With more than 325 million people visiting America’s National Park Service sites last year, the natural sanctuaries are some of our country’s most beloved—and popular—travel destinations. Yet during those visits, only a slice of these precious lands comes into view.
Now, a five-part National Geographic Channel documentary series, National Parks: USA (debuting September 8 and streaming the next day on Hulu), peels back the mystique, unveiling how history, geography, and wildlife intertwine beyond the marquee attractions travelers tend to seek out.
Indigenous actor Michael Spears, a member of the Kul Wičaša Lakota from the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, narrates the series, with episodes spotlighting five parks: Zion in Utah; Yellowstone in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; Katmai in Alaska; Everglades in Florida, and Olympic in Washington state.
Living north of Yellowstone in the Gallatin Valley, Spears is especially tied to the nation’s first national park. “My connection to the land here goes back to my grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather’s—I can keep on going,” he tells Condé Nast Traveler of the region known as makoče waši, or the “land of abundance,” where tribes once agreed there would be no bloodshed because of the sacred water and plants. “Growing up, I have stories of my grandfather, who was a holy man, sending people over to gather water and medicines from Yellowstone for our healing ceremonies.”
Though his grandfather has since passed, Spears carries forth his knowledge. While narrating the series, the 46-year-old actor—who started his career in Dancing with Wolves (1990), and more recently appeared in FX’s Reservation Dogs, and the Yellowstone prequel 1923—was especially taken by the memories these lands can bring up. “To be able to narrate and talk about my relatives, the animal people [wamakaškaŋ oyate], is a very deep honor,” says Spears.
