Rocky Mountain National Park

ReserveAmerica, the company that manages camping reservations for the National Park System and other federal agencies, can't seem to find a national park campground it likes. In listing its "Top 100 Family Campgrounds," the company doesn't cite a single national park campground.

Summer's arrival and the height of the vacation season is filling the National Park System with folks and families looking to relax, kick back, and enjoy being together in fabulous settings. Let's just not forget to be safe out there, though.

Florida panther kittens dosed with dewormers. Black-footed ferrets inoculated against plague. Sterilizing horses at Cape Lookout National Seashore and elk at Rocky Mountain National Park. And now Yellowstone National Park bison that could be vaccinated against brucellosis via air gun.

They're inventorying trees at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, with an eye out for trees that are infested with mountain pine beetles.

A $53,000 gift has been made to the Rocky Mountain Nature Association for its Next Generation Fund, a gift that came from a very unusual donor.

Throughout the year my mailbox is filled with solicitations from various causes, among them national park-related events and projects. Here's a look at just some of the latest you might consider giving to.

Spring is a fantastic time to be outdoors. Along with the beauty of plants in bloom, a trip to a national park can reveal mammals emerging from their hibernation and frogs singing up a storm. But the one spring event that brings countless new and life-long nature lovers to our nation’s parks is the return of migratory songbirds.

If you're planning a visit soon to Rocky Mountain National Park, you might want to read the following carefully and look at your calendar. Park crews plan to be spraying trees around the park through most of May in an ongoing battle against bark beetles.

Winter has been pretty fluky across the United States, with heavy snows taking aim at the Mid-Atlantic and Sierra states, cold weather diving deeply into the Southeast, torrential rains hitting the Northeast, and quick warming baking the Midwest. With such a mix, what might we expect from the coming wildfire season across the National Park System?

Some temporary climbing closures have been placed into effect in Rocky Mountain National Park to give raptors some relative peace and quiet during their nesting season.

Less than a month after a conservation group expressed its displeasure with the Obama administration for not providing Endangered Species Act protection to the American pika due to the plight it might face due to climate change, a new study suggests the tiny mammals are more widespread than thought and seem to thrive in a temperature range greater than long thought possible.

Two of the most incredible waterfalls in the National Park System can be found in Yellowstone National Park. But it certainly doesn't have a monopoly on waterworks. Olympic National Park boasts the beautifully secluded Marymere Falls, Glacier National Park the towering Bird Woman Falls, and Great Smoky Mountain National Park the comparatively small but gorgeous-just-the-same Abrams Falls. What other waterfalls in the park system deserve to be singled out for their beauty?

There was a paper that zoomed around cyberspace a couple weeks ago, one that roamed far and wide, not unlike a young wolf seeking a territory of its own. It gathered speed as it was flicked around the Twittersphere because it focused on two subjects that captivate more than a few people -- national parks, and wolves.

How far should national park managers go when it comes to wildlife management issues? That's a controversial issue in some circles, as evidenced by the concern being raised over a proposal at Cape Cod National Seashore to poison some crows that have developed a knack for preying on piping plovers, a threatened species along the Atlantic Seaboard under the Endangered Species Act, whose nests are seemingly protected by enclosures.

If you want to know whether Spring is on the way, don’t look to groundhogs for the answer. Instead, listen for the frogs. Certain species of frogs, such as the wood frog, begin singing even when there is still snow on the ground.

Let's face it, the National Park Service is making strides in addressing ADA needs, but has a ways to go. One couple that frequently travels to parks is making it easier for disabled travelers to anticipate what their visits will be like through websites that assess individual park's accessibility factors.

A diminutive creature that struggles with warmer temperatures brought on by climate change will not receive Endangered Species Act protection for its predicament, the Obama administration has decided in a move that brought quick condemnation from some corners.

It was almost a century ago that President Woodrow Wilson signed the enacting legislation that created Rocky Mountain National Park. With its 95th birthday now here, Rocky Mountain Superintendent Vaughn Baker is inviting you to visit the park and explore its beauty.

Can you tell by looking at a wildflower in Yellowstone National Park what the underlying geology is? Or, while hiking through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, can you identify a bird simply by its song? Do you want to get relatively up close to the elephant seals at Point Reyes National Seashore? Here's how you can do all those things and more.

How many folks, if they had an extra million dollars, would offer it to a national park's friends group? At least one person is holding out that check to the Rocky Mountain Nature Association, which can claim the $1 million by matching it dollar-for-dollar by year's end.

Winter is starting to pack its full fury in the Rockies, with the snow piling up across the region. In Rocky Mountain National Park you can enjoy that snow by heading into the park on a snowshoe hike or cross-country ski led by rangers.

A succinct, four-paragraph memo from National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis two weeks ago spurred an outpouring of comments from Park Service employees and marked, potentially, a sea change in how park superintendents go about budgeting for their parks. But is it something the general public should take note of?

If you find yourself near Rocky Mountain National Park during the holidays, you might want to consider one of the following activities. With the snow piling up, there will be lots of outdoor activities, but the park also is planning some indoor fun for families and kids. Some require reservations, so don't wait until the last minute.

In a brief, four-paragraph memorandum, National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis has brought to an end a controversial budgeting process that stripped arguably key positions from parks. Dubbed "core ops" for its approach to analyzing a park's core operations, the process failed to produce wise budgeting decisions, the director said in a letter to his regional directors.

Winter is a season for planning. How better to pass some of those long, cold, snowy nights than before the fire or a the kitchen table with guidebooks and maps, calculators and checklists? And if you’re thinking of tackling one of the country’s long-distance hiking trails, planning is definitely not over-rated. Here’s a look at some of the trails that pass through parts of the National Park System, and what planning assistance is out there.

Along its 3,100 miles that wind from the Canadian border down to Mexico, the Continental Divide Trail is one of the most rugged, and in parts one of the most visually spectacular, hiking trails in the country. Now the U.S. Forest Service says the route could be opened in places to mountain bikes, which raises a question of possible impacts to national parks.

If you've always wondered about visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, but didn't know what to expect, this video is for you. Narrated by Bill Kurtis, who rose to acclaim during his days at CBS News, this video highlights the lay of the land, from tundra to cataracts, showcases the park's renowned wildlife, and points to some of the adventures you can have in the park.