor . Guest the cofounder of burts bees, roseanne quimbley, wanted to give 80,000 acres in the maine north woods which contains a lot of beautiful woods and streams and she wanted to donate it to make it a National Park. There were opposition in maine and people were worried about restrictions as far as access, hunting, getting into the park, and they also, you know, wanted people were worried about the government taking more land. So yes, there was quite a bit of opposition. The park Service Leaders held several public hearings up there which were pretty controversial, got a lot of good comments on both sides. And the cofounder of burts bees had been pushing for congress to make it a National Park but the legislation stalled in congress so she then turned her attention instead of pushing it through congress to get president obama to create it through as a National Monument and what he did yesterday. Host from the Washington Post, these lands are your lands, america. And this tweet from jan who says everyone should see the ken burns series about the National Parks. He is a national treasure. And well be joined by Noelle Straub and her work is Available Online at eenews. Net. First we want to hear from you. Michael from new kensington, pennsylvania. Good morning. Caller yes, steve. Thank for you taking my call and cspan as usual. Its a great program. I have done a good deal of traveling throughout the park system, death valley and the grand canyon are my favorites. But i do think you bring up good points with the maine acquisition. Theres way too much parkland too much land under federal jurisdiction and i think the atistic was 75 of nevada or something was federal lands. I think thats outrageous. There was even a controversy when clinton was president , they took all this land in utah nd just for the escalate mountains and one of the mountains, the main purpose i think it was nevada. The main purpose was to keep them from the yuca mountain that was going to be used for a Nuclear Storage facility, to keep it out of the hands of the public of the private industries could not be used for that purpose. And i think that they could sell some of these federal lands. Roles ep adding to the and cant roles and cant maintain them, as your guests pointed out, they keep it limited to the public in certain areas. Host thanks for the call. Youre seeing some of the iconic scenes of just a few of the National Parks as we devote the first 90 minutes of our program on this send tennial Centennial Anniversary of the National Parks system. Theres a tweet with a photograph of yellowstone National Park and this from kybel who has a question, is the most visited National Park still the great Smokey Mountains in tennessee . I know it has been for years. You know the answer for that temperature guest yes, it is still great Smo