Op-Ed | On Hunting In Bandelier National Monument
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich is pushing an unprecedented move to allow hunting in Bandelier National Monument.
- By NPT Staff - March 20th, 2020 2:00am
Public Lands Alliance Hands Out Its Partnership Awards
During its recent annual conference the Public Lands Alliance announced the recipients of its 2020 Partnership Awards that celebrate the best in public lands partnerships. These awards honor individuals, organizations, publications, products, programs and services that embody leading edge achievements in the preservation of public lands and the enrichment the visitor experience.
- By NPT Staff - March 20th, 2020 1:30am
UPDATE 2 | National Park Concessionaires Seeking Federal Help In Dealing With Tourism Falloff
Concessionaires who run lodges, restaurants, inns, climbing expeditions, river trips, and other recreational operations in national parks have asked the White House to provide financial assistance to deal with the falloff in tourism to the National Park System due to the coronavirus pandemic. Their requests range from a waiver of franchise fees paid to the parks to a two-year extension of current contracts.
More Campgrounds, Facilities, And Programs Closing Across National Park System
More campgrounds, park facilities, and even river trips were being canceled across the National Park System as efforts continued to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
- By Kurt Repanshek - March 19th, 2020 9:03am
Erosion: Essays Of Undoing
National park enthusiasts will likely be familiar with the writing of Terry Tempest Williams. Her previous book The Hour of Land told national park stories as only she, in her lyrical, insightful, and emotional way, can tell them. Erosion is not explicitly about national parks, though some of the essays lament what has happened to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monuments. She has already addressed the challenges of many other parks in that earlier work. The 32 pieces in this book, most of them essays, address a “world being torn to pieces,” being eroded, a condition that brings Williams, at times, to heartbreak.
- By John Miles - March 19th, 2020 2:00am
UPDATE 3 | National Park Service Suspending Fee Collections Across Park System
More and more parks Wednesday shut down visitor facilities ranging from restaurants to campgrounds and ending ranger-led programs in an effort to confront the spread of coronavirus, while Interior Secretary David Bernhardt encouraged visitors to "find refuge" in the park system and waived entrance fees to make it more appealing.
- By Kurt Repanshek - March 18th, 2020 8:11am
A Day For Students To Be Nature Detectives On Hurricane Ridge In Olympic National Park
At Olympic National Park middle school students are involved in a program geared toward science learning and centers around the question: “How is changing snowpack, due to climate change, going to affect park ecosystems and surrounding communities?” Students help rangers, teachers and scientists collect data at Hurricane Ridge —5,000 feet above sea-level — to help answer that question, taking their measurements back to the classroom to add to other data that has been collected over the years.
- By NPT Staff - March 18th, 2020 2:00am
Some, But Not All, Virgin Islands National Park Coral Reefs Are Recovering From Hurricanes
After Hurricanes Irma and Maria delivered a one-two punch to Virgin Islands National Park in September 2017, the impacts to the park's coral reefs were significant. While research indicates that soft corals at the park are recovering, there has been a great decline in stony corals such as elkhorn corals that are the primary reef builders.
- By NPT Staff - March 18th, 2020 2:00am
Utah Health Officials Discouraging Visitors To Moab Area National Parks
Utah health officials on Tuesday issued an order aimed at discouraging visitors from heading to the state's southeast corner where Arches and Canyonlands national parks are located in a bid to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus to that part of the state. While the order banned most camping on U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands, there had been no decision on national park campgrounds.
- By Kurt Repanshek - March 17th, 2020 5:54pm
UPDATE | Park Superintendents Given Authority To Manage Coronavirus, Facilities Closing
Visitor facilities, hotels, museums, ranger programs, and other visitor services across the National Park System shut down Tuesday, hours after park superintendents were given the authority to do what they thought best to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the parks. Shuttle systems ground to a halt, visitor centers closed, as did some entrance stations and campgrounds, and ranger-led tours and concessionaire-provided activities were halted in many parks. Even the iconic Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park shut down
