Mount Rushmore National Memorial under construction.
The workers had to endure conditions that varied from blazing hot to bitterly cold and windy. Each day they climbed 700 stairs to the top of the mountain to punch-in on the time clock. Then 3/8 inch thick steel cables lowered them over the front of the 500-foot face of the mountain in a "bosun chair." Despite the dangers, no one was killed during the project.
Photo from the National Park Service archives.
Otters in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
The sea otter population of Glacier Bay has increased dramatically in the past 20 years. Ecologists consider sea otters a keystone species here. Otters consume vast quantities of clams, urchins, crabs, and other invertebrates and their presence creates ripples through the ecosystem. NPS photo.
Every day someone like you becomes a wildland wildfire fighter, a teacher, a trail-builder, a museum curator, or a park ranger. Discover your opportunities in national parks. Come to play. Come to learn. Come to serve. Develop your environmental leadership skills. Find a job. Be the next generation to preserve and protect these great places.
With more than 80% of Americans living in urban areas, urban parks are more important than ever. The father of American landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, said of urban parks:
It is one great purpose of the Park to supply to the hundreds of thousands of tired workers, who have no opportunity to spend their summers in the country, a specimen of God's handiwork that shall be to them, inexpensively, what a month or two in the White Mountains or the Adirondacks is, at great cost, to those in easier circumstances.
Bison stand in sunset silhouette on Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge. One of the main purposes of Fort Niobrara NWR is to provide habitat for Bison.
Rising above the Black Hills of South Dakota, Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a stunning sight to behold. Audacious in scale and magnificent in artistry, the massive sculpture is a memorial to four American presidents and so much more.
Everywhere you look, you can see tender moments between couples -- including in the animal kingdom. This Valentine's Day say, "Awww!" with these sweet pics of animals showing affection.
Every year, the Interior Department and other land-management agencies make it easier to visit America's special places by offering free admission to the public lands that charge an entrance fee.
As America’s storyteller, the National Park Service preserves and interprets important places that teach us about our nation’s history and culture, so that future generations can learn from the past. The many African American heritage sites protected and maintained by the National Park Service honor the contributions African Americans made to the nation.
Interior's mission is vast and wide ranging -- covering everything from protecting America’s wildlife and natural and cultural treasures to providing mapping, geological, hydrological and biological science for the nation and powering our energy future. That means we need a diverse team of hardworking, talented employees performing many different types of work in support of that mission.
This holiday season the best present isn’t just under a tree, it’s outside under the stars.
