For many public lands, one visit is never enough. Photographer Dawn Demaske made several summer trips to Badlands National Park in South Dakota, but hadn’t seen a winter sunrise until recently. Setting up near the park’s signature rock formations, Dawn watched the sky lighten. “The sunrise was spectacular and it was everything I wished it would be. I felt very fortunate to be there at that moment and I took it all in.” Photo courtesy of Dawn Demaske.
Layered rock formations rise like islands in an ocean of fog at Badlands National Park in South Dakota. From golden sunrises to star-filled nights, Badlands offers terrific chances to explore ancient fossil beds, observe a variety of wildlife and learn about the park’s fascinating cultural history. Young visitors, don’t forget to get your Junior Ranger badge! Photo by Barry Castetter (www.sharetheexperience.org).
The landscape of Badlands National Park in South Dakota is rough mix of rugged rock formations and grassy prairie. The striking scenery of the stripped spires and jagged canyons may draw your attention, but as you spend more time in this place, the soft prairie comes alive. Stay awhile and get to know the prairie plants and animals as well as the stark badlands and fossil resources. Photo by Sara Feldt, National Park Service.
Sunrise over Badlands National Park in South Dakota reveals a landscape of grassy prairies and rugged rock formations. The rock layers testify to tens of millions of years of deposition – when tiny grains of sediments such as sand, silt and clay are cemented together into rock. Different environments – sea, tropical land and open woodland with meandering rivers – caused different sediments to accumulate here at different times. About half a million years ago, the process reversed itself and now water and wind erode the rocks, leaving behind this jagged silhouette and its embedded fossil treasures. Photo by National Park Service.
The National Park Service is 100 years old today! I found this publication from the same year of NPS’s birth, 1916. It’s Glimpses of our National Parks, by Robert Sterling Yards, and was published by the Government Printing Office for the Department of the Interior.
The first section is a hoot - a chronological list of National Parks by order of creation, with some distinctive characteristics listed.
Learn more at the National Park Service’s page about the centennial. All National Parks are free through the 28th to celebrate, so now’s as good a time as any to visit!
For the last century, the National Park Service has protected America’s Best Idea, ensuring current and future generations can experience the country’s natural, cultural and historic treasures. Established 44 years before the National Park Service, Yellowstone was the world’s first national park and sparked a worldwide movement to protect special places.
Tomorrow is the 100th birthday of National Park Service! We were honored to have their park rangers visit us this week.
Lindsay Brandt (Rock Creek Park) and Suzy Traut and Heath Mitchell (National Mall and Memorial Parks) answered questioned about the Organic Act of 1916, which is currently on display.
The Organic Act created the National Park Service as we know it today. (Learn more here: http://1.usa.gov/29hOr2N). The rangers also shared the history and current initiatives of the National Park Service with our visitors.
Visitors can also explore the national parks in our ReSource room with fun activities like a scavenger hunt.
Come #FindYourPark at the National Archives!
One of the best things about working for the National Archives is that we get exposure to a variety of Federal agencies and their work.
On August 25, 1916, the National Park Service was founded. But, of course, the establishment of an agency or park and the management of it are two very different things! Today we wanted to focus on the exceptional work done by our colleagues at the National Park Service and other Federal agencies that have made travel and enjoyment in the National Parks a reality over the past 101 years!
From our holdings of the National Park Service (Record Group 79), who built campgrounds, worked with concessionaires like the Fred Harvey Company and who made sure that there were “facilities” available to the every growing public; the U.S. Forest Service who preserved and managed lands before the birth of the Park Service (Record Group 95) and the Bureau of Public Roads (Record Group 30) who made it possible to leave the mule carts behind, we bring you the Grand Canyon National Park!
This weekend, we lost a member of the Department of the Interior family. Brian Hughes, captain of the Arrowhead Interagency Hot Shots crew out of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, lost his life while battling the Ferguson Fire just outside Yosemite National Park. We extend our condolences to the family, friends, and fellow National Park Service coworkers who loved and knew him. We honor his service and sacrifice.
A new analysis by the National Institute on Retirement Security shows that #WomensRetirement income lags behind men’s. Our #EleanorsHope initiative is dedicated to helping close the gap between women & men when it comes to retirement savings and benefits. https://www.ncpssm.org/eleanors-hope/
