National Parks Traveler

"Mountaineers are always free" is West Virginia's state motto, but that sentiment is getting harder and harder to find in the National Park System, where an imbalance in fee structures charges you for sleeping on the bare ground but not for burning gas as you negotiate the 11-mile loop of Cades Cove.

If ever there was an exclamation point to a report warning of the consequences of climate change, Hurricane Sandy was it. As the storm swept up the Eastern Seaboard last fall it cut national seashores in two, inundated mainland parks that lie at sea level, downed untold scores of trees, and in its aftermath left the National Park Service with a glowing opportunity to put its parks back together with similarly potent storms in mind.

Site fees at the Fort Pickens and Davis Bayou campgrounds at Gulf Islands National Seashore will jump 50 percent and more under a proposal the seashore is seeking public comment on.

Closed campgrounds, Sunday closures of National Park System units, and 900 permanent positions that will go unfilled are just some of the latest details of how the National Park Service is responding to the ongoing federal budget sequestration.

Signals of climate change seem to be more and more frequent in some parts of the country. In the Rocky Mountains, snowfall patterns are changing, temperatures are warming, bird behavior is alternating.

Spring is a great time to get outside and enjoy all that America’s national parks have to offer. It’s also a perfect opportunity to collect new Passport cancellations!

In today's world of scarce federal dollars, it takes a village of sorts to grow a national park. Rocky Mountain National Park took another step toward maturity recently, thanks to a fund-raising effort spearheaded by the Rocky Mountain Nature Association.

A plan to makeover Colter Bay Village at Grand Teton National Park has been approved, although it still needs funding to move forward.

National Park Service road crews will begin preparations for the annual spring road opening on Sunday, March 10.

Three hunters who were charged by a grizzly bear in Grand Teton National Park last Thanksgiving Day acted in self-defense in shooting and killing the bear, an investigation has determined.