Yellowstone National Park officials said Thursday they need more time to finalize a sound, sustainable winter-use plan for the park and will continue for another winter of temporary guidelines while doing more studies.

Restoring landscapes is not always easy, but when they are restored, the benefits to the surrounding ecosystem can be highly measurable. At Channel Islands National Park off California's coast, restoring Prisoners Harbor will bring back a particularly rare landscape -- a coastal wetland.

Joshua Tree National Park, which was hit hard by flash floods on September 13, will reopen some areas along the Pinto Basin Road on Friday, according to park officials.

Acquisition of 5 acres is moving the National Park Service closer to completion of the 65-mile-long Backbone Trail through Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in California.