Public Lands Day and free access to the National Park System coincide on Saturday, when all national parks will have free admission and many will host volunteer service projects open to all.

Doors of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area headquarters officially reopened almost five weeks after one of the largest wildfires in California’s history swept through the park, ultimately burning 39,000 of the park's 42,000 acres. After enduring an extremely trying and overwhelming time, the park laid down one more brick in a new foundation.

A law professor who long has studied public lands governance says Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lacks the authority to order the National Park Service to weaken its wildlife management regulations, if necessary, to bring them in line with state guidelines.

With mid-term elections a small handful of weeks off, senators and congressmen up for election have less time than normal to work on passing legislation. And yet, groups anxious to see passage of a measure that would make a significant down payment on erasing the National Park System's roughly $12 billion deferred maintenance bill are optimistic it will happen by year's end.