Plight of the Parks

Report Shows Visiting National Parks Could be Hazardous to Your Health

Visiting national parks could be hazardous to your health. That's the conclusion that can be drawn from a snapshot of health and safety conditions across the National Park System.

Congressman Calls for Full EIS of Proposal to Allow Concealed Carry in America's National Parks

Congressman Raul Grijalva, calling the Bush administration's efforts to allow national park visitors to arm themselves political pandering, wants a full Environmental Impact Statement, complete with public hearing, performed on the proposal.

Interior Officials Want to Allow Concealed Carry in the National Parks

Moving at a politically expedient speed, Interior Department officials are proposing to allow national park visitors to carry concealed weapons with them.

National Parks Week: Perfect Time to Assess the "State of the Parks"

Don't let the hoopla over National Parks Week and the launch of the Centennial Challenge fund-letting fool you: The state of the national park system is depressing. While recent visitation is up, staffing is down, and park budgets aren't keeping pace with inflation.

Railroad's Tweaking Delays Glacier National Park's Decision Against Bombing Avalanche Chutes

Long after the public comment period closed on Glacier National Park's draft environmental impact statement regarding a railroad's request to bomb avalanche chutes on the park's southern boundary, the railroad apparently has succeeded in tweaking that document.

Yellowstone National Park Bison Agreement: How Big A Step Forward Is It?

If the winter of 2008-09 is as severe as this slowly retreating winter, will it matter that 25 Yellowstone National Park bison have been saved from slaughter while another 1,200 or so are trucked to their death? Those paying $2.8 million to gain grazing rights to a ranch just north of Yellowstone think so.

Park Lands For Sale: Can the National Park Service Afford Them?

America's national park system is interwoven with more than 4 million acres of private lands, nearly half of which the National Park Service would love to own, but can't afford. Does Congress, or the American people, care?

A Sad Sign of the Times: NPS Promotes Body Armor Options To Rangers

Is it just me, or is it really a sad sign of the times when the National Park Service is promoting "factory direct" body armor to its rangers, body armor that not only stops most bullets but which is "a great choice for active rangers"?

Former National Park Service Directors Urge Interior Secretary To Keep Guns Out of Parks

If you were Interior secretary, how would you respond if seven former National Park Service directors lobbied you on an issue? In the case at hand, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne is being urged not to allow national park visitors to carry weapons.

GAO Finds Fault With Management Plan For Yellowstone National Park Bison

The other shoe has dropped in the Government Accountability Office's investigation into the management plan for Yellowstone National Park bison. In a biting report the GAO says the plan has been a failure on numerous fronts and the involved agencies need to come up with a better solution.

Antietam, Monocacy Battlefields on 2008 "Most Endangered" List

Development pressures, cellphone towers, and mining threats are among the concerns that landed the Antietam and Monocacy national battlefields, a portion of Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, and seven other battlefields on the 2008 list of "Most Endangered" Civil War battlefields.

Congress Authorized Expansion of Petrified Forest National Park, But Forgot to Fund It

I've told you about private development and Valley Forge National Historical Park, and about private development and Acadia National Park, and about the National Park Service being so poor it has to turn to commercial interests to preserve history. So does it come as any surprise that Congress approved, but failed to fund, expansion of Petrified Forest National Park?

Our Endangered National Parks

At Yosemite National Park, concern for a river led to a staggering court ruling against the National Park Service. At Grand Canyon National Park, fears of radiation have led to congressional action to protect the park. At Yellowstone National Park, the buzzing of snowmobiles has caused science to be overlooked.

FY2008 Budget Provides Seasonal Increases At Glacier National Park, But Hamstrings Other Operations

The good news from Glacier National Park is that there will be more seasonal employees on the ground this year. The bad news is that cyclic maintenance projects will continue to suffer.

Decommissioning National Parks: Some History, And Some Ominous Clouds

My recent post on decommissioned national parks drew fairly good readership on the Traveler, but it garnered much more outcry on a private listserv delivered to retired National Park Service employees. Which spurs a number of questions, foremost among them being the obvious "Why?"

Virgin Islands National Park: Another Park Threatened By Inbounds Development

Valley Forge National Historical Park isn't the only unit of the national park system threatened by development on private lands that fall within its borders. Far from it. The latest case involves Virgin Islands National Park, where development on roughly 1,400 privately owned acres within the park's borders is harming the park's resources.

Valley Forge: Once Again A Battleground, This Time Pitting History Against Development

More than two centuries after General George Washington and his Continental Army somehow endured a bitterly cold and exacting winter at Valley Forge, the landscape is again in turmoil. On one side is a national historical park, one that helps preserve the memory of America's birth. On the other, an organization whose questionable motives could sully that landscape.

Crews Remove Garbage From Marijuana Farms in Sequoia National Park

Nearly three tons of garbage and almost six miles of hose have been removed from backcountry marijuana farms in Sequoia National Park.

Groups Ask Congressmen To Help Halt Killing of Yellowstone National Park Bison

As the killing of Yellowstone National Park bison continues, a coalition of groups is looking for congressional support to fund a solution.

Snowmobilers Continue to Roam Illegally Into Yellowstone National Park

There's a section of Yellowstone National Park not too far south of the park's West Entrance where access is tricky no matter what the season. But in winter, when the snow is deep, rogue snowmobilers find their way into the park to play.

House Parks Committee To Hold Hearing On ORVs on Federal Lands

If you've got time tomorrow afternoon, you might want to pull up the live feed from a congressional hearing examining off-road vehicle use on public lands.

Sen. Obama Non-committal on Carrying Loaded Weapons in National Parks

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama believes in Americans' rights to own guns, but isn't so sure there's a need for them to be carried in national parks.

Battle Mounts Over Off-Road Vehicles at Cape Hatteras National Seashore

For years folks have used off-road vehicles to negotiate some of the farther reaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. And for years the National Park Service failed to develop a management plan for those ORVers. And now it's time to pay the piper.

Violent Deaths in the National Parks

During 2006, 11 homicides were investigated across the national park system. Two involved women who had been pushed off cliffs, one was a suicide, and one was the victim of a DUI accident.

Poaching Trees from Redwood National Park

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.

Of Geologists, Paleontologists, And Science in the National Park System

Since boyhood I've embraced a vision of the National Park Service as an agency that not only cared for forested mountains, shimmering lakes, foaming cataracts, dusty trails and a wildlife menagerie that stretched from alligators to wolverines, but also as one with a science mission built around these wonders. How accurate is that vision?