Funding deficiencies are hamstringing the staff at Lassen Volcanic National Park by preventing them from adequately protecting the park's natural and cultural resources, according to the Center for State of the Parks.

A rock slide along the popular Lassen Peak Trail at Lassen Volcanic National Park has killed a 9-year-old boy and injured his 13-year-old sister.

In the early 1900s, some national parks existed, but getting to them was problematic. Then was born the idea to develop a "National Park-to-Park Highway," one that would run through 11 states and connect 13 national parks.

The Pacific Crest Trail ranges from Canada to Mexico, running through Washington, Oregon, and California along the way, traversing not one but seven units of the National Park System in the process. While mountain bikers are not supposed to use the trail, recently some have been poaching sections in California.

Yellowstone National Park entered the new year shaking and rattling. Fortunately, there hasn’t been any real rolling just yet. But over at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Redoubt Volcano has been going through its own gyrations, and volcanologists suspect it just might erupt any time now. Against that backdrop, if you want to see volcanics in action, or signs thereof, the National Park System has many opportunities for you.

Wanted: Expert on Lassen Volcanic National Park. Topic: Snowshoeing.

Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of our oldest national parks, but it has never had anything more than a makeshift visitor center. Until now, that is. A 92-year wait ends today, October 4, when the park celebrates the grand opening of the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center at the park’s southwest entrance.

This week’s quiz tests your knowledge of geologic features and processes in the national parks that lie within the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that rings the Pacific Basin. Answers are at the end. If we catch you peeking, we'll make you write "convergent boundary" 100 times on the whiteboard.

Talk volcanoes and national parks and folks usually think of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and perhaps Lassen Volcanic National Park. In truth, though, there are at least 13 units of the national park system that have a volcanic past in some form or fashion.