National Parks Traveler

What would it take, and be like, to follow the Oregon National Historic Trail from Missouri to the coast of Oregon? David and Kay Scott look back on their three-week odyssey.

Old McDonald had his farm, but Grant's Farm, owned by the Busch family of brewing fame, puts him to shame. Their place near St. Louis is home to some 100 species of animals, including zebras, elephants and farm animals, and it's recently been studied as a possible addition to the National Park System. Is this a bona fide prospect for the NPS—or another bailout?

At South Carolina's Ninety Six National Historic Site, where Americans fought and died in two Revolutionary War battles, the Park Service has been locked in a different sort of struggle. Although critical preservation and interpretation issues must be resolved, the resources available allow for little more than a holding action. It's awfully difficult to serve steak on a mac-and-cheese budget.

National Park Service managers must do a better job "to advance natural resource stewardship and science" throughout the agency, according to an independent review of the Park Service's Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate.