Mount Rainier National Park

Alma Wagen

C. Frank Brockman

Fay Fuller

Floyd Schmoe

Wind-driven waves and abnormally high sea levels contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in flood and storm damage in the San Francisco Bay region, including Point Reyes National Seashore, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Pinnacles National Monument. In addition to California, the 1997–1998 El Niño and the following 1998–1999 La Niña severely impacted the Pacific Northwest, including many National Park System units.

In 2016, six rangers were awarded a national or regional Freeman Tilden Award for excellence in interpretation. Learn more about their amazing programs!

Much like Harry Yount, who patrolled Yellowstone National Park in the 1880s and is regarded as the world’s first park ranger, Geoff Walker can do it all. Walker is a skilled law enforcement officer, EMT, first responder, criminal investigator, wild land firefighter, wilderness expert, helicopter crewman, mountain climber, training coordinator, supervisor, mentor, and rescuer. Walker’s arrival on scene is a welcome sight for any situation.

They say that coloring provides stress relief for adults as well as children. For artists at the National Park Service (NPS) Western Museum Laboratory in the 1930s, however, it wasn't easy to hand-color glass lanterns slides depicting the landscapes, people, plants, and animals of places they had never seen. Quality and accuracy were essential because the slides were used by rangers to illustrate lectures and to encourage people to visit national parks.

Many visitors to national parks today collect passport stamps, magnets, or other items to recall their trip and to show others where they’ve been. In the 1920s and 1930s the “must have” souvenirs weren’t created to be collected. National Park Service (NPS) windshield stickers served a practical administrative purpose; they were evidence that the automobile license fee drivers paid at some parks had been paid. Even so, Americans embraced their colorful, artistic designs.

One of the first Congressional committees to conduct an inspection tour of national parks was the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee during the summer of 1920. Given the financial needs of the fledgling National Park Service (NPS), it was a high-stakes tour. Although a few members of the press called the trip an unnecessary junket, the tour highlighted NPS needs and created Congressional support for budget increases throughout the 1920s.

Rangers in leggings? It may not sound very practical or professional, but leggings were part of National Park Service (NPS) uniforms for decades. They weren’t the leggings we think of today though! Practical for protecting the legs, leather puttees or leggings were part of the "ranger look" from the earliest NPS uniforms. As the NPS evolved and the National Park System expanded, however, they became unfashionable and unnecessary.

In the 1930s the National Park Service (NPS) fire suppression policy received a boost from Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) funding. CCC enrollees built roads, fire breaks, fire trails, lookouts, and other infrastructure in national parks across the country. At the same time, another significant effort was underway to improve how quickly forest fires could be detected and suppressed. The tool used to accomplish this was a camera—a very special camera.