WASHINGTON — The Obama administration celebrated Earth Day on Wednesday by announcing $750 million worth of stimulus-funded projects to improve national parks and monuments.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said, "These projects — at places like Ellis Island in New York and Dinosaur National Monument in Utah — are ready to go and will create jobs in communities across the country."

One of the projects most ballyhooed by the administration is spending $13.1 million to finally demolish condemned portions of the Quarry Visitor Center at Dinosaur and replace them. That center covers a cliff where fossils were carefully quarried and exposed in place for visitors to see.