Archive List

Think of Death Valley wildlife and you think of....well, rattlesnakes perhaps. But the park has a population of bobcats, as a visitor and Furnace Creek resort employee learned recently when they were attacked by two of the felines.

Politics stalked the national park system throughout 2007. From snowmobiles in Yellowstone to off-road vehicles in Big Cypress, it seemed natural resources and careful stewardship were trumped too often.

Judging from the lobbying that revolves around the national parks, it's easy to see that local interests view the parks as local treasures, not the national jewels that they are. At the Association of National Park Rangers, President-elect Scott McElveen would like to see that change.

2007 is just about history. 2008, though, is still unvarnished, full of hope and promise. With that in mind, what will the new year bring to the national park system? Here's some wishful thinking....

More than six decades after promising to build a road along the north shore of Fontana Lake in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the National Park Service has signed off on a deal to settle the matter with a cash payout of $52 million. Today's action brings an end to the long saga of the so-called "road to nowhere."

Cradled by the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, Shenandoah National Park is perhaps best described as Great Smoky Mountains National Park's sister park.

The body of a 22-year-old Washington man killed in an avalanche on Mount Rainier National Park has been recovered.

Rangers at Mount Rainier National Park have been working to find a 22-year-old Washington man who was swept down the mountain by an avalanche.

The late historian Robin Winks long has been heralded for his distillation of the National Park Service Organic Act. In this, the latest parks essay from the George Wright Society, his words are recalled. Denis Galvin, a former deputy director of the National Park Service, provides an afterword.

Congressional Democrats are working to see that the omnibus spending bill working its way to President Bush contains language that would bring a halt to private hunts on part of Channel Islands National Park.

The omnibus spending bill awaiting full Senate action calls for $2.39 billion for the National Park Service in FY08 (which started this past October).

Walking out of the visitor center at Capitol Reef National Park will be one of the most surreal experiences of your life, as you pass through a portal not only into a red-rock cathedral but also back into the past. The park is a pure slice of heaven in the desert, seemingly waiting for Irma to open up a pie stand.

For longer than the National Park Service has been in business, capitalists have pulled at national parks, looking for a way to get their financial cut of natural resources. Should we be surprised at this behavior? Of course not. Disappointed? I'd like to think so.