Heading into the long Fourth of July holiday, fire managers across the West are keeping their fingers crossed that folks are careful when they head into the national parks, national forests, and other public lands. The landscape is, as they say, tinder dry, due to unseasonably dry and hot conditions.

The EPA in its formal comments to the Yellowstone snomobile DEIS says the parks' preference to allow as many as 720 snowmobiles in Yellowstone on a daily basis in winter "may not ensure adequate resource protection" and would result in much more pollution than the snowcoach-only alternative.

One Centennial Initiative idea that is making the rounds, is that a Museum of the National Park Service be constructed to chronicle the history and impact of the agency.