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Oprah Visits Yosemite National Park

Oct 28th - 23:18pm | ron mackie

Must agree with the Traveler and other comments supporting restoration of the campsites in Yosemite Valley removed after the 1997 flood. Roughly 60 % of the campsites were removed w/o any public input, just "management discretion".

Oct 28th - 12:53pm | y_p_w

Boone:

Oct 28th - 12:00pm | Boone

Oprah wasn't there during the summer, it was September 17-18, after labor day. The reason that the campgrounds weren't rebuilt is because they were in a FLOOD zone. The NPS has learned from past mistakes and is trying to manage the parks to preserve and protect the land for future generations. Allowing people to trample the beauty just because they want to camp no matter what is insane!

Oct 28th - 11:45am | Denise

Along with that push for diversity, we must teach new comers to the park system to respect it and to respect nature - my personal experience is that this doesn't always happen.

Oct 27th - 20:40pm | Mark

I wish I could be as excited as Jon Jarvis.

Oct 27th - 15:13pm | Miho Aida

I totally agree with Audrey. The national parks provide us an inspiration to connect with America's natural and cultural heritage which all people can benefit from, and to take responsible actions to sustain our mother Earth. And yet, as a woman of color and recent immigrant, I recognized that our parks' visitors and stories don't always reflect our diverse population of our world.

Oct 27th - 14:23pm | Rue Mapp (Outdo...

The field is all aflutter about this wonderful opportunity to connect more people to the beauty and benefits of the National Park System. It's high time African American women are seen enjoying outdoor spaces as a model for what is possible for others, and to recall our heritage that has deep, positive connections to natural spaces.

Oct 27th - 08:26am | Audrey Peterman

Whooopee!! I feel like I've been waiting on this day for 15 years! Ever since Frank and I "discovered" the National Park System on our road trip around the country in 1995, we have been desperate for a celebrity like Oprah (oops! there's nobody like Oprah!) to take an interest and show the American people the incredibly beautiful natural treasures that we own.

Oct 27th - 05:23am | Yosemite Paiutes

As a Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute I can't wait for the shows and there are going to be two of them. http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/yourict/105758908.html Very exciting that both Oprah and Gayle are going to show Yosemite National Park, the ancient homeland of the Paiutes.

Proposal For State-Federal Collaboration on Combating White-Nose Syndrome in Bats Out for Public Review

Oct 28th - 18:39pm | NPS Survivor

Too late. My suspicion is that the general, dramatic decline in bat populations is akin to the type of demographic decline of American Indians when European diseases swept through the nations and tribes. The resistant bat population (3-10% of the total) will survive and the overall population will gradually recover---unless some other disease comes along.

Gary Everhardt: The “Right Man at the Right Time” on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Oct 28th - 16:45pm | Lee Dalton

Ooops. Walker was a Nixon appointee.

Oct 28th - 12:59pm | Rick Smith

I have known Gary for years. He is truly a legend in the National Park Service. We all hope he'll make the 100th anniversary of the Parkway. Rick

Oct 28th - 12:12pm | Lee Dalton

Although I never had the opportunity to meet Gary Everhadt personally, I, like most others in the service at the time, held him in great respect. I clearly remember the huge collective sigh of relief that surged through the agency upon his appointment to replace Ronald Reagan's political appointee, Ron Walker.

Reader Participation Day: Which Works Harder for National Parks, A Republican or Democratic Congress?

Oct 28th - 10:09am | justinh

Pittsburgh in the Parks: "I am sorry you have bought into the lie about man-made climate change. There is more hard evidence for cyclical climate change that is more closely linked to solar and volcanic activity than pollution or carbon emissions."

Oct 27th - 13:24pm | Pittsburgh in t...

@MikeD - man-made climate change is based on economics, not science, and the economics involved are suspicious. I am sorry you have bought into the lie about man-made climate change. There is more hard evidence for cyclical climate change that is more closely linked to solar and volcanic activity than pollution or carbon emissions.

Oct 27th - 10:09am | MikeD

Also working hard for the parks should include not just supporting the parks with funding, but broader issues, such as working for climate change solutions.

Oct 27th - 10:04am | MikeD

However, I think you've posted a bunch of examples over the past year or two with politicians on the D side intervening in questions that I think should be addressed by park ecologists and biologists on questions like fish stocking, elk management, etc... It may be worse with the other side in control, but I feel obliged to point out that dems like to play politics with the parks as well.

Oct 27th - 09:41am | JoAnna

I have no idea which political party would be better for the national parks, but if Great Basin National Park is ever scrapped, I may just lock myself in a room and cry for a week. What a terrible loss that would be to this country.

Oct 27th - 09:35am | justinh

The Democrats have clearly been much more supportive of the parks. Other than Theo Roosevelt, who was most often at odds with his party, and Harold Ickes, who served in FDR's adminstation, there have been very few Republican champions of the national park system. Which isn't to say that Democrats don't have to be constantly pushed by their constituents. To Pittsburgh in the Parks,

Oct 27th - 08:16am | Pittsburgh in t...

This is an excellent question, however, elections are not just about what is good for one special interest, they are about deciding who will govern the country well. After visiting a number of our most treasured parks this summer, I was astounded at some of the infrastructure conditions I found. Maybe we built a building using geothermal heat in Zion, but the roads are atrocious.

Oct 27th - 07:49am | Lee Dalton

Just speaking from old experience, I remember clearly the feelings of doom and gloom among NPS old timers every time a Republican president was inaugurated. And when Richard Nixon shook my hand and said, "I'm always glad to meet a FOREST RANGER," I knew he should be impeached.

How To Land That National Park Job, For A Season or A Career

Oct 28th - 08:37am | Alley Keosheyan

Thank you for posting this video! It's important that people know the truth about what they're getting into before "signing on the dotted line," even for just a season, because the truth is a lot of these companies get away with practices no "real world" businesses could even consider. My first National Park job was at Sequoia National Park in Central California.

National Park Mystery Plant 13 Revealed: A Prostrate Little Plant with an Unlovely Name

Oct 28th - 07:28am | Bob Janiskee

Great idea, Jon. I think I'll order a batch of "Save the Liverwort!" bumper stickers. We could hand 'em out on Earth Day and other notable occasions, such as the annual Irmo Okra Strut.

Oct 28th - 07:11am | Jon Merryman

Save the liverwort! :-)

Eat a Lionfish, Help National Parks, And Win Cash Prizes!

Oct 28th - 06:38am | paul

a nice article but while mentioning the virgin islands you neglect to mention the absence of REEF, and NOAA from protecting the waters of the virgin islands, there efforts in our waters is kind of non existant and they have spent more time on non us waters in the caribbean.

The Case of the Cigarette Smoking Woman At Petrified Forest National Park

Oct 28th - 02:01am | Ryden Rhodes

Great story Haunted Hiker! Thanks for sharing a ghostly story from the land of petrified deadwood. I liked it! One thing though,... Motorists weren't traveling Route 66 in 1924. The historic highway wasn't designated as such until 1926. Look forward to reading more of your upcoming stories. Keep me posted. Thanks!

Oct 27th - 09:38am | JoAnna

I was in the Painted Desert Inn this past summer and didn't see any signs of ghosts, but it wouldn't surprise me. The Painted Desert is a very haunting place anyway. As for the petrified wood curse, it reminds me a bit of the curse that people say they experience when they take Pele's tears from the volcanoes in Hawaii.

Oct 27th - 08:12am | Anonymous

Hi Jon....Glad you liked it. I love these stories too. This is an excerpt from my book Haunted Hikes: Spine Tingling Tales and Trails from North America's National Parks. Ranger Garcia and the folks at Petrified were very helpful while I was researching this story, (I wrote another version for Arizona Highways). Love the "petrified wood sniffing dog" tactic! :) Andrea Lankford

Oct 27th - 07:49am | Jon Merryman

I love these stories. Just listened to an NPR compilation of NPS-related stories on CD yesterday and this story fits right in with the rest of them. You should contact NPR and see if there's any interest.

Bridge Day 2010 is in the Books at New River Gorge National River

Oct 27th - 21:53pm | Deborah Davidson

im dissapointed why are there no pics of rappellers they pay twice as much and hang the banners no one even knows they are there not even mentioned in the papers

Virgin Islands National Park Grows by 2 Acres Thanks to Donation

Oct 27th - 16:50pm | Bob Janiskee

There were no land acquisitions for Virgin Islands National Park in 1965, Anon. You probably meant to say 1956, which is the year the park was established (on August 2), thanks to a gift of 5,000 acres of St. John Island land from Laurence Rockefeller (facilitated by the Jackson Hole Foundation).

Oct 27th - 13:39pm | Anonymous

who donated the island in 1965

Piping Plover Production Up At Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Oct 27th - 15:28pm | Clayton Davis

Whoever wrote this comment is obviously biased and has never been to Hatteras Island. The notion that ORVs run roughshod over the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area is blatant lie that the environmental extremists want you to believe. If you have the tiniest doubt about what I say, seek the truth and come here and see for yourself.

Natchez Trace Parkway is Rehabbing the Meriwether Lewis Site

Oct 27th - 13:28pm | Anonymous

you should see what 3.2 million dollars bought for upgrades. I think .2 went to the upgrades and the 3 million went into someones pocket! pitiful how the government works

Reward Offered in Bear Poaching Case at North Cascades National Park

Oct 27th - 11:14am | Alex Jonas

How can people be proud of killing animals? probably it just gives them a sense of superiority. However, i feel poaching cases must be dealt with very strongly by the government. In a poaching case in Billings, MT, the accused was given a six-year deferred sentence and was ordered to pay a fine amount.

Mennonite Women Backpacking and Bears Falling in Shenandoah National Park

Oct 27th - 09:28am | Bob M

There's nothing like a bear falling out of a tree, almost at your feet, to get your blood pumping....

Oct 26th - 13:48pm | Julie Trevelyan

Great story! A trip I'm sure you'll never forget. Awesome especially about the backpacking Mennonite women. Well, the bear falling out of the tree is pretty interesting too. :)

Oct 26th - 10:12am | SS1

Great article Kurt, what a wonderful hike and such a great place to have been put aside for the citizens.

Oct 25th - 22:07pm | Sabattis

Did they actually say that they were Amish? Based on their dress (floral prints, no apron), I would have guessed that they were actually Mennonite. Which is a slight difference....

MyYahoo! And National Parks Traveler

Oct 27th - 01:57am | Cornell

I was able to solve the problem by first clicking on the heading for the National Parks Traveler. After I did a new module appeared with the current stories. I, then, clicked "continue" as if installing a new module.

Warmer, Drier, Crowded, Grizzly-less, And With Lots of Thistle: the Yellowstone of The Future?

Oct 26th - 21:58pm | Sonja

Beth -- thanks for sharing the article and great pictures. I spend much of my free time in Yellowstone, just enjoying the wilderness and photographing the animals. A friend and I were delighted one evening when driving by West Thumb we discovered a tiny geiser very near the road. To us it looked like a small version of Old Faithful.

Mission

Oct 26th - 21:46pm | Loren Blalock

Friends of De Soto National Memorial,

Big, Bold And Beautiful, New Road and Bridge Over Gibbon River in Yellowstone National Park is Completed

Oct 26th - 20:12pm | anonymous

Surveying and tree cutting for that project began way back in 1999 when I was still working at Madison Junction. Glad they finally got it finished :)

Oct 26th - 07:17am | Connie Hopkins

With our frequent visits to Y-stone we have watched the road changes start to take shape. We have altered our driving patterns due to road closures which hasn't been a big deal. What others might view as an inconvenience we viewed as an opportunity.

Oct 25th - 23:13pm | Lee

Wider shoulders, a straighter road, and smooth pavement? Those sound like ingredients for faster driving.... not safer driving. Forty five MPH will feel like a snail's pace. With that said, I am happy to hear that the road was moved out of the more sensitive river corridor.

Sharpshooters To Begin Culling Deer in Valley Forge National Historical Park in November

Oct 26th - 13:57pm | y_p_w

Kathleen Schmitt:

Oct 26th - 09:31am | Kathleen Schmitt

Please consider the reason that parks exist. It is for the rest and relaxation of our people. Everyone is welcome to use the park and to learn about the reasons for its existence. The National Parks are even more special as they commemorate people and events that are important to our people. Childeren are our future.

City Kids Experience Camping and Some Old-Time Fun at Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area

Oct 26th - 08:47am | Ted Nelson

This is a great use of the grant money from “America’s Best Ideas." We really need to focus on getting children off the internet and expose them to our national treasures.

Visiting the Parks: National Park of American Samoa Isn't Easy to Get To, But the Trek is Definitely Worth It

Oct 25th - 23:06pm | Sabattis

I can second the recommendation of the Manua Islands - particularly O'fu. As if this Park was not hard enough to get to, the Manua Islands are even more-challenging, but also even-more rewarding in terms of beauty and solitutde for those who do make it.

Denali National Park Officials Looking At Allocation of Climbing Permits For Mount McKinley

Oct 25th - 22:11pm | Sabattis

Given the shortfall of funding for the Parks, it may be time for the Park Service to consider setting aside some fraction of the permits for a lottery, and then putting the remaining passes up for auction on Ebay. That way, the true value of those permits can go towards protecting the Parks.

The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.