The US Postal Service has released 12 stamps featuring photographs of iconic US waterfalls celebrating the variety and beauty in the country.

The stamp collection, entitled Waterfalls Forever, was unveiled at the Canyon Visitor Education Centre in Yellowstone National Park in June 2023 with each stamp featuring the name and state where the waterfalls are located.

Waterfalls come in all shapes and sizes, from serene cascades to mighty cataracts and are part of a river or stream where its flow pours over a near vertical rocky ledge or cliff before reaching rocks or a pool below. Waterfalls can be classified by volume, height, width or by type, based on the way the water falls.

One of the most familiar types is the plunge, where the stream falls vertically without making contact with the underlying cliff face and sometimes there are caverns behind the falls carved by earlier erosion. A fan waterfall resembles the shape of a fan as the flow spreads down the rocks.

Other types include the cascade, which breaks into smaller falls as the water descends over a slope of rocks and boulders, and the cataract, where large amounts of fast-moving water plummet over a cliff to create a waterfall of great size and power.

Waterfalls are a perennial favourite of photographers, both amateur and professional, due to their visual beauty, natural surroundings, and sound of falling water from a melodic trickle to a thunderous roar.

Michael Elston, secretary of the board of governors at the US Postal Service, said, “The Postal Service is proud to celebrate the natural world through our stamps, and these gorgeous new stamps will bring the beauty of these waterfalls to millions of people who will see them on the cards and letters they receive in their mailboxes.”

The 12 waterfalls featured on the stamps represent many different types found across the US, shot by 12 different photographers, and include:

Deer creek falls, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Nevada Fall, Yosemite National Park, California

Harrison Wright Falls, Ricketts Glen State Park, Pennsylvania

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Waimoku Falls, Haleakalā National Park, Hawaii

Stewart Falls, Mount Timpanogos Wilderness, Utah

Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls State Park, New York

Dark Hollow Falls, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Grotto Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Sunbeam Falls, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington State

LaSalle Canyon Waterfall, Starved Rock State Park, Oglesby, Illinois

Upper Falls, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina