Fourteen-ton boulders tossed nearly a mile. Swarms of temblors quaking the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Dust and ash clouds rising a handful of kilometers into the air, and then raining down on surrounding communities. That explosive eruption was preceded by a draining of magma from a lava lake in the volcano's Halema‘uma‘u crater like we've witnessed in recent weeks.

When I told a friend in Taos, New Mexico, where I reside, that I was heading over to Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah, his response was pointed. “We’d better get over there before the oil, gas, and uranium guys trash it!”

U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop wants to honor Golden Spike National Historic Site on the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad by renaming it as a national historical park.

Did you hear the news? The more than 330 million people who visited the National Park System last year generated nearly $36 billion in economic activity. Good to know, but we're guessing folks don't visit a park to see how much they spend or how much a business makes. If that were the case, folks would be rooting for Burnett Oil Co. to strike it big in Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida.