![<b>Volcanoes National Park</b>, Jan.18, 2014 Volcanoes National Park, Jan.18, 2014](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-maunaloa.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
America’s National Park Service (NPS) celebrates its 100th birthday on Aug. 25. From Aug. 25 to Aug. 28, parks across the country will be offering free entry, along with everything from solar-powered vehicle races to classical music performances to outdoor naturalization ceremonies.
Famously called “the best idea we ever had” by writer Wallace Stegner, the NPS was founded in 1916 by an act of Congress in order to conserve and protect America’s natural wonders. Today, the NPS oversees over 84 million acres, which were visited by over 300 million people last year.
NASA’s Earth Observatory has been collecting satellite images of these national treasures for years, as part of its earth science mission. NASA has established the Landscape Climate Change Vulnerability Project as a way to use the data being collected by satellites to help the parks adapt to climate change.
“In many cases, National Parks were created to protect the remaining forests and their ecosystems from further destruction and fragmentation,” writes NASA’s Kathryn Hansen. “But changes in temperature, rainfall (or snow), and atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide could eventually do as much to remake the forests as humans did with saws and fires and bulldozers.”
![<b>Volcanoes National Park</b>, Jan.18, 2014 Volcanoes National Park, Jan.18, 2014](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-maunaloa.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![<b>Biscayne National Park</b>, Feb. 25, 2016 Biscayne National Park, Feb. 25, 2016](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-biscayne.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![<b>Katmai National Park</b>, Sept. 23, 2014 Katmai National Park, Sept. 23, 2014](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-katmai.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![<b>Shenandoah National Park</b>, Oct. 13, 2010 Shenandoah National Park, Oct. 13, 2010](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-shenandoah.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![<b>Zion National Park</b>, June 1, 2016 Zion National Park, June 1, 2016](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-zion.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![<b>Big Bend National Park</b>, March 21, 2016 Big Bend National Park, March 21, 2016](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-riogrande.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![NASA - Yosemite National Park](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/nasa-yosemite-space-aug2015.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![NASA - Hot Springs National Park](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/nasa-hot-springs-aug-2015-space.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Yellowstone National Park, June 9, 2013 Yellowstone National Park, June 9, 2013](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-yellowstone.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![<b>Grand Teton National Park</b>, June 15, 2015 Grand Teton National Park, June 15, 2015](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-grandteton.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![<b>Olympic National Park</b>, Feb. 22, 2015 Olympic National Park, Feb. 22, 2015](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-olympic.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![<b>Acadia National Parl</b>, Sept. 6, 2015 Acadia National Parl, Sept. 6, 2015](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/national-parks-space-acadia.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![NASA - Redwood National Park](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/nasa-redwood-space-aug-2015.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Welcome to the Noah Lyles Olympics
- Melinda French Gates Is Going It Alone
- What to Do if You Can’t Afford Your Medications
- How to Buy Groceries Without Breaking the Bank
- Sienna Miller Is the Reason to Watch Horizon
- Why So Many Bitcoin Mining Companies Are Pivoting to AI
- The 15 Best Movies to Watch on a Plane
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Contact us at letters@time.com