National Parks Traveler

In the Great Smokies, Shenandoah, and elsewhere, black bear populations are growing. The BearWise program is designed to protect our ursine friends—and ourselves, too.

An announcement reportedly is forthcoming regarding the future of the Caneel Bay Resort at Virgin Islands National Park, one that could let National Park Service contractors determine the extent of environmental contamination on the resort grounds, a determination that could guide the terms of a long-term lease.

The National Park Service has released $2,208,110 in grants from the American Battlefield Protection Program to protect 169 acres of America’s Civil War battlefields. The grants will be used to acquire portions of Mississippi’s Brices Cross Roads, Raymond, and Vicksburg battlefields, as well as tracts at Bentonville Battlefield in North Carolina and at Virginia’s Petersburg and Williamsburg battlefields.

Winter holidays and the spring months are the busiest times of the year at Joshua Tree National Park in California. Crowded conditions create limited parking, full campgrounds, and lines at park entrances.

Six days in 2021 will be entrance-fee-free days in the National Park System.

There are places in the National Park System where carvings, etchings, and even 20th century “graffiti” are preserved. Unfortunately, there is a surprising number of 21st century individuals who think it’s perfectly appropriate for them to carve their names and other signs and symbols into national park landscapes.

There is in New Mexico a national monument that protects a headland, or bluff, that for centuries has attracted travelers seeking to quench their thirst. But even before that this place was home to an ancient culture that once touched many corners of the Southwest.

Barrier islands aren’t designed to stay in place. They shift and move about as the oceans and storms pound them. As a result, manmade structures on barrier islands are always at risk of having to confront the surging waters and buffeting winds. At Cape Lookout National Seashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, not all structures survive those encounters.

In a response to increased over-sand travel at Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and Virginia, the National Park Service is tweaking its permitting program to retain more fee revenues at the seashore.

Thanks to all who supported National Parks Traveler on Giving Tuesday with more than $2,000 in donations.