The official start of summer is just around the corner. Warmer days and melting snow means all sorts of activities and news around the National Park System.

When you look at photos you’ve captured during a visit to a national park unit, do you notice one or more of your shots clearly showing a division of light and dark, or energy and calm, or two different colors, or two different textures? Contributing photographer Rebecca Latson sees this phenomenon in many of her own images, calling it the “yin and yang of a composition.” In this month's column, Rebecca provides examples of this yin-yang concept and how you can look for it in nature with your camera.

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park has reopened Nāhuku (Thurston Lava Tube) to the public. The popular walk-through lava tube and rainforest trail were closed since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Working with 12-pound hammers, often in pouring rain, the soldiers from the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry worked patiently to forge a 30-mile trail through the sharp lava rock fields to link the summits of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. It was early in the 20th century, and the trail builders were members of the Buffalo Soldiers.