National Parks Traveler

“Running on empty” unfortunately is a very apt description of the Colorado River Basin, which long has had its water overcommitted. Today, the vast watershed that stretches from the mountains of Colorado to the Gulf of California and helps nourish some 30 million residents in the Southwest and Mexico is mired in a long-running drought that threatens to dramatically recast the already-arid region.

Buck Island Reef National Monument, off the coast of Christiansted in St. Croix, the US Virgin Island is an island paradise. Snorkel, hike,watch birds and drink rum punch.

The annual reduction of bison from Yellowstone National Park has ended, with an estimated 600 of the iconic animals removed from the park's herds via hunting or culling.

The National Park Service, responding to the state of Alaska's liberalized hunting seasons for predators, is proposing to shorten the hunting seasons in some of its units in the state.

In the summer of 2005 a killer whale calf was found dead in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, and the discovery led to an unusual opportunity. Very few complete killer whale skeletons are known to be on display anywhere in the country, and now, after an impressive cooperative effort, the articulated skeleton has gone on public display near the park.

"Sounds Like Nature" provides a novel, and fanciful, listen to Austria's national parks.

Storm damage to a footbridge that crosses Ramsey Prong in Great Smoky Mountains National Park will force closure of the Ramsey Cascades Trail into late April.

With March typically one of the snowier months of the year in the Rocky Mountains, the coming summer float season on rivers through Dinosaur National Monument, Canyonlands National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park will be something to rave about.

One of the West's great rivers is the Snake, which forms in Yellowstone National Park and flows on through Grand Teton National Park. While it's reputation is known, now more than 400 miles of the tributaries that feed the Snake's headwaters are being protected as part of the national wild and scenic river system.

Spring can't be far off, as grizzly bears are starting to stir in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, a development that hikers, skiers, and snowshoers should take note of.