One hundred years ago on this date (Aug. 25), President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act that created the National Park Service.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we asked our field staff to share their favorite romantic trails—perfect for first dates, soul-soaring walks, and maybe even popping the question. Read on to see the sites and hikes our park experts recommend.

Music and song—like the Golden Gate National Parks—are wrapped around so many of our best memories. We asked park staff to share their favorite songs that evoke the landscape, the spirit, their adventures, and their work across the parklands. Check out these solid-gold hits at Golden Gate—then share your own!

In early June 2012, the Institute at the Golden Gate and the East Bay Regional Parks District, with the support of the National Park Service, hosted a convening of Bay Area park and health professionals to discuss the current state and potential future of the Park Prescriptions initiative and the Healthy Parks Healthy People (HPHP) movement in the region. How will this movement affect parks and people locally?

The Institute at the Golden Gate has had the privilege of hosting many fellows and interns throughout the past four years of driving positive environmental change. This month, we’re honoring the many people who have left their mark on the Institute’s work.

Parks Conservancy internships launch scientific careers! Chris Briggs was a banding intern with the GGRO in 2000. A dozen years of raptor research later, Dr. Briggs returns to the GGRO as the Banding Program Manager to take over when Buzz Hull retires.

Learn how an amazing young leader’s memory continues to inspire, see how Crissy Field Center’s environmental education programs continue to lead and innovate, and discover how our I-YEL interns are giving a powerful and compelling voice to their generation.

It’s summer time and that means trails throughout our parks will be bustling with families. Did you know that Crissy Field Center also uses trails for educational purposes? Learn how Camping at the Presidio utilizes the Batteries to Bluffs Trail in their new program “Are We There Yet?”

As you are out enjoying the parks this summer, be sure to take a closer look and appreciate the many ways that plants have adapted to ecological conditions to disperse their seeds.

Between 2010 and 2050, the Earth’s population is expected to rise by two billion people—almost all of them living in urban centers. Learn how the Institute is highlighting parks as vital factors for human and environmental health in an urbanizing world.