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Trains Of Discovery: Railroads and the Legacy of Our National Parks

Aug 21st - 07:02am | Connie Hopkins

My husband Dave has worked for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway for almost 30 years. He joined back in 1982 when it was still the Burlington Northern.The BNSF has sponsored the photo exhibit at Many Glacier Hotel in Glacier National Park that shows the changes over the years to the glaciers. A "now and then" example of how the glaciers are

Bluffs Lodge Along The Blue Ridge Parkway Shuttered For 2011

Aug 20th - 22:03pm | Shannon C

Reading all the nice comments concerning Bluffs Lodge and Bluffs "Coffee Shop" Restaurant makes me smile, but at the same time, I am saddened that it is not open for the 2011 season. I, as well as fellow staff, are hoping for the best for the 2012 season. We want our customers to know that we miss them so much and hope

National Park Service Looking For Kids Interested in Becoming Junior Civil War Historians

Aug 20th - 20:06pm | Anonymous

The Southeast Region is doing the Civil War Junior Historian patch program. The other 3 areas with Civil War sites (North Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, and National Capital) are issuing Civil War commemorative trading cards. There are 189 trading cards available from 23 National Parks 23 with Civil War connections.

What's "The Most Beautiful Place in America"? GMA Viewers Pick Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Aug 20th - 14:02pm | RoadRanger

GMA must have a strange viewer demographic. For starters, they don't travel much.

Aug 20th - 12:49pm | Anonymously-yours

...can't imagine the dunes beating Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Yosemite, Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I haven't been to the dunes but have been to those other places and also can't imagine it being better...

Aug 20th - 12:20pm | Ruth-Oregon

Ditto...NO, it isn't.

Aug 20th - 11:46am | David WC

Grand Tetons,Bryce Canyon are my two favorites along with the Grand Canyon. Bear Dunes wouldn't make my top 10!

Aug 20th - 11:18am | Anonymous

Each Earthly Landscape has its own special Beauty not to be demoted in Value simply because many citizen voters are near its shores. A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. from the chapter "The Ponds" in Walden

Aug 20th - 11:04am | Dottie

No.  It isn't.

Aug 20th - 09:45am | Anonymous

I live in MI and The Dunes are beautiful, but I have been to the Grand Canyon, The Tetons, Arches, Rocky Mt. NP and I am sorry no comparison.

Aug 20th - 08:39am | Kevin M

I love Sleeping Bear Dunes and have gone there frequently, but really???  We are in the midst of a Yellowstone/Teton trip and can't imagine the dunes beating Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Yosemite, Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon.

Are Hunters Good Wildlife Stewards When It Comes To Wolves? Not According To This Study

Aug 20th - 13:37pm | Draggar

My father in law is an avid hunter but highly responsible.  He loves to hunt and loves the hunt but when he kills something he makes sure he uses as much of it as possible.  Meat, pelt, bones, hooves, and what he can't use he donates to a local university for study.  He's met hundreds of hunters (if not thousands) and he's met more "shoot anything that moves" style hunters than ones like him.

Aug 20th - 12:36pm | Tami

There are two sides to every issue. In this case, there are hunters out there who do care about wildlife. They only want to add variety to their dinner. Those type of hunters aren't out to get a trophy, just dinner. They also know that hunters have to take place of predators in areas where there aren't natural predators. Trophy hunting/sportfishing are only interested in

Aug 20th - 10:53am | Anonymous

Michele and Danika are obviously proof that there are conservation-minded hunters out there but they also unfortuantly prove how small and unheard their voices are compared to the majority.

Aug 20th - 10:19am | Crotalus

Lee, Didn't you know Youtube is peer-reviewed now?

Aug 20th - 09:21am | Lee Dalton

Just because it's on Youtube doesn't automatically make it true.

Aug 20th - 00:36am | reality22

Vincent - Groups like RMEF & Ducks Unlimited have done so much in cooperation with fish and game departments it would be a list a mile long.

Aug 20th - 00:11am | Anonymous

[color=#810081]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDv5zYbdOso&feature=related[/color][/url]  Ravalli county commissioner meeting See the truth from people actually living with the wolves.. Wolves are changing our land into barren wasteland.

Aug 19th - 18:02pm | RangerLady

Sorry...my info came from a report by the USDA and the FWS

Aug 19th - 17:48pm | Anonymous

Hunters are fine for 'conserving' horned and antlered animals so they can shoot them themselves but that does not translate to conserving healthy ecosystems and the whole vibrant diversity that is essential for the wild. My experience is that hunters will not stick their necks out one millimeter to protect carnivores politically for fear of being smeared as bleeding hearts.

Aug 19th - 17:32pm | Danika Klein

As a hunter but a zoology/wildlife biology major i am a but torn here. I am a wildlife steward when it comes to our endangered and threatened wildlife species, wolves, bears, cats, etc, and i believe that it is our duty to protect these species.

Aug 19th - 17:07pm | Andy Aslaksen

Not sure if my last comment will get posted, or if this one will it has been a while.  @Rangerlady, I would ask the same form you that I did of Bruce, please cite your sources.   Thanks

Aug 19th - 16:43pm | RangerLady

Well I watched the video and I didn't hear much truth from the ranchers. In 2010, only 63 domestic animals were killed in WY, which was the lowest since 2003. In states with wolves, only 2.5% of sheep losses and 0.11% of cattle losses were as a result of wolves. Domestic dogs, on average, kill 5 times as many cattle as wolves.

Aug 19th - 16:27pm | Anonymous

Bruce ... They only get paid if they win, not lose. Don't hate the environmental organizations because they are good at winning.

Aug 19th - 16:10pm | Andy Aslaksen

Bruce, Can you please cite the sources for both Dr. Mech and Mr. Allen?  I would like to review the information you presented in full and I think it beneficial when quoting someone that you include source information otherwise how do I and other know that indeed the information presented is factual?

Aug 19th - 16:10pm | Anonymous

Let's listen and Learn from these sources too: with an Open Mind: [color=#0000ff]http://discovery.mnhs.org/MN150/index.php?title=L._David_Mech[/color]

Aug 19th - 15:43pm | Bruce Hemming

I meant to say How many Billions have they collect from the tax payers??? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trc3680VEYM  Watch the video see the truth about wolves... This is real Americans that are putting up with wolves.

Aug 19th - 15:34pm | RangerLady

I'm not entirely sure I understood the post by Bruce Hemming, but I do know for a fact that Dr. Mech does believe wolves are essential to a healthy ecosystem. As for having to get wolves under control, why? They aren't even out of control. They haven't decimated the elk, moose, or deer herds at all. They hunt the young and the weak for the most part, keeping the herds healthy.

Aug 19th - 14:55pm | Bruce Hemming

Who many Billions have the collect from the tax payers??? They are winning a lot this is nothing but a con job.. For the fake hunters that live anywhere near wolves.. You are preaching lies.. Wow I guess the wolf lovers have not heard the facts. Dr Mech states wolves are NON ESSTENIAL to healthy eco system.  President of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation David Allen, I have apologies

Aug 19th - 14:09pm | Ryan

Bruce, the fees are only paid to the organization if they win, if they lose the case the government does not pay their legal fees.  So unless they know they are going to win every case, they are not in it for the money.

Aug 19th - 13:48pm | Anonymous

On the Issue of Humanity Eating better: plase read with an Open Mind: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/opinion/04pollan.html   Discusses how much public tax money is wasted subsidizing bad habits of Big Agric-Business.

Aug 19th - 13:38pm | Michele Wright

my husband is a hunter and so is my son. My family hunts for subsitance purposes only. They only take what we can eat. We do share our food with older hunters who can no longer get out and it helps with their fo...od for the winter. We donate the hides to the VA for PT sessions for vets. We say prayers over every animal killed and thank it for giving it's life so we can live.

Aug 19th - 13:00pm | Boogra

Hi Judith.  If you agree with Vincent then you are clearly as uninformed as he is.  I hunt a 380 acre area in Mississippi with five other guys.  All of us are dedicated conservationists.  We do not, in fact, kill the strongest fo the species, but instead harvest from a wide spectrum of the gene pool.  We have a 15 acre lake on the property as well and have solid rules about which sized fish we

Aug 19th - 12:25pm | Bruce Hemming

[color=#0000ff]http://idahofarmbureau.blogspot.com/2009/10/equal-access-to-justice-act.html[/color] “We tried to track the fees paid to environmental groups in certain federal courts.

Aug 19th - 11:44am | Anonymous

We totally agree with Vincent based on 55 years of observations and conversations with friends and relatives who have no integrity or ethics respecting any wildlife; they see wildlife as a moving target for killing; many western ranchers despite their alleged "Love of the Land" stories have destroyed many predators with their

Aug 19th - 10:36am | JLA

Vincent,

Aug 19th - 10:27am | Anonymous

  As wolves have expanded range and increased in number their impacts on prey species have been greater, reducing hunting opportunities. Why? Because a wolf will eat between 16-25 deer or elk from Nov. to April each and every year of its adult life. They actually eat even more large prey, but that is the standard research year because it is easier to detect wolf kills on the snow.

Aug 19th - 10:15am | Judith

Thank you Vincent. Your comment is right on the button and a great addition to this article when it comes to the facts and studies about why hunters are not good stewards for our wildlife. Hunters can deny it all they want but the evidence becomes clearer more and more.

Aug 19th - 05:38am | Vincent

Hunters are not good wildlife stewards.. period. They tend to hunt the strongest of the species resulting in bad genepools. They destroy any competition like wolves cougar bear etc resulting in overpopulation of bad gened grazers which they favor because of easier hunting.

Wouldn't It Be Nice If the National Park Service Resumed the Distribution of Park Window Stickers?

Aug 20th - 12:20pm | Matt Keen

Great idea!  I'll be heading u to Sequioa/Kings Canyon NP in a couple of weeks.  Was hoping I would get or find a sticker to start putting on the FJ's back window as I rack up more parks.  I guess that's not going to be the case.  As neat as the reproductions are I would feel like I kind of cheated having to buy them online.  Maybe the guy could alter them to have the current year or the park's

Snowcoach Operator Ahead Of The Curve At Yellowstone National Park

Aug 20th - 10:47am | Raven Watcher

Hate to tell you, no vehicle can be dual use and efficient and capable at both uses.  Snowcoach use over the last ten years has proved that in my mind.  Big heavy snowcoaches are becoming more common, and as that happens, the road conditions go down the toilet.  Vehicles that were designed originally to be wheeled vehicles are inefficent, slow, and annoying to the rest of us on the road, other

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers, A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds

Aug 19th - 21:33pm | Birder's Library

This is a beautifully written book. I enjoyed it, but fervently hope that Cokinos never has cause to write a follow-up chronicling even more birds. And great review, by the way.

Big Cypress National Preserve Officials Crafting Hunting Management Plan For Addition Lands

Aug 19th - 21:10pm | Batch

"The NPS should do what's right for every ecosystem it manages, without regard to what anyone today thinks or how they are affected, the NPS mandate is to preserve "for future generations" not greedy folks today."

The Million Club: National Parks That Had More Than A Million Visits in 2010

Aug 19th - 17:27pm | Anonymous

Which parks had the least number of visitors???

Aug 19th - 11:01am | Randy Johnson

Shenandoah—that's the one that hit me, Tony. I would have sworn that park would be a lot busier, especially due to proximity to DC. I always found Shen attractive in winter for cross country skiing and winter backpacking but recent times I've tried, road plowing hasn't been nearly as important as it once was (much less Big Meadows Lodge having a winter season--remember that?).

Aug 19th - 07:34am | Tony Ingraham

On the one hand, it's great that national parks are so popular. On the other, it's nice to see that many places that are not traditional national parks are getting heavy use. I hope the National Heritage Corridor system keeps receiving funding; and that it gets increases (cuts are more likely).

Shocking Photo From Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Aug 19th - 16:43pm | Green

REAL GREEN ENERGY :).   Wonder if there was a fish kill in this strike.

Aug 19th - 14:32pm | Tim S.

Fantastic photo.  Beauty in the fury.

Persistent Pedestrians: Black Bears in Big Bend National Park

Aug 17th - 21:18pm | Meghan

Rick, great question! These are the same bears that are found all over North America. So adaptable are they that they live almost everywhere. Physiologically speaking, Big Bend's black bears are noticeably smaller than black bears you'd find else where eating salmon, though.

Reader Participation Day: What's Your Solution When the Weather Doesn't Cooperate During Your Trip?

Aug 17th - 19:58pm | atwillw

There's no such thing as uncooperative weather, merely uncooperative clothing!

The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.