America's National Parks

Join the National Park Service in celebrating the centennial of America’s national parks with "America's National Parks at 100". The National Park Service turned 100 on August 25, 2016. This documentary builds on the stories in the exhibition with vignettes from the founding of America’s first national parks to their modern-day uses for recreation and science. The documentary tells the story of how a radical idea of saving these incredible places has become an enduring mission shaped by the creativity, resourcefulness and passion of individual Americans. The film also explores how scientists are actively deepening the knowledge of America’s historical, cultural and natural heritage stewarded through various national parks today. Viewers will see how scientists determined that recently uncovered remains at Antietam National Battlefield belonged to a Civil War soldier killed in the historic battle, are exploring interactions between man-made and natural forces on Channel Islands National Park off the coast of California and have collected fossils from Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona to shape modern-day understanding of the deep history of life on Earth.

Sea of Hope: America's Underwater Treasures is a stunningly filmed action adventure documentary that follows ocean legend Sylvia Earle, renowned underwater National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry, writer Max Kennedy and their crew of teenage aquanauts on a year-long quest to deploy science and photography to inspire President Obama to establish new Blue Parks to protect essential habitats across an unseen American Wilderness.

The Great Smoky Mountains and the Gates of the Artic National Parks are filled with wonders both big and small.

Olympic National Park and the Everglades National Park are home to powerful apex predators fighting to survive.

Grand Canyon National Park and Saguaro National Park are part of the magnificent American south west wilderness.

Yellowstone and Yosemite National Park are icons of the American west, and are home to classic stories of survival.