Comprised of 4 million acres in southwest Alaska, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is one of the nation’s most remote national parks. Winter conditions add more challenges to those wanting to explore this gorgeous and diverse landscape, but as you can see, the backcountry scenes are worth the cold. Photo of Tanalian Falls by James Walton, National Park Service.

As we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we remember his message of unity and service. One of the most influential people in our history, Dr. King’s legacy continues to inspire. At the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., 14 quotes focusing on justice, democracy, hope and love surround the statue of him. Located a short walk from the Lincoln Memorial, where Dr. King gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech, it’s a powerful and enlightening place. Photo by Jim Evangelista (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl).

An unforgettable night sky – with a tinge of color from the Northern Lights – stretches over Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. America’s national parks hold some of the last remaining harbors of darkness where visitors can enjoy the splendor of these protected dark skies. Photographer Matthew Newman says his nighttime adventure forever changed the way he experiences nature: “Making a seven-mile snowshoe hike round trip in the middle of the night to try and capture the Aurora Borealis and Milky Way from this location was amazing.” Photo courtesy of Matthew Newman.

Check out this breathtaking photo following a winter storm in December at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks in California. Weather in the park can change quick – last weekend’s warm wet weather has melted the snow leaving this photo as a beautiful memory. Photo courtesy of a park visitor.

Martin Luther King, Jr. outside Gaston Motel in 1963.

Freedom Rider bus firebombed outside Anniston

Unidentified man sits in front of Freedom Rider bus to prevent it from leaving the station

Freedom Rider mural near Greyhound Station in Anniston, Alabama

Brick Church, which is part of the Reconstruction Era National Monument

The Camp Saxton Site will be part of the Reconstruction Era National Monument

Yesterday President Obama designated three new national monuments honoring our country’s civil rights history. The new monuments will protect historic sites in Alabama and South Carolina that played an important role in American history stretching from the Civil War to the civil rights movement. President Obama also expanded the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southwestern Oregon and Northern California, and added six new units to the California Coastal National Monument – protecting critical biodiversity, important cultural resources and vital wildlife habitat. Learn more: https://on.doi.gov/2iMUFdH

Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument
In 1963, Birmingham was the epicenter of the American Civil Rights Movement. Activists like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Sr., and countless unnamed heroes gathered there to demand equality for all people. The activists planned nonviolent marches and protests for Project C (for Confrontation), or the Birmingham campaign.

The new Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument includes the A.G. Gaston Motel, the headquarters for Project C. Dr. King and his colleagues announced the negotiated resolution of the campaign in the motel courtyard on May 10, 1963. Hours later, a bomb exploded near the suite where Dr. King had stayed.

Freedom Riders National Monument
On Mother’s Day 1961, a Freedom Riders bus was attacked at the Greyhound Bus Station in Anniston, Alabama. The Freedom Riders remained on board the bus at the station while a mob struck it with bats and pipes and slashed the bus tires. As the bus moved away from the station and out of town, the mob, including members of the Ku Klux Klan, followed. When the bus broke down six miles outside of Anniston on Route 202, the mob resumed terrorizing the Freedom Riders. The bus was firebombed and members of the mob tried holding the doors shut to trap the Freedom Riders inside. Eventually the Freedom Riders were able to make it off the burning bus but continued to be harassed until Alabama State Troopers dispersed the crowd.

The Freedom Riders were a group of civil rights activists, both African American and Caucasian, who tested integration laws on the interstate bus system. The Freedom Riders National Monument includes the former Greyhound Bus Station in Anniston and the bus burning site in Calhoun County.

Reconstruction Era National Monument
The Reconstruction Era began during the Civil War and lasted until the dawn of Jim Crow racial segregation in the 1890s. It remains one of the most complicated and poorly understood periods in American History. During Reconstruction, four million African Americans, newly freed from bondage, sought to integrate themselves into free society, struggling to find their place in the educational, economic and political life of the country.

The new Reconstruction Era National Monument includes four sites in South Carolina’s Beaufort County.

Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
Located in southwestern Oregon and established in 2000, Cascade-Siskiyou was the first monument designated solely for the preservation of its biodiversity. The monument is an ecological wonder, home to an incredible variety of rare and endemic plant and animal species, and representing a rich mosaic of forests, grasslands, shrub lands, and wet meadows at the convergence of three mountain ranges. Today’s expansion builds upon the original monument’s goal to protect the area’s extraordinary biodiversity. Photo by @mypubliclands.

California Coastal National Monument
Established in 2000 to protect marine wildlife habitat just offshore of California’s iconic coastline, California Coastal National Monument was expanded in 2014 to include Point Arena-Stornetta – its first onshore unit. Today’s expansion of 6 spectacular places along the coast will preserve important habitat for coastal plants and animals, and protect cultural sites that provide insight into the people who lived along the California coast thousands of years ago. Many of the new sites of the monument are also culturally and spiritually important to local tribes. Photo by @mypubliclands.

At a quick glance, you might miss the ancient cliff dwellings that blend effortlessly into the sheltered alcove of the canyon wall at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. These elaborate stone communities contained as many as 150 rooms, some of which still feature smoke-blackened walls and ceilings from fires that burned during cold winter months. The park protects nearly 5,000 archeological sites, inspiring visitors to imagine what life was like over 700 years ago. Photo courtesy of Chris Wheeler.

There are so many places to enjoy a Southwest sunrise. Located within the Tonto Basin of the Upper Sonoran Desert in Arizona, Tonto National Monument protects two well-preserved prehistoric cliff dwellings and helps tell the story, not just of the Salado people, but of several American Indian tribes. Many of these tribes still feel strong spiritual ties to the cliff dwellings, deeming them to be an ancestral home. Photo by C. Sadler, National Park Service.

Exciting wildlife news! Last year biologists found the first ocelot den in 20 years on Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in south Texas. At the den, researchers found a 3-week old male ocelot kitten (pictured here). Ocelots used to range from South Texas up into Arkansas and Louisiana, but today there are an estimated 50 ocelots that remain in the United States, Known as the “little leopard,” ocelots have a long, ringed tail and are recognized by their distinct spots and rounded ears. Learn more about this amazing #WildlifeWin: https://on.doi.gov/2hRc7w4. Photo by USFWS.

2017 is kicking off with some excitement at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Last week a 22-acre section of a lava delta broke apart and sank into the ocean causing the closing of a viewing area. Now, from the new viewing area, visitors can witness a “fire hose” of lava streaming into the ocean. The molten rock sends huge clouds of steam and gas into the air as it hits the Pacific. It’s a sight you’ll never forget. Photos by National Park Service.

Sometimes, the most remarkable moments in life are the simple ones. There will be 365 sunsets at Glacier National Park in Montana this year. Don’t you think you should see at least one? Photo by Jacob W. Frank, National Park Service.