National Parks Traveler

Yellowstone National Park officials met earlier this week with several representatives from Wyoming to discuss the options at their disposal for bombing snow-covered mountain slopes in our nation’s first national park. Why? To keep it clear of avalanche danger for the handful of snowmobiles and snowcoaches that enter the park through Sylvan Pass on the park’s east side each day during the winter season.

It's nice to have your cake and eat it too, isn't it? Of course it is. But it's not always appropriate, is it? Take the National Park Service. One of its main jobs is to preserve beautiful places. Can it adequately do that if it cozies up to industries that pollute those places?

We've heard lots about how bountiful the National Park Service's 2008 budget is thanks to the Bush administration. Well, don't let that talk make you think all is great across the park system.

I've got to hand it to the Buffalo Field Campaign, the group that doesn't believe shooting bison is a smart way to manage Yellowstone National Park's bison herds. The folks there are always thinking of innovative ways to raise money for their efforts.