The new Ken Burns television series on our national park system is another prize-winner from a remarkable producer of major productions. While the long-running PBS piece may bore some and contain material that others consider repetitive, the end product is something that should make all of us proud of what so many people in the past did to give us such treasures today.

As one observer said of a particularly amazing site, “The ages have created it and we must prevent men from marring it.” That is a constant battle, but there are good soldiers to wage a winning fight. We have not reached this state easily.

Many of the players, such as Stephen Mather, who figured heavily in establishing our national park system, are unfamiliar to modern viewers. There were so many dedicated, imaginative and persistent people involved there is no way for the average citizen, except perhaps Ken Burns and his compatriots, to keep track of them all. But one figure who prominently appears in the documentary is former President Theodore Roosevelt, a remarkable man in countless ways and a phenomenally accomplished conservationist.

The effervescent, multi-talented Roosevelt came from a privileged background and might have been expected to be an elitist industrialist leaning to commercialization, exploitation and development of our most treasured regions. Yet, his upbringing and his desire let everyone share in the delights he encountered that drove him to get so much done while he was in the White House from 1901 to 1909.

Consider this list of Roosevelt-inspired developments: 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reservations, four national game preserves, five national parks, 18 national monuments, 24 reclamation projects and seven major conservation conferences and commissions.

When he became president, the nation had five national parks. He doubled that figure and laid the groundwork for our current 58 national parks. As president, Roosevelt fought unsuccessfully to make our Grand Canyon a national park. He was able, however, to protect it by declaring it a national monument in 1908. To our great benefit, the magnificent Grand Canyon finally became a national park in 1919.

Historians are inclined to consider George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as the two most influential presidents in our history. But those familiar with our national park system and what it means today consider Roosevelt on the same plane based on his accomplishments in the field of conservation.

Certainly, Roosevelt is only one of thousands who were and are in the forefront of preservation and maintenance of many of our national park system treasures. There are those, however, who would put the flamboyant “Teddy” on horseback to lead any parade of stewardship champions to remind us how blessed we are to have our park system.

Though we have it, can we keep it as it should be nurtured and enhanced?