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Reduction In Wind Cave National Park's Bison Herd Benefits Other Herds

Wind Cave National Park recently conducted a capture and processing operation to reduce the size of the park’s bison herd by 131 animals. Partnering with wildlife managers in four states, these bison will be sent to establish conservation herds or augment existing herds managed by The Nature Conservancy, Arizona Game and Fish Department, and the Kalispel Tribe.

National Park Service Proposing Higher Fees For Tour Groups

While the general park-going public ruminates on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's proposal to boost entrance fees at 17 national parks to as much as $70 per week, no doubt commercial tour operations are chewing on the increased rates the secretary is proposing for them. Depending on time of year, those rates could be as high as $1,200.

Grand Canyon For Sale: Public Lands Vs. Private Interests In The Era Of Climate Change

Stephen Nash wraps up this hard-hitting overview of America’s public lands with the observation that “if we want that waning legacy to endure, we’re going to have to fight hard for it.” As I pondered Nash’s troubling portrayal of public lands I happened to pick up the latest issue of The George Wright Forum, a journal focusing on parks and protected areas, and read a piece by Rolf Diamant in which he quotes historian Dwight Pitcaithley who has written that “the National Park System today is vastly different from the one envisioned and managed by Stephen T. Mather and Horace Albright….The complexity of issues confronted by park and program managers today could not have been envisioned by the first generation of Park Service administrators.” After reading Grand Canyon for Sale I thought, “Pitcaithley is so right!”

Trails I've Hiked: Mills Lake And Beyond At Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park, with its sky-scraping peaks, deep valleys gouged out of the landscape by creeks and rivers fueled by snowmelt, and forests thick with conifers and dappled with aspens, is a hiker's dreamscape. Though there are only 355 miles of marked trails, far fewer than Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone, Glacier, and many other national parks, Rocky Mountain "hikes" much bigger than it seems.

Fort Scott Commemorates 175th Anniversary During Its 36th Annual Candlelight Tour

Come December you'll be able to get a feeling for what soldiers nearly 200 years ago experienced in their small outpost on a bluff overlooking the Marmaton River in Kansas. That's when candlelight will flicker throughout Fort Scott National Historic Site and you'll be able to experience life on the frontier.

Restoration Of George Mason Memorial Underway

The National Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall have begun a restoration of the George Mason Memorial, located in East Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., near the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. The year-long project will include reconstruction of the central fountain, adding perennial plantings throughout the site and a thorough touch-up to the George Mason statue, trellis, and inscriptions.

UPDATED: Brace For A Big Jump In National Park Entrance Fees

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke moved Tuesday to find a way to boost funding to address the National Park Service's maintenance backlog, proposing to substantially increase park entrance fees during the "high season" for vacations. It's a move that seemingly would do little to address the backlog, estimated at roughly $12 billion, while hitting families with school students hardest.

Afoot Through History In The Waterpocket Fold

If you pay a visit to any of Utah’s five national parks, much of the time your eyes will be riveted on arches, towers, cliffs and canyons. That’s only natural in places as scenic as these, but in the years that my wife and I have been exploring southern Utah’s park lands, we’ve found it worth our while to learn about their history as well. The signs of human occupancy in the national parks and monuments of the Colorado Plateau are often hidden, but they give important clues to how people have adapted—or failed to adapt—to the rigors of living in this harsh landscape.