Assateague Island National Seashore

Millions of dollars are flowing to the National Park System for work on aging roads and multiple-use trails in need of some TLC, and transportation systems thanks to the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in the Parks program overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

This past year we started a bimonthly column on birding in the national parks, which is a great way to enjoy the parks while learning more about the hundreds of species that flit about the National Park System. Here's a look back at those columns.

“I’ll need some time off in November to go to Assateague to band owls.” That remains one of the best excuses for some time off I’ve ever heard, and of course it was legitimate. Who would be creative enough to make up that?

Cape Lookout National Seashore, the spot where Hurricane Irene came ashore in the United States last Saturday, was heavily damaged by the storm, according to latest reports. Other National Park System units along the East Coast received varying amounts of damage, but most are open for visitors.

As Hurricane Irene continues plodding towards the Eastern Seaboard, units of the National Park System up and down the coast are preparing for the storm.

With Hurricane Irene taking aim on North Carolina, officials at Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Cape Lookout National Seashore were shuttering campgrounds and facilities, closing beaches, and directing visitors to leave the area.

One of the wild horses that roam Assateague Island National Seashore was shot and killed during last weekend's two-day deer hunt, according to seashore officials.

As Hurricane Earl assails the Outer Banks parks, producing damaging winds, rough surf, overwash, and beach erosion, Cape Cod National Seashore and other coastal parks in the Middle Atlantic and New England regions get ready for the powerful storm's arrival.

Hurricane Earl with its 120 mile-per-hour winds on Monday was ripping through the Caribbean, where a hurricane warning was posted for Virgin Islands National Park on the island of St. John.

The lightning whelk, a sea snail with a lovely southpaw shell, is very proficient at finding, opening, and eating clams.

A diminutive shorebird and a string of villages both dependent on the same necklace of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina are being pinched in a precarious setting that demonstrates the folly of trying to control nature.

Obama administration officials are indefinitely postponing public scoping on an off-shore oil and gas lease proposal for an area of coastal Virginia, a move that drew quick applause in some circles.

There are some great, kid-friendly programs on tap in the coming weeks at Assateague Island National Seashore. You can join a walk through the wetlands or watch the critters get fed at the park's aquarium.

President Obama's announcement that he will pursue off-shore drilling along much of the Eastern Seaboard spurred this week's "bonus" Reader Participation Survey.

In the world of bird hierarchy, crows are considered one of the most intelligent birds out there. And it's this intelligence that has Cape Cod National Seashore officials considering a plan to kill some of the smartest crows on the cape with hopes of bolstering populations of piping plovers, a diminutive bird that, while perhaps not as brainy as crows, could face extinction if its numbers don't increase.

Which is your favorite national seashore, and why? Seems like a pretty straightforward question, no?

Assateague Island National Seashore embraces "one of the largest and last surviving Mid-Atlantic barrier islands possessing a continuum of intact coastal habitats where the full range of natural processes occur with little or no human interference." How should the National Park Service continue to manage that property?

The coastal storm dubbed Ida may have been a late bloomer, but the November storm left a mess at several parks from the Gulf Coast to the mid-Atlantic. Here's an update on the status of two parks: Gulf Islands National Seashore and Assateague Island National Seashore.

The remains of Tropical Storm Ida have inflicted some of the heaviest damage that Atlantic Coast beaches have seen in quite a few years. NPS units in the impacted area will have a major cleanup & fix up job on their hands.

Now that Hurricane Ida has veered eastward and been downgraded to a tropical storm, national seashores located along the East Coast from the Carolinas to Cape Cod can expect high surf and gusty conditions heading into the weekend.

As the weather cools and available daylight decreases, many wild animals become restless. They know winter is on the way and they could face months of freezing temperatures and food shortages.

The Internet can be a fascinating place, but for one boastful angler it proved her undoing. The woman in question made the mistake of bragging about catching smaller-than-allowed striped bass from Assateague Island National Seashore.

For years, summer trips to Cape Cod were an annual ritual for my family. My parents had retired to the Cape, and our boys loved romping in the surf and building castles in the sand. Lobster feasts, game-fishing, and whale watching were added benefits, as were exploring the seashore’s lighthouses, roaming its dunes, and looking for sea creatures in its mudflats.