Crater Lake National Park

Webcams provide us with windows on the world. They allow armchair travelers to follow activity outside a Dublin pub, monitor traffic on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, and check on what’s happening at the International Space Station. Webcams also provide windows on nature, some of the best of which comes by way of cameras stationed in our national parks.

The Crater Lake National Park Science & Learning Center is accepting applications for the 2013 Artist-in-Residence program at the park. Application forms and more information are available online and are due by February 1, 2013.

Eight national park lodges have joined Historic Hotels of America, a program affiliated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Crater Lake is an appealing dive for scuba aficionados, but the lake will be temporary closed to them until Crater Lake National Park officials can formulate protocols for keeping invasive species out of the water.

The odds of surviving a sudden cardiac arrest are dismally low, especially if the crisis occurs in a remote location. A visitor to Crater Lake National Park last month beat those odds, thanks to a combination of good staff training and modern medical care. It was a situation where every link in the "chain of response and treatment" worked to perfection.

While legislation has been signed into law by President Obama to give Crater Lake National Park officials final say on whether to allow helicopter sightseeing tours over the park, that authority is lacking in many other units of the National Park System.

There is a false sense of security in the National Park System surrounding officially designated wilderness. And political actions, or, rather, inaction, demonstrates why there should be concern for the long-term fate of lands with wilderness qualities.

With snow already piling up deep at Crater Lake National Park, park rangers are ready to lead you on snowshoe hikes into the landscape.

Just because winter is on its way and the weather is turning gray and colder, that doesn't mean there aren't great places to enjoy in the National Park System. Here are some random suggestions.

America is abundantly rich in the "natural assets" found within the National Park System, but inadequate funding by Congress is threatening the core health of that system, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

The final "entrance-fee-free" weekend of the year is coming to the National Park System this weekend, giving you another excuse (if you need one) to get out and visit a park.

While there are still two months left to 2011, it's not too early to think about making a tax-deductible contribution to your favorite national park-related organization.

It just got easier to follow your favorite unit of the National Park System on the Traveler.

U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees national parks and other federal lands, says it is unconstitutional for the federal government to own those tracts.

Latest visitation figures show that tourism to the National Park System dipped somewhat in 2010, dropping from 285.5 million in 2009 to 281.3 million last year. Is that a concern?

A congressman from New York hopes to bolster pride in America, and boost American manufacturers, by pushing legislation that would require gift shops throughout the National Park System to carry items made in America.

A budget battle could be brewing in Congress over funding for the Interior Department. On the sidelines, the National Parks Conservation Association will be lobbying for more money for the national parks in the fiscal year 2012 budget.

True, the entrance fees at national parks are a tiny part of the overall cost of visiting a park. But if you can schedule your 2012 trip to get in free during one of National Park Service's entrance-fee-free days, why not?

Nearly 50 years after it was completed, the Leopold Report on wildlife management in the national parks is perhaps overdue for revisions to take into account the realities of climate change, sprawl, and greater visitation to the parks.

With the snows of winter on their way, most people are bringing an end to this year's travels and looking ahead to 2012. Which has us wondering: How do you decide which national parks to put on your travel calendar?

An initiative to build a $1 billion endowment for national parks in these distressed economic times is bold and ambitious, one that could do much good for a National Park System that Congress has been unable, or unwilling, to fully fund. But it won't happen overnight, and it will take continued support from administrations yet to be elected.

The impact the late-National Park Service Director Roger Kennedy had on the National Park Service won't be lost and can't be overestimated. In his 2008 book, Wildfire and Americans; How to Save Lives, Property, and Your Tax Dollars, Mr. Kennedy measured the values of both science and faith in protecting wildness. He presented the following talk, portions of which came from that book, in 2006 during an appearance at the University of New England.

How did you spend your summer? David and Kay Scott traveled nearly 11,000 miles, visited 29 units of the National Park System, and toured 62 lodges. Here's a recap of what they found.

What was your most memorable ranger-led activity in the National Park System this year?

Ian Shive, who has traveled the National Park System to capture its unique and spectacular landscapes in his cameras' viewfinders, has been honored with the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography.

Though the national park movement is more than a century old, efforts are ongoing to support that movement and enhance the protection of national park lands globally. Recently the National Park Service bolstered those efforts by agreeing to work with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature on the support of parks and other protected areas world-wide.

Is 'bagging all of the national parks' a goal you've set for yourself?

Memo to Congress: Don't cut national park funding.