Dave Uberuagua could be viewed as a poker player facing the slim prospects of filling an inside straight draw. The superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park doesn't like, or agree with, the analogy, but in less than two months concession services on the South Rim of his park will be shuttered unless he can do in that period what the National Park Service has failed to accomplish for three years: negotiate a concessions contract.

Barring a temporary agreement, mass layoffs stand to cripple concessions operations at Grand Canyon National Park on December 31, shuttering hotels and dining rooms, ending mule rides and bus tours, and canceling some memorable New Year's Eve celebrations on the South Rim.

Usually when you hear "don't drink the water" advisories, a third-world country comes to mind. In this case, it's for hikers in the backcountry of Grand Canyon National Park.

A unified approach to managing the country's wilderness areas has been agreed to by the land management agencies under the Interior and Agriculture departments, with goals of connecting more people to wilderness areas and completing wilderness inventories of lands that might be suitable for inclusion in the wilderness system.