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America’s public lands like you’ve never seen them!...

02/19/2015 11:00 AM EST

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah by David Lane

Crater Lake National Park in Oregon by Greg Nyquist (www.sharetheexperience.org)

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah by Katie McVey, USFWS

The Wave in Arizona by Bob Wick, BLM.

America’s public lands like you’ve never seen them! Public Radio International highlights the top 20 photos from our Instagram account:http://on.doi.gov/1LeyIe9.

Here’s some of them —

Top photo: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah is otherworldly, with vast landscapes of canyons, winding rugged backways and balanced rocks. Pictured here is the monument’s Toadstools — stone caps of Dakota Sandstone protecting the softer sandstone create amazing hoodoos. David Lane created this stunning multi-image panorama of the area with the Milky Way above and radiating bands of red and green airglow visible. While Page, Arizona, is nearly 50 miles south of the monument (and a soft, barely discernible light to the naked eye), the long exposure of David’s camera captured the light more vividly. 
Photo courtesy of David Lane.

Second photo: Sunrise over snow-covered Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Greg Nyquist captured this stunning shot from Discovery Point just as a storm was clearing the park. Crater Lake’s Discovery Point is a popular place to watch the sun rise over the park with views of the lake and Wizard Island. Photo from www.sharetheexperience.org

Third photo: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge lies in northern Utah, where the Bear River flows into the northeast arm of the Great Salt Lake. The Refuge protects the marshes found at the mouth of the Bear River, providing a critical habitat for migrating birds. More than 250 species move through this area annually by the millions to rest and feed, including the group of baby burrowing owls pictured here. Photo by Katie McVey, USFWS.

Bottom photo: Located on the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona, the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument includes a variety of diverse landscapes — from the Paria Plateau and Vermilion Cliffs to the Coyote Buttes and Paria Canyon. This remote and unspoiled 280,000-acre Monument — a part of BLM’s National Conservation Lands — is a geologic treasure with towering cliffs and deep canyons. The colorful swirls of cross-bedded sandstone in Coyote Buttes, which include The Wave pictured here, are an international hiking destination. 

Photo by Bob Wick, mypubliclands.