Acadia National Park

Shuttle bus systems are growing in popularity as one way to reduce the impacts of private vehicles on parks—and on the experience of visitors. Here's a look at some of those systems at NPS sites around the country.

Units of the National Park System are really closer than you think. Some are quite literally in your backyard. Today we're pointing out those that are within an hour's drive of an airport with commercial service.

Peregrine Falcons, once teetering on extinction, are regulars at Acadia National Park. Bald Eagles, also once feared to be ready to blink out, have rebounded incredibly and are highly visible in many national parks. During a week-long canoe trip in Yellowstone National Park last fall I was blown away by the birdlife. But how is the overall "state of birds" in America these days? Unfortunately, things aren't entirely as they appear.

You could call it a postage stamp-sized history of the National Park System, but the history of park scenes on U.S. postage is really quite colorful and carries a few stories with it.

It's that time of year again -- the peregrine falcons are the Precipice Cliff in Acadia National Park. And while that means you can't head up the Precipice Trail, you can get a good look at these raptors that once were thought on the way to extinction.

A coming infusion of $330,000 will help five units of the National Park System improve their trail networks.

Two groups in Maine have joined the legal bid to overturn the Bush administration's decision to allow national park visitors to arm themselves.

Sure, the calendar says January, there's a lot of snow out there across the country, and you haven't even thought about filing your income taxes. But it's still not too early to begin planning your national park vacation for this summer.

Home to the tallest mountain on the U.S. Atlantic coast, the first national park east of the Mississippi River celebrates an anniversary today. It's had three different names during its 93-year history—and the taxpayers got a real bargain when this area was added to the National Park System.

Yes, yes, I know that you always consult the Superintendent’s Compendium of designations, closures, permit requirements and other restrictions as required under Title 36 Code of Federal Regulation § 1.7(b) before visiting a national park. But do you really know all you need to know to be a responsible park visitor?

Winter, it seems, is everywhere these days. Even poor Las Vegas has been hammered (relatively speaking, of course) by a snowstorm. And Death Valley National Park has seen snowflakes this winter. So shouldn't you be planning a national park ski trip?

Programs to lure youngsters into the parks. "Healthy Kids/Healthy Parks." Research to gauge the impact of visitation on park natural resources. Restoration work. These are just some of the projects that your taxable donations allowed to occur across the National Park System in 2008.

Well, they've closed the Park Loop Road in Acadia National Park for the winter. That's both the bad news and the good news for winter visitors to the Jewel of the Atlantic.

Acadia National Park officials have instituted their annual nighttime closures of sections of roads in the park to thwart poachers who might find the park's deer too tempting.

A Labor Day weekend cold front dropped snow levels in some parts of the Rockies to below 10,000, which is a pretty good indicator that fall is not far off. And so, with that warning, it's only natural to wonder how the fall color displays will be in the national parks.

Where do you find the best view of sunrise in the National Park System? Would it be on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, or, perhaps more logically, at Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park?

Where do you draw the line on national park boundaries? They long have been political creatures, with no regard to traditional wildlife corridors, viewsheds or, in some cases, common sense.

Spend any time in Acadia National Park during the summer and early fall and you'll understand why the "rusticators" descended on the park in the mid-1800s.

Want in on a secret? Acadia National Park is not merely a three-season park. Indeed, winter can be quite wonderful in this maritime setting, as storms can coat Mount Desert Island with a layer of snow thick enough for cross-country skiing.