Some stories just deserve a second reading, either because you rushed through it the first time, you might have missed it, or the subject intrigues you. With that understood, here are some stories from the past year we think deserve a second look.
Grand Canyon's Prehistoric Past Appears In 313-Million-Year-Old Tracks
A new chapter to Grand Canyon National Park's geologic past has come to light in the unique form of two sets of fossilized tracks more than 300 million years old that are lying in view of any hiker on the Bright Angel Trail. Those tracks, according to paleontologists, "are by far the oldest vertebrate tracks in Grand Canyon."
Caribou Captive Breeding Program May Come Too Late To Prevent Extinction In National Parks
In October, more than two years after the last caribou in the Maligne Valley of Jasper National Park died or disappeared, Parks Canada announced a tentative plan for a caribou captive breeding program. Subject to an expert review that will likely take place in January, females from other herds will be rounded up and penned in a facility near the town of Jasper.
Zion National Park Struggling In The Battle With Graffiti "Artists"
There are places in the National Park System where carvings, etchings, and even 20th century “graffiti” are preserved. Unfortunately, there is a surprising number of 21st century individuals who think it’s perfectly appropriate for them to carve their names and other signs and symbols into national park landscapes.
Op-Ed | Present Day Graffiti Vs. Historical Graffiti In National Parks – What’s The Difference?
Vandalism in its many forms, seems to be continuing unabated in the national parks. The Leave No Trace Seven Principals don’t appear to apply to those who wish to let others know they were there in the form of acrylic paint on 180-million year old sandstone and gouges into rock and living trees in places like Zion, Joshua Tree, Olympic, and Redwood national parks? Is modern graffiti on protected lands considered art and future history for archeologists, much like the ancient petroglyphs and pictographs now safeguarded within the boundaries of natural parks, national memorials, and other park units?
Cave Ice Helped Ancestral Puebloans Survive Droughts At El Malpais
A team of researchers believes cave ice held within lava tubes helped Ancestral Puebloans in the landscape protected today by El Malpais National Monument survive droughts.
African American Historic Sites In Chesapeake Bay Watershed To Be Documented
History resides in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that hasn't fully been documented. Black history, specifically. But now a partnership of organizations including the National Park Service will work to map and identify sites and landscapes in the watershed region significant to African American history and culture.
Concerns Raised Over Efforts To Deny Growing Extinction Rates
Biodiversity scientists are being urged to “fight the creeping rise of extinction denial” that has spread from fringe blogs to influential media outlets and even into a U.S. Congressional hearing. The call to arms came in a paper published in Nature Ecology & Evolution last month by Alexander Lees, senior lecturer in conservation biology at Manchester Metropolitan University, and colleagues.
Loss Of Habitat Poses A Threat For Sea Turtles' Survival
We often hear about the threats sea-level rise pose to human coastal infrastructure, but little seems to get out about how sea-level rise can impact wildlife. A new study from Florida State University casts a somber prediction for sea turtles, which already are facing long odds for survival.
IUCN Update: 32,441 Species Threatened With Extinction
A new assessment from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature finds that one in four mammals are threatened with extinction. Overall, the report says 32,441 species could face extinction if current trends aren't reversed.
Dirt Bike Riders Tear Up Field Along Historic Mormon Row In Grand Teton National Park
A band of dirt bike riders shredded through an open field along historic Mormon Row in Grand Teton National Park that is part of a long-running restoration project to erase thousands of acres of hayfields that once grew there.
Funding Cuts Imperil Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Program At Padre Island National Seashore
A National Park Service review of the Kemp's ridley sea turtle recovery program at Padre Island National Seashore is calling for substantial funding cuts and programmatic changes that would greatly hamstring the program and amount to "conservation malpractice," Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility charged Thursday.
Condors Return To Sequoia National Park After Nearly 50 Years
A few of the country's most iconic birds decided recently to take in the sights from Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park, making it the first time in nearly 50 years that California condors have been spotted there.
Op-Ed | Upper Green Area Should Be National Park, Not Feedlot
George Wuerthner argues that the Upper Green River Lakes area of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming would serve the general public better as a national park, not a cattle feedlot.
Overworked Sewage System Limiting Phantom Ranch Visitation
Too many hikers are overwhelming the sewage treatement system at Phantom Ranch deep within the Inner Gorge of Grand Canyon National Park, forcing park officials to limit travelers to the iconic location for the next 18-24 months.
Microscopic Plastics Adding To Pollution Load In Western National Parks
More than 2 million pounds of microplastics, the equivalent of 123 million plastic bottles, settle on national parks and other public lands in the West each year, adding to the growing pollution loads these protected areas carry, according to a new study.
NPS Releases Statement On Issue Of Race, Equity, And Values
Acting National Park Service Director David Vela said Tuesday that his agency "rejects behaviors, beliefs, and judgments that erode the rights and freedom of all people," and that it would work "against all racism."
Glacier Bay National Park Holds One Of The World's Greatest Lichen Concentrations
Mention Glacier Bay National and Preserve and you'll conjure visions of rivers of ice coating mountains and a miles long bay rich in marine life and birds. But it also holds rainforests that fill the park's fjords, and within those forests are incredibly diverse ecosystems that scientists are still trying to fully comprehend. One thing they do know, thanks to recent research, is that those rainforests nurture one of the highest concentrations of lichen diversity found on Earth.
Interior Department Extends Bison Conservation Initiative For A Decade
Efforts to better understand genetic pools held within the Interior Department's roughly 11,000 bison and to bolster conservation and ecological efforts with states and tribes were boosted Thursday when Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced a decade-long initiative to support that work.
Court Orders National Park Service, Federal Aviation Administration To Develop Air Tour Guidelines
A federal court, noting that National Park Service and Federal Aviation Administration have failed for 19 years to develop air tour management plans for national parks, on Friday ordered the agencies to get the work done.
What 'Walden' Can Tell Us About Social Distancing And Focusing On Life's Essentials
Seeking to bend the coronavirus curve, governors and mayors have told millions of Americans to stay home. If you’re pondering what to read, it’s easy to find lists featuring books about disease outbreaks, solitude and living a simpler life. But it’s much harder to find a book that combines these themes.
Interior Secretary Bernhardt Seems To Have Tailored A Job For P. Daniel Smith
When P. Daniel Smith walked away from his job as deputy director of the National Park Service last fall, he didn't walk back into retirement but rather into a position Interior Secretary David Bernhardt created for Smith that just happened to be based in Smith's hometown, according to job posting records.
Study Says Barely Half Of Americans Get Outside For Recreation
Chances are, you read National Parks Traveler's outdoors content because you frequently head outdoors to recreate. And yet, surprisingly, nearly half of the U.S. population did not go outdoors to get some exercise in 2018, according to a new report from the Outdoor Foundation.
Montana Officials Agree To Allow Wild Bison, But Groups Want To Know Where
After nearly eight years of study, Montana officials have agreed to allow wild bison to once again roam their state, but they say more study must be done before decisions are made as to where those bison can roam.
Study Shows Americans Visit Parks, But Not For Long
Americans love the national parks, and can name the last park they visited, but they don't visit for long, according to a telephone survey commissioned by the National Park Service.
Scientists Wonder If Traditional Hawaiian Stories Mentioned Past Crater Lakes
Science and stories handed down through the generations are colliding at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, where scientists are studying native lore to see if there's any mention of past lakes forming in the crater of Kīlauea Volcano.
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