How close did you pay attention to the landscape the last time you went for a hike in a national park? Did you notice the variety of trees or plants, the birds, the insects? Could you tell where there had been a fire or a flood? More subtly, could you see where the nutrient sinks in the ecosystem were? Most of us probably can't answer that last question, but researchers at Isle Royale National Park have uncovered some intriguing contributions to the park's biodiversity.
With the approach of Christmas and New Year's, some people remain undecided about what to do and where to go for the holidays. Here are a few suggestions for year-end national park vacations that are likely to result in some lasting memories.
For those who see the national parks as being preserved time immemorial under gigantic bell jars, there is evidence that each succeeding generation makes an imprint or two on the parks. It wasn't too terribly long ago, for instance, that you climbed into the bleachers to watch the bear buffets in Yellowstone National Park, or that the El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon National Park had separate dining areas for men and women.
If you're planning to visit Yellowstone National Park in the coming days, you better hurry. On Monday all roads through the park's interior will be closed to wheeled vehicles.
There is perhaps no more ethereal place than the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. There, when the night skies are thick with scudding clouds, ghostly phantoms promenade on the geysers' drifting zephyrs.
If you're thinking of a winter trek to Yellowstone National Park, there are some things you have to accept. One, more than likely it will be cold and snowy. Two, lodging reservations will be tricky, as there are a very limited number of lodges open. Three, it's not going to be cheap. But if you're OK with those three conditions, you'll more than likely have an incredible time.
Fall can be a downright gorgeous time to take a hike in a national park. The air is crisp, the bugs are gone, the crowds have vanished, and the landscape is gorgeous. Just don't forget that the bears are trying to put on some extra calories to get through the winter. And a hungry bear can be an ornery bear.
Yellowstone. Canyonlands. Voyageurs. Grand Canyon. Great Smoky Mountains. Glacier. Surprising as it is, none of those parks has so much as a single acre of officially designated wilderness.
Wyoming's congressional delegation was quick Thursday to condemn the National Park Service's winter-use plan for Yellowstone National Park that would limit daily snowmobile numbers to 318. Sen. Mike Enzi thought as many as 1,000 machines should be allowed in.
As expected, National Park Service officials Thursday approved a winter-use plan for Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks that reduces snowmobile numbers in Yellowstone from past years. The intent is that this plan remain in effect for two winters while Park Service teams develop yet another environmental impact statement on winter recreation in Yellowstone.
Fall was nice, wasn't it? At Yellowstone National Park winter already has made an appearance, and park officials are urging visitors to be a bit cautious when traveling the roads.
If it seemed a bit crowded during your visit to Yellowstone National Park this year, well, that's because it was. Park officials announced Tuesday that 2009 visitation has eclipsed 3 million and seems likely to set an annual visitation record.
A burst of wintry weather Wednesday greatly dampened the Arnica Fire in Yellowstone National Park, where fire crews were demobilizing while others worked to reopen a section of the Grand Loop Road that had been closed by the fire.
This quiz will find out how much you know about bad people, bad happenings, bad decisions, and other bad stuff in the national parks. Answers are at the end. Peeking may produce bad results.
A wildfire ignited by a lightning strike continued to burn Tuesday in Yellowstone National Park, though an approaching storm front could provide much-needed moisture to knock it down.
A predicted storm can't reach Yellowstone National Park fast enough to blunt a wildfire that as of noon Monday had reached 9,300 acres in size and had forced the closure of the road between West Thumb and just south of the Lake developed area.
The first snows of the season will be falling on Yellowstone National Park this week, which means it's not too early to think about a winter visit to this magical place. Options are not lacking for how to get there, either.
Dry, windy weather pushed the Arnica fire in Yellowstone National Park to more than 8,000 acres Sunday, with spotting starting small fires within 1 mile of Bridge Bay on the west side of Yellowstone Lake.
A backcountry fire ignited by lightning in Yellowstone National Park is up to 250 acres and growing in the direction of the Grand Loop Road, prompting firefighters to take to the air with water-dropping helicopters.
A federal judge has restored Yellowstone ecosystem grizzlies to threatened status under the Endangered Species Act. The upgrade reverses a 2007 F&WS delisting decision that inadequately considered a number of important factors, including the negative impacts of climate change on critical food supplies.
National parks represent a spectacular legacy handed down to today’s generations, but it is one that also carries a hefty responsibility of stewardship. That becomes quickly obvious in Ken Burns’ The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. This notion of responsible stewardship is not new at all. In many ways it’s trite.
A federal judge in Wyoming who in the past has supported higher numbers of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park ruled Thursday that he could not overturn the National Park Service's decision to cap daily snowmobile numbers at 318 this coming winter.
Canine distemper, not parvovirus, apparently was behind the high wolf pup mortality rates in Yellowstone National Park in 1999, 2005 and 2008, according to new research.
Camping in the national parks is a lot of fun, and so is this quiz. Answers are at the end. If we catch you peeking, we’ll make you explain the modern-day appeal of backcountry camping in the context of the classic three-stage Pastoral Retreat model elucidated by literary historian Leo Marx.
What role should the National Park Service play in promoting businesses that make a living off national parks? That's a potentially thorny question. On one hand, visitors coming from far off might want such information to help plan their trips. On the other, is the Park Service giving away free advertising and adding an appropriate commercial bent to its websites and press releases?
Nearly 140 years after Yellowstone became the world's first national park, we still don't know enough about it to properly manage all its natural resources. But then, as a dynamic, multi-faceted ecosystem, one affected by many internal and external drivers, is that surprising? Perhaps it should be.
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