We cannot pick out the highlights and let the rest slowly decline. And that's the job of interpretation. We cannot have resource protection without support. We cannot have support with concern. We cannot have concern without understanding.
Interpretation fosters the understanding that makes protection possible.
Let me remind you of the story of Ellis Island. America's greatest immigration station witnessed the arrival of at least one direct ancestor of more than half of nation's population. Yet when it closed in 1954, few tears were shed and little concern was wasted on a place that had outlived its usefulness. Ellis Island was not obscure. It was not remote.