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Craters Of The Moon National Monument and Preserve
A sea of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush characterizes this "weird and scenic landscape" known as Craters of the Moon. Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve contains three young lava fields covering almost half a million acres. These remarkably well preserved volcanic features resulted from geologic events that appear to have happened yesterday and will likely continue tomorrow...
In 1924 the National Park Service began the job of protecting the park and welcoming people to experience this area. In 2000 the Monument was expanded to include most of the Great Rift, the source of the lava flows that created this unique landscape. Todays more than 750,000 acre National Monument and Preserve is co-managed by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
Maine ocean islands provide the only nesting sites for Atlantic puffins in the United States. Eastern Egg Rock in the midcoast region, Seal Island and Matinicus Rock at the mouth of Penobscot Bay, and Machias Seal Island and Petit Manan Island off the downeast coast provide habitat for more than 4,000 puffins each summer.