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If ever there was an exclamation point to a report warning of the consequences of climate change, Hurricane Sandy was it. As the storm swept up the Eastern Seaboard last fall it cut national seashores in two, inundated mainland parks that lie at sea level, downed untold scores of trees, and in its aftermath left the National Park Service with a glowing opportunity to put its parks back together with similarly potent storms in mind.

While Hurricane Sandy brought torrential rains and heavy surf to Assateague Island National Seashore, the park greatly avoided staggering damage thanks to its relative lack of infrastructure when compared to Gateway National Recreation Area farther up the Eastern Seaboard.

Today, four months after Hurricane Sandy battered and bruised the Eastern Seaboard, the disarray the storm delivered across many units of the National Park System continues to be cleaned up. Some damage remains to be discovered. And though summer remains months away, some units will be severely challenged to be fully operational by Memorial Day.

Winter might not be the best time to enter the Atlantic at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, but it's a grea time to learn more about shipwrecks off the barrier island and a unique species of ray that swims its waters.

Can the National Park Service more fully embrace the "precautionary principle," the concept that it err on the side of "science-informed prudence and restraint," as suggested by Revisiting Leopold: Resource Stewardship in the National Parks?

Parts of Cape Hatteras National Seashore were left flooded and without power Sunday by Hurricane Sandy, which was prompting mandatory evacuations of other National Park System units further up the Atlantic Coast.

With Hurricane Sandy en route to the Eastern Seaboard, units of the National Park System in her path are preparing for her arrival next week.

Though thousands of loggerhead sea turtles, a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, nest along the Atlantic Coast each year, the National Marine Fisheries Service has not yet designated habitat critical to the species' survival, according to conservation groups planning to sue over that lack of designation.

Seven national seashores dotting the Eastern Seaboard stand to suffer significant storm damage, loss of acreage to sea level rise, and hotter summer temperatures if climate change isn't blunted, according to the latest in a series of reports describing how the National Park System stands to be impacted by the phenomenon.

The Hammock Hills Nature Trail is an 0.8-mile meander through a young maritime forest with great views of Pamlico Sound.

It may be “back to the drawing board” for off-road vehicle rules at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. On February 28, 2012 North Carolina Congressman Walter B. Jones, Jr. introduced a bill to void the latest “final rules” regarding pedestrian and ORV use on the seashore.

The 2011 Monitoring Reports at Cape Hatteras National Seashore reveals that piping plovers, sea turtles and even the American Oystercatcher really need protection.

Years of acrimony over how to regulate off-road vehicle use at Cape Hatteras National Seashore are, barring another lawsuit, nearing an end, as final rules governing ORVs on the seashore are set to take effect next week.

Not quite a year after restoration of the Bodie Island Lighthouse at Cape Hatteras National Seashore was halted due to unforeseen problems, nearly $2 million has been obtained to finish the project.