Rocky Mountain National Park

Forget the Kentucky Derby, the really big race on May 7 will be the one involving 5,000 rubber ducks jostling on the currents of the Big Thompson River near Rocky Mountain National Park.

Climate change is leading to a sizeable decrease in stream flows in the major river basins of the Southwest, declines that could impact recreation and wildlife in national parks such as Arches, Canyonlands, and Big Bend, according to an Interior Department report.

Summer brings a wealth of flowers to those parks that have enjoyed spring flowers like Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It also brings flowers to Rocky Mountain National Park and the parks in Alaska where the snow is just melting.

An ongoing battle with bark beetles in Rocky Mountain National Park is set to resume in April, when crews will begin spraying an insecticide on as many as 5,000 "high-value" trees.

How far removed are we from the day when bison are hunted inside Yellowstone National Park to better manage their numbers? Montana's governor thinks that's a reasonable solution to prevent the spread of brucellosis from park bison to Montana cattle.

If you've ever sat back in El Capitan Meadow in Yosemite National Park to watch climbers ascending that massive granite wall from which the meadow takes its name, odds are you never noticed the "hundreds" of fixed anchors climbers have over the years drilled into that monolith. And yet, they're there.

Some climbing routes in Rocky Mountain National Park are being closed for the next few months to give nesting raptors a little peace.

While name changes are important in the lodging world, another key change in the management of the Rocky Mountain Park Inn near Rocky Mountain National Park is a partnership it has developed with the Rocky Mountain Nature Association.

A coalition announced plans today to sue federal agencies, including the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency, for failing to protect airsheds over national parks, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges.

Across the National Park System many changes are expected from climate change, from more wildfires and vanishing glaciers to invasions of non-native species and flight of long-term residents. Writer/photographer Michael Lanza, concerned that today's park landscapes will change significantly by the time his young kids are his age, has been touring the park system with his family to show his children what they might miss later in life.

A skier who survived a roughly 900-foot tumble in the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park was in a hospital today after rangers spent a long afternoon rescuing him.

A review of how Congress acted on wilderness legislation shows that the National Park System benefited quite nicely during the 111th session, but it could have fared better.

Too many species, too little staff. That's the roadblock preventing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from immediately adding the wolverine to the list of species with protection under the Endangered Species Act.

'Tis is the season for counting birds as the 111th annual Christmas Bird Count rolls out across the country, and more than a few national parks are welcoming you to count birds.

Start dreaming and planning. You can now go on-line to check out the 2011 field course list of offerings from the Rocky Mountain Nature Association. These field courses conducted in Rocky Mountain National Park offer the usual photography and backpacking courses, as well as some eye-openers, such as the children's overnight birding camp.

Winter long has been regarded as the slow season for national park visits, and that's a good thing if you prefer to have the parks to yourself. With most travelers confined by school schedules to the summer months, and many convinced winter is a bad time to be outdoors, you can savor the best of the parks from coast to coast in winter. Here are some snapshots of wintry fun in the parks that bear that out.

Ever wonder what you might encounter out on the trail? Well, if the trail you're thinking of hiking lies within Rocky Mountain National Park, the webmeisters there have a page for you.

During my recent hike in Shenandoah National Park along the Appalachian Trail, I came upon a tight crook in the trail that carried Ivy Creek downhill amid a flurry of gold, red, orange and yellow leaves of fall. There can be no more spectacular setting that the hardwood forests of the East. Unless it's set ablaze by the pastel daubs of spring wildflowers in places such as Glacier, Saquaro or Canyonlands national parks.

If you've got traveling Trail Ridge Road end-to-end through Rocky Mountain National Park on your bucket list, well, it'll have to wait until next year. Winter has forced park officials to close the road to wheeled traffic until next spring.

A 54-year-old Colorado man has been killed in a tumbling fall on the Taylor Glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The transition from fall to winter is harsher than the ones from spring to summer or summer to fall. The signs practically assault your senses. And yet, the transition can be much too quick.

Ed Waldron holds the Kestrel, or weather meter, up to the wind. In the next five minutes, he will note wind speeds at least a dozen times to make sure he is sending accurate readings to the handful of firefighters widening the blackened line in the drainage below him.

John Wessels finds himself in arguably one of the best jobs in the National Park Service, that as director of the agency's sprawling Intermountain Region, and yet there probably aren't many who envy him at this point.

A hiker on the Keyhole Route of Longs Peak fell has been killed in a fall of about 300 feet, according to the National Park Service.

High fire danger throughout Rocky Mountain National Park has led to the expansion of fire restrictions throughout the park, including a prohibition of smoking in the open and backcountry campfires.

It's fall travel time at Rocky Mountain National Park, but a fire which started about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday caused park officials to close a section of Trail Ridge Road on the west side of the park for about 18 hours. Cross-park traffic resumed Sunday afternoon, with one-lane traffic at the site of the fire.

When it comes to autumnal splendor, the Eastern parks get the lion's share of national publicity, but there's some mighty fine leaf peeping to be enjoyed on the park roads in western states and the Ozarks too. Here's how to find some of the best of it.