Two million dollars to help remove 500 tons of debris at Point Reyes National Seashore. Twenty-three-million dollars committed for land acquisition at Grand Teton National Park. Another $2 million to help open Stonewall National Monument.

The Robin’s egg blue poster with the bold block lettering was stained, worn, faded, and even tattered a bit around the edges. It promoted ranger programs (“a free government service”) at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and is one of a unique set of posters that artists from the Works Progress Administration created in the late 1930s and early 1940s to draw interest to our national parks.

How did we go from cutting down trees and hunting bears to restoring meadows and reintroducing lost species? This year, as we celebrate the National Park Service Centennial, we reflect on over a century of protecting the natural resources of Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state.