There's an economic report out touting the benefits that a Mount St. Helens "National Park" would bring surrounding communities. And that begs the question of whether units of the National Park System should be viewed largely as economic engines?

The campaigns are over, the results are in, and it’s time to consider what the 2008 elections portend for the National Park System. We highlight several foregone conclusions, make a couple of fearless forecasts, and invite you, the readers, to share your prognostications.

It cost $12 million to create the newly flooded Giacomini Wetlands at Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This is not just an exercise in “feel good” environmental action. Because wetlands provide many valuable benefits, this project will more than pay for itself.

The National Park Service says there are 391 units in the National Park System. If you take a close look at how that number is derived, you won’t know whether to laugh or cry. Have the inmates taken charge of the asylum?

With the fall migration underway, birders are beating a path to Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It’s one of the world’s best places for watching hawks, eagles, falcons, vultures, and other raptors.

Should rules meant to protect resources and visitors be less stringent if a National Park System unit is designated Recreation Area? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is spearheading a legislative campaign to have Golden Gate National Recreation Area redesignated Golden Gate National Parks. Bay Area dog owners oppose the proposed change, fearing that it would put an end to off-leash dog walking privileges they currently enjoy.

The Presidio Trust must decide where to put a new art museum to be built at the Presidio unit of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The donor-specified site is problematic, and some critics argue that the museum complex’s massive scale and modern appearance are incompatible with the Presidio’s historic milieu.

In a move certain to dismay many national park advocates, the National Park Service has proposed to convert to commercial use a number of buildings on Alcatraz, a popular component of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The proposed developments would include souvenir stands, special venues, and lodging facilities.

The red-throated loon is the smallest, most widely distributed, and most distinctive of the world’s five loon species. Annually migrating from summer nesting sites in the Arctic reaches of North America and Eurasia to wintering grounds in the Lower 48, Mexico, Europe, and Asia, this bird can really move.

Dozens of movies have depicted actors and actresses cavorting, romancing, running, hiding, fighting, and yes, even dying in national parks or places destined to become national parks. Here are ten of Traveler's favorite movies with a national park connection of some sort. Note that we don’t restrict the field to films shot on location in parks.

Two years ago there were concerns that national parks were losing their pull over the traveling public. Today, though, National Park Service officials are bullish about visitation, pointing to gains at a number of parks, including Yosemite and Yellowstone.

Each year nearly 100 people attempt suicide somewhere in the national park system. That's a troubling statistic for the National Park Service.

There's a passage in Director's Order 53, one of the many documents that guide National Park Service management decisions, that warns of proverbial icebergs ready to assail superintendents who truly believe their mission is to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."