Russian Provides Perspective at Minuteman Missile Park
A Russian volunteer helps round out the Cold War story at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota.
National Parks Traveler
Search For Missing 80-year-old Yosemite Hiker Unfruitfull
It's been a week since an 80-year-old hiker vanished in Yosemite's backcountry, and officials are scaling back the search for her. While they're not giving up entirely, search officials say they have to weigh the risks searchers are being exposed to against the likelihood of finding Ottorina Bonaventura.
Must We Clearly Set Out "Principles of Parks"?
For more than a century the United States has been in the national park business, and for nearly a century the National Park Service has been guided in managing those parks by the National Park Service Organic Act. Some groups, though, question whether another road map of sorts, a declaration of principles, should also be referred to when managing the parks.
Mount Rainier's Wonderland Trail Ready for Hikers
Here's a sign things are getting back to normal at Mount Rainier: Repairs to the Wonderland Trail have made it possible for hikers to take to the 93-mile-long Wonderland Trail that wraps Rainier.
- August 3rd, 2007
Mountain Lion Kittens Collared in Grand Canyon
When I think of wildlife in Grand Canyon National Park, I typically think of condors, lizards, and mules. Mountain lions are not high on the list. But apparently they should be, as park biologists have just placed tagged three five-week-old lion kittens.
- August 3rd, 2007
S&R Blotter
Search and rescue season is heating up in the parks, with rangers having to respond to a visitor who fell off the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and one lost in Yosemite.
What's Your Vision for the Centennial Initiative?
How do you think the National Park Service's Centennial Initiative (or Challenge, depending on whom you ask) should be funded? And how do you think those funds should be spent? There were quite a few suggestions tossed about in Washington today as both the House and Senate held hearings on legislation proposing ways to fund the Centennial Initiative.
Protecting Grand Teton from Drilling Projects
Wyoming is home to some of the Lower 48's greatest energy resources, particularly natural gas. The southwestern corner of the state currently is the hot spot in terms of energy exploration, and one area companies have their eyes on is the Wyoming Range. Some Interior Department officials, however, are opposed to drilling there, saying it could be detrimental to Grand Teton's wildlife and scenery.
Setting Precedents in the Parks
There's a passage in Director's Order 53, one of the many documents that guide National Park Service management decisions, that warns of proverbial icebergs ready to assail superintendents who truly believe their mission is to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."
RS2477 And the National Parks
The other day a federal judge tossed out a lawsuit that aimed to open Surprise Canyon in Death Valley National Park to ORV traffic. That post generated a lot of debate over the propriety of a road in that rugged canyon. Those who filed the lawsuit claimed they had a right to the road thanks to a Civil War-era statute known as R.S. 2477. Well, Death Valley isn't the only park that could suffer from this statute.
INN Member
The easiest way to explore RV-friendly National Park campgrounds.
Here’s the definitive guide to National Park System campgrounds where RVers can park their rigs.
Our app is packed with RVing- specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 national parks.
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