Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

Alice Ballard

Meet the recipients of the 2017 George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service. These award recipients are recognized for their exceptional dedication and service to parks and programs.

Each year nearly 300,000 volunteers across the National Park Service (NPS) donate more than 6.5 million hours of service, for a value of more than $185 million. Through their extraordinary work and dedication, these volunteers make an exceptional contribution to their parks and communities. We are pleased to congratulate the national recipients of the 2020 George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service.

The National Park Service congratulates the regional recipients of the 2025 Excellence in Volunteerism Awards. These nominees embody the values of service, engagement, and stewardship fundamental to our national parks.

As we reflect on 2022, we offer you 22 interesting and exciting science and nature events from parks of the national park system. From a brief, yet dramatic eruption of the world's largest active volcano to celebrating the 60th anniversary of the National Natural Landmarks program, 2022 was filled with amazing moments.

In this issue of 3Parks3Stories, we would like to share three stories of successful conservation projects in the Mediterranean parks that were reliant upon partnerships between the NPS and one or more dedicated collaborators. In these stories, we hope you see the mutual benefits of these relationships and the value they bring in the effort to protect, preserve, and understand our national legacy.

Like you, we love our National Parks and all of the wonderful flora and fauna that live within them. Our mission is to protect and preserve these natural resources for this and future generations. That’s a big task! Have you ever wondered how we at the National Park Service keep tabs on the status of everything that lives within the park?

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is currently under construction and expected to be completed by late 2025. This crossing is expected to provide mountain lions—and many other animals—a safe passage over the busy 101 freeway. Most importantly, it will allow many species of wildlife in the Santa Monica Mountains to mix with populations from other open spaces, strengthening their genetic diversity.

This year, for the first time, the NPS hired a shared paleontologist to support multiple parks in the same region. Dr. Aubrey Bonde was selected as the Southern Network Paleontologist to support five parks throughout Southern Nevada and California.