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    • Locations: Grand Canyon National Park
    • Offices: Water Resources Division
    Six people and a lot of gear in a big, blue raft in the midst of roiling river rapids.

    A new technique uses critical flow theory to estimate river discharge from Google Earth images. The results accurately match on-the-ground measurements.

    • Locations: Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
    • Offices: Junior Rangers, Youth Programs
    Seedling with four leaves growing in pot, seen from above

    What would parks be without plants? The Olmsteds relied on horticulturalists (plant experts) to advise them about which plants would give the look, feel, and texture they wanted park visitors to experience.

    • Locations: Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
    • Offices: Junior Rangers, Youth Programs
    Volunteer sits at table building small balsa wood bridge

    Build a model bridge, inspired by the landscape design models built in the Olmsted office! When planning a design, models were frequently used by the Olmsted firm. In fact, there was an entire space dedicated to building models- the barn behind the main building at the Olmsted firm.

    • Locations: Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
    • Offices: Junior Rangers, Youth Programs
    Watercolor of tree in lawn

    Create a watercolor landscape, inspired by the work of the Olmsted firm's draftsmen, who created watercolor paintings to show clients what the completed landscape would look like. The Olmsted firm’s draftsmen were responsible for bringing the ideas of the landscape designs to life! Sometimes they created watercolor paintings to show what the completed landscape would look like to show to their clients.

    • Locations: Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
    • Offices: Junior Rangers, Youth Programs, Youth Programs Division
    Close up view of word Olmsted sunprinted on blue paper

    Create your own sun print, inspired by the blueprint technology used in the Olmsted office. Copies were essential at the Olmsted office. Clients, park superintendents, ground crews, etc. all needed to see what was going on. Instead of asking their draftsmen to draw multiple plans, the Olmsteds embraced the latest technology- blueprints.

  • Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

    The JN-4 Jenny: The Plane that Taught America to Fly

    • Locations: Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
    Black and white photo of men in military uniforms posing in front of a JN-4 aircraft.

    The Curtiss JN-4 Jenny is synonymous with the “barn storming” era of aviation, and is truly the airplane that taught American pilots of the 1916-1925 era how to fly. This training airplane, designed by a team working for the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company in 1914-1915, was built in the thousands in during World War I to train US servicemen how to fly.

    • Locations: Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park, Olympic National Park
    A lush green forest with large, moss-covered trees, and ferns

    Despite dire evidence of rising tree death, researchers found resilience and hope deep inside western Washington's forests. But it will take 21st-century monitoring methods to keep that hope alive.

    • Locations: New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
    • Offices: National Center for Preservation Technology and Training
    Animation of historic sailing ship, zooming out and in showing ocean, docks, decks, and mast.

    In its latest of many lives, the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey is often at sea, unavailable to park visitors. We recreated it virtually so more people than ever can explore its decks—and its stories.

    • Locations: Cabrillo National Monument, Channel Islands National Park
    Extreme close-up of California buckwheat blossoms, with soft pink petals with bright pink centers.

    Fog is a critical but mysterious water source for native plants during hot, dry summers at Cabrillo National Monument. Researchers used new technology to uncover the park’s fog patterns, showing the best places to restore damaged habitat.

  • Yukon - Charley Rivers National Preserve

    The Great Video Reveal: Emerging Tech Tracks What Caribou Do

    • Locations: Yukon - Charley Rivers National Preserve
    Looping 2 second clip of looking up from below a caribou

    Caribou—a type of deer closely related to reindeer—are intimately connected to their Arctic environment, which is experiencing rapid climate change. These animals are notoriously hard to study, but new video camera collars put the spotlight on how they’re responding.

Last updated: August 7, 2023