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24 in 2024: An Explore Nature Year in Review

Big Cypress National Preserve, Big Thicket National Preserve, Craters Of The Moon National Monument & Preserve, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Guadalupe Mountains National Park,

As we reflect on 2024, we offer you a list of 24 interesting and exciting science and nature events from parks of the national park system. From awe-inspiring celestial events to celebrating anniversaries and conservation wins, 2024 was filled with amazing moments.
the night sky lights up with purples of the aurora over a rocky coastline
The Aurora Borealis visible over Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park in August 2024.

Photo courtesy of Matthew Lapointe

We celebrated some big anniversaries...

1. Semicentennial and Centennial Celebrations

This year, Big Thicket and Big Cypress National Preserves celebrated 50-year anniversaries. They protect habitats that are starkly different to the other-worldly environs of Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve which celebrated 100 years!

a collage of anniversary logos for Big Cypress (50 years), Craters of the Moon (100 years), and Big Thicket (50 years) with iconic images from the parks
Big Cypress National Preserve, Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve, and Big Thicket National Preserve all celebrated big anniversaries this year.

NPS Photos & Graphics

2. Golden Anniversaries for 71 National Natural Landmarks

71 National Natural Landmark (NNL) sites celebrated their Golden Anniversaries. This milestone recognizes 50 years of voluntary conservation, commitment, and partnership with landowners and managers of these NNLs. See a list of sites that celebrated this year.

a historic photograph of two people kneeling next to a plaque with a fossil skeleton in the background
The unveiling of a plaque designating the Rancho La Brea Fossil Area as a registered natural history landmark.

Photo courtesy of UCLA Library, Dept. of Special Collections

3. Forty Years of Rainwater Monitoring

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, North Cascades National Park, and Guadalupe Mountains National Park celebrated 40 years of monitoring rainwater for air pollution!

a mountain valley with lingering patches of snow
Cascade Pass in North Cascades National Park.

NPS Photo

4. Ten Years of Collecting Dragonfly Larvae

The Dragonfly Mercury Project celebrated 10 years of working with citizen scientists and community volunteers to collect dragonfly larvae for mercury analysis. This nationwide study is a joint project between the National Park Service (NPS) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

a group of teenaged citizen scientists gather around a man in a National Park Service uniform to see what one of them have caught in a net. They stand on a sandy shore next to water. Green trees and shrubs are behind them.
Dragonfly Mercury Project citizen scientists at Saguaro National Park.

NPS / Colleen Flanagan Pritz

...and some big accomplishments...

5. Hail to Grazer, Queen of Fat Bear Week!

Talk about a BIG accomplishment! Grazer's fur-midable reign continues as Fat Bear Week champion! Let us raise our paws and honor the royal highness of roundness, the majestic monarch of munching, the snacking sovereign of salmon. The back-to-back Fat Bear Week champion is one of the most successful and adaptable bears when it comes to bulking up for winter.

a very large, fat bear with a photoshopped crown
Grazer was crowned Fat Bear Week 2024 Champion.

NPS Photo

6. The Climate Champion Award Goes to...

In May 2024, the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate received the “Climate Champion” award in recognition of the 2022 Climate Friendly Parks effort that culminated in the NRSS Climate Acton Plan.

a person sits next to equipment for monitoring climate on the top of a mountain with mountains in the distance
A climate station in the Brooks Range in Noatak National Preserve.

NPS Photo

7. The Future at Zion is Electric!

In September 2024, Zion National Park unveiled the first all-electric transit fleet in the National Park Service. The new shuttles help the NPS work towards sustainability goals, fight climate change, and inspire visitors to do the same.

an electric shuttle bus in a parking lot with beautiful sandstone mountains in the background
Zion unveiled a fleet of all-electric shuttles

NPS / Abi Farish

8. Teaming Up to Tackle Trash

In a continuing partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris program, two new exhibits highlighting the issue of marine debris were unveiled in 2024. The exhibits at Isle Royale National Park and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park bring the total number of exhibits created through this partnership to eleven. These unique exhibits feature the work of local artists in an effort to increase awareness of this important issue.

a loon sculpture made out of marine debris materials sits in shallow water
One of the many pieces featured in the marine debris exhibit at Isle Royale National Park, a loon sculpture constructed with marine debris materials.

Image courtesy of artist Mariah Reading

9. NPS Paleontologist Awarded the 2024 Stephen Tyng Mather Award

Vincent Santucci received the 2024 Stephen Tyng Mather Award from the National Parks Conservation Association. With nearly 40 years of dedicated service, Santucci was recognized for his irrepressible enthusiasm for educating others about the invaluable history preserved within America’s national parks. It celebrated his groundbreaking work – most notably contributing to the discovery 30,000-year-old bats at the Grand Canyon National Park, a new fossil shark from Mammoth Cave National Park, and unprecedented trackways at White Sands National Park.

a man with a beard and ball cap stands next to a large boulder with a track of dinosaur footprints clearly visible
Vincent Santucci stands next to a block of Navajo Sandstone containing large dinosaur tracks at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

We were awed and inspired by nature...

10. A Total Eclipse

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse wowed millions as it crossed the U.S. from Texas to Maine. The path of totality crossed over 27 park units as it made its way across Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

a total solar eclipse where just a small outline of the sun is visible behind the moon
The April 8, 2024 eclipse photographed at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.

Image courtesy of Gin Majka

11. Biscuit Basin Rocked by Hydrothermal Explosion

On July 23, 2024, a hydrothermal explosion occurred in Yellowstone National Park’s Biscuit Basin. The explosion, which sent steam and debris to a height of hundreds of feet above the ground, destroyed a nearby boardwalk and ejected grapefruit-sized rocks tens to hundreds of feet from the source. Caught on camera by visitors present at the time of the explosion, it quickly took the media by storm.

a damaged boardwalk covered with rock and debris in a hydrothermal area
Damaged boardwalk after the Biscuit Basin hydrothermal explosion.

NPS / Jacob W. Frank

12. Once-in-a-Lifetime Dual Cicada Emergence

In spring of 2024, billions of cicadas emerged across the Midwest and southeastern United States. Brood XIII (a 17-year group) and Brood XIX (a 13-year group) had a synchronized emergence, resulting in a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon known as a dual emergence. The next dual emergence of these cicada broods won’t be for another 221 years!

a cicada with red-orange eyes
One of billions of cicadas that emerged in the 2024 dual emergence.

NPS / Nortrup

13. Northern Lights Down South

While seeing the northern lights, or aurora borealis, is a common occurrence in northern latitudes, this year they were visible a handful of times in more southern latitudes—even as far south as Florida! In 2024, the sun was at the peak in its 11-year cycle. This period of increased solar activity is called a solar maximum. The solar storm that occurred in May 2024 was the strongest solar storm to reach Earth in two decades, and possibly one of the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years, according to NASA.

purples, blues, and greens of the northern lights light up the sky over a hydrothermal hot spring at night
The northern lights (aurora borealis) over Yellowstone National Park.

NPS / Jacob W. Frank

...and conservation wins...

14. Two National Natural Landmarks Designated

In 2024, two new National Natural Landmark (NNL) sites were designated, bringing the total number of NNLs to a whopping 606 sites! Designated in July, Independence Creek Preserve in Texas recognizes the ecological brilliance of a desert oasis. The Nantucket Barrier Beach and Wildlife Refuge, designated in December, reflects unique ecological diversity and rare coastal features.

an aerial view of a thin spit of land with ocean on either side. On the right side of this thin land mass, there are a series of rhythmic cuspate spits that gut out in a rhythmic arcing pattern
The Nantucket Barrier Beach and Wildlife Refuge was one of two new National Natural Landmarks added in 2024.

Photo by Above Summit; courtesy of The Trustees

15. Conservation at Home

Our ecosystems are all connected, so what we do at home can have far-reaching effects! To help conserve natural resources beyond park boundaries, we created this list of simple actions you can take at home.

a young boy and girl in high visibility vests pull weeds
Simple actions you take at home can have far-reaching effects!

NPS Photo

16. Inflation Reduction Act Invests $210 million in Two Years

Since the Inflation Reduction Act became law two years ago, the National Park Service has invested $210 million into the health of parks, building climate resiliency and benefiting local economies. To date, on-the-ground efforts in national parks are protecting wildlife and plants, tackling landscape level conservation challenges, creating career opportunities for America’s youth, preserving cultural heritage, and ensuring healthy environments for recreation and reflection.

Three people with their backs to the camera walk toward a small pond in the middle of tall grasses.
Staff members from New River Gorge National Park & Preserve and the Southeastern Grasslands Institute evaluate grassland restoration projects at the park in West Virginia.

NPS / Casey Reese

17. Three Years of Restoration, Recreation, and Revitalization

2024 marked the three-year anniversary of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These historic investments are restoring and revitalizing ecosystem health and provided new or enhanced recreation opportunities throughout our nation.

A crew of workers using tools to fill a large opening of an abandoned mine site. There are mountains and cacti in the landscape.
National Park Service staff at work, backfilling an Abandoned Mineral Lands site at Saguaro National Park.

NPS / Adam Springer

18. Funding Supports Range-Wide Efforts to Rescue Whitebark Pine Forests

Found mainly on public lands, whitebark pine is one of America’s most threatened and ecologically valuable tree species. A multi-agency alliance is using innovative strategies based on science to help it avoid extinction. Federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping.

a mature but scraggly whitebark pine tree on the rim of a large, blue Crater Lake inside a caldera
Mature but scraggly whitebark pine tree in Crater Lake National Park.

NPS / Jen Hooke

19. A Big Step Forward in Saving the Heart of the American West’s Largest Landscape

The area of sagebrush habitat, one of America’s most imperiled ecosystem, is half of what it once was. Aided by funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, a dedicated community of scientists is racing to protect the best of what’s left in a landscape-scale effort.

an enormous, flat, sagebrush covered landscape with patches of dark lava rock and mountains in the distance viewed from a lichen covered outcrop
A vast sagebrush landscape in Craters of the Moon National Preserve.

Bureau of Land Management / Bob Wick

...and we connected curious minds to science in parks...

20. Fortifying Parks & Acquiring Skills

Five National Park Service youth and young adult programs supported by the Inflation Reduction Act helped fortify NPS sites from Maine to Guam and the Caribbean to Alaska in the face of a changing climate. These programs include: a YMCA Partnership, Landscape Stewardship Corps, Community Volunteer Ambassadors, Pacific Islands Conservation Corps, and Scientists-in-Parks.

A smiling young woman with a hard hat holds a small branch with fruit on it while standing in a forested area.
The Landscape Stewardship Corps is one of five programs that engaged youth in helping NPS sites face climate change.

NPS Photo

21. It’s okay to say I Didn’t Know That!

From emerging cicadas and ecological restoration to how to keep rivers wild and a full mini-series about Leave No Trace Principles, the I Didn’t Know That! Series continued to break down common science and nature questions and practices, encouraging readers to pass it on and share their new knowledge.

a person wearing a backpack with their back towards the camera stops to admire the view of mountains while holding an open water bottle. Superimposed text reads “I Didn’t Know That! with Leave No Trace”
The 2024 mini-series in collaboration with Leave No Trace breaks down the 7 Leave No Trace Principles.

NPS Photo

22. Park Science Magazine

The summer 2024 issue of Park Science Magazine explored how park and partner scientists are working to understand extreme weather impacts. And how other kinds of extremes can affect our practice of science. Be on the lookout for a new winter issue coming out soon!

An image of three people working in a wetland surrounded by little green flags with the Park Science Magazine banner and lead article title: Great Meadow Wetland Rehab to Reclaim More Natural Flow
The summer 2024 issue of Park Science Magazine.

Photo courtesy of Friends of Acadia / Sam Mallon

23. Outside Science (inside parks) continues

The Outside Science (inside parks) series continued with four new episodes covering everything from monitoring the recovery of peregrine falcons to exploring hydrothermal features. Each episode, produced in collaboration with Colorado State University, highlights the many ways young people get involved in science in parks.

Title image for Outside Science (inside parks) Yellowstone Hydrology with image of a bison next to a river.
One of the new episodes of Outside Science (inside parks) explores hydrology at Yellowstone National Park.

NPS / Ron Bend

24. Fossil Day Artwork

This year’s National Fossil Day artwork tracked ancient life along the Colorado River. The artwork depicts a scene that combines aspects of the upper Glen Canyon Group (Kayenta Formation and Navajo Sandstone) at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Discover the story and science behind the artwork.

the National Fossil Day 2024 artwork with a predatory dinosaur following a group of three other dinosaurs over sand dunes leaving footprints in their wake.
This year’s National Fossil Day artwork celebrates the unique geology along the Colorado River in Glen Canyon National Park.

NPS

It's a wrap!

All in all, this was another exciting year for scientific exploration and nature in national parks. We can't wait to see what 2025 will bring!

What would you add to this list?
How will you explore nature this year?

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Last updated: December 30, 2024