From the stories shared at Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park to the historic feats at Mount Rainier National Park, women’s history can be found at every park across the nation.
We’re inspired by women in the National Park Service, like Betty Reid Soskin, who highlight the stories that are important to the fabric of our nation. Bringing her own experiences as a Black woman living in the Bay Area and working in a segregated union hall as a file clerk during WWII to her work, Betty spent more than twenty years with the NPS bringing light to stories that historically have been overlooked. As she told in a 2014 NPR interview, “What gets remembered is a function of who’s in the room doing the remembering.”
Another great story that WNPF was excited to learn about was Rosalie Edge and her pivotal role in the creation of Olympic National Park! Our team first encountered Rosalie’s name thanks to a park volunteer stationed at the Port Angeles Visitor Center in Olympic National Park.
We were intrigued and inspired by her story, which we’ve summarized here; her history can be read in full on the National Park Service’s (NPS) article by Annika Robbins: Rosalie Edge: The National Park Founding Mother You’ve Never Heard Of.
Here at Washington’s National Park Fund, we are proud to join our park partners in exploring the stories of women of all backgrounds and traditions who have engaged in civic life throughout American history, as well as the many women who serve or have served as leaders, trailblazers, and pioneers in the stewardship of public lands today.
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“Women’s history is full of amazing stories of both ordinary and extraordinary people,” says the National Park Service. We couldn’t agree more.
At Mount Rainier National Park, we recently funded an internship that provides college students with the experience of presenting Mount Rainier’s popular astronomy program, helping park guests peer beyond our planet during summers at Paradise. In this blog, get to know the staff that got their “foot in the door” through this internship that WNPF was proud to support. You can also learn about the inspiring program in this video:
Check out some more of our favorite resources to learn more about women’s history this month:
Cover photo: WNPF is proud to support projects and programs in our parks that serve communities that are underrepresented in the outdoors generally and our national parks specifically, including three years of a Latina trail crew at Mount Rainier in partnership with the WTA and Latino Outdoors. You can learn more about our efforts on our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion page. Photo courtesy of Rachel Wendling.
Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published in 2022 and is updated annually. The most recent update was made on May 2, 2025