The Latest News & Views

Another county whose lands include Great Smoky Mountains National Park has gone on record opposing the park's fee for overnight backcountry use.

A dispute over the National Park Service's authority at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Washington state has led a congresswoman to introduce legislation to remove a museum and seven acres of land from the park.

Quick, can you name the national historical park that greeted more visitors in 2012 than Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Grand Teton national parks, not to mention 383 other units of the National Park System?

If you were to ask Americans to compile a short list of wildlife most associated with Africa, it's a pretty safe bet that elephants would be included. Unfortunately, it's gotten a lot harder lately to find as many of the iconic animals in central Africa, and a just-released study has confirmed a "devastating decline" in the population of forest elephants. Could they be headed for extinction?

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.