One of the earliest residents of Yerba Buena. A pioneering dairy rancher during the Gold Rush era. And a woman who, for U.S. servicemen in WWII, became synonymous with San Francisco. In honor of Women’s History Month, read their stories and more.

Wondering when you’ll start to see healthy and sustainable food in national parks? Momentum is building, thanks to the Institute at the Golden Gate’s Food for the Parks initiative. The Institute and Golden Gate National Parks Superintendent Frank Dean are helping develop the National Park Service’s ground-breaking Healthy and Sustainable Food Program.

Working with native plants all the time you begin to develop a huge soft spot for them and it becomes easy to forget that not everyone shares the same love and appreciation for our home-grown plants. But the question remains: why?

Are you worried about your child experiencing a summer learning lapse? Enroll your child in a Crissy Field Center camp, where we explore your backyard national parks, innovate with hands-on activities, and bridge the gap between summer fun and learning!

A green lawn all year-long? Nowhere near as fascinating or entertaining as the transformation of native plants from one season to the next.

You don’t need a Seussian doctorate to celebrate BioBlitz (March 28–29, 2014)—just a love of learning about all the organisms in our parks! Participate in a species inventory, enjoy the Biodiversity Festival, attend special programs, or volunteer alongside event staff. We’re “counting” on you to make Golden Gate’s BioBlitz the best one yet!

Rather than going to your local grocery store, have you ever considered going out to your backyard for tea ingredients? You don’t need to look far to find plants that benefit your health, taste delicious, and—best of all—cost virtually nothing.

The new 13-acre swath of national parkland, atop the Presidio Parkway tunnels and connecting the Main Post with Crissy Field, represents a major, historic park-making opportunity. James Corner Field Operations—the creative minds who designed the much-admired High Line in New York City—seems up to the task.

There’s no way to encapsulate everything that you—our park volunteers—accomplish in a year. But, for 2014, we tried—with one summary infographic. As you can see, you give Golden Gate the most precious gifts of all: your time, energy, care, and dedication. Thank you!

You have 75th anniversary fever. You’ve assembled your International Orange outfit. You’ve baked Bridge-shaped cookies. You’re forming Bridge towers out of your mashed potatoes. Now what? Here are the top seven-and-a-half ways to celebrate this momentous year for the Golden Gate Bridge—that international icon in the heart of our national parks.