The National Park Service is embarking on a study to determine how best to protect shorebirds, sea turtles and beach mice from the threat of predators at park units in the Southeast Region. The Coastal Species of Concern Predator Management Plan Programmatic Environmental Assessment will evaluate the best available predator management options and analyze relevant environmental issues.

Just months after celebrating the centennial of the National Park Service, the mood is decidedly more somber as the national parks movement in the United States has hit a stumbling block or two, from the prospect of a significant budget cut to the possible loss of the Antiquities Act as a tool for presidents to use to set aside wondrous landscapes as part of the National Park System.

Concern over the possible spread of invasive mussels from Montana waters to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada has led to a ban on poweboats and trailer-launched watercraft in the national park.

The National Park Service estimates that approximately half of the cherry blossoms on the Yoshino variety of trees have survived the recent cold snap, and will be emerging over the next week or so around the Tidal Basin, in East Potomac Park and on the grounds of the Washington Monument. The Yoshinos are the most abundant variety of cherry trees maintained by the National Park Service, making up approximately 70 percent of the total inventory.