Parks in the New

While there's been concern about getting younger generations out into the national parks, there's a program at work that recently brought some middle school students to Grand Canyon National Park for a camping experience.

When you look at the difficulties crews at Glacier National Park have each year opening the Going-to-the-Sun Road for summer traveler, you really have to appreciate the skills and tenacity of the men who built the road back in the 1920s and s1930s.

Climbing the Grand Teton in Grand Teton National Park never is easy. Snow conditions can create problems, being exposed is daunting for some, and for others just the impact of climbing above 12,000 feet can be a problem if they're not properly acclimated. Weather conditions are a wild card, and this week 17 climbers encountered that issue, one fatally.

The high surf resulting from Hurricane Bill's travels off the east coast last weekend got plenty of press, but an unrelated storm that hit Glen Canyon National Recreation Area with little warning offered a reminder that coastal areas aren't the only ones affected by high winds and waves.

The Cape Royal Road on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park has been closed for several days due to a wildfire. It has reopened with pilot car escorts from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily. Five other small fires in the area are not affecting visitor activities.

All major roads leading to and within Yellowstone National Park are opening for the Memorial Day holiday weekend—and for the summer season. There will some construction delays beginning in late May.

The five U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Observatories are receiving $15.2 million to help upgrade their monitoring of volcanics across the West, in Alaska, and in Hawaii, including within Yellowstone, Mount Rainier, Hawaii Volcanoes, and Lake Clark national parks.

Illegal poaching of resources from national parks has a long, unsettling history. In Great Smokies, it’s ginseng poaching. In Petrified Forest, it’s thievery of fossilized trees.