While the National Park Service Organic Act directs the National Park Service to be a guardian of the parks and the flora and fauna within them, politics don't always make that easy. Proof of that can be seen in Alaska, where the agency has done a complete reversal in trying to protect wolves, bears, coyotes and other predators from rampant hunting and trapping.

There really never is a dull moment when it comes to the National Park System. Not when there's a candidate for Congress saying Olympic National Park should be turned over to the state of Washington, when Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke praises the stabilization of a backcountry lodge in Glacier National Park but is mum on Grand Canyon National Park's leaky water system, and when the National Park Service looks the other way regarding its role not to interfere with natural processes.

Politics has taken the voice away from the National Park Service. Instead of relying on the expertise of its biologists, archaeologists, botanists and others, the agency has deferred to partisans in the Interior Department with intentions not always in the best interests of the National Park Service Organic Act.

With a rudderless helm, overcrowded parks, and insufficient resources, these are trying times for the National Park System, the National Park Service, and park visitors.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was so anxious to score a major infrastructure success project last fall that he drained a quarter of the National Park Service's construction budget to do that. Now we're left wondering what else is being drained of $12 million so a backcountry lodge in Glacier National Park can be rebuilt to serve a very, very select group of park visitors. At the same time, a program that reaches out to millions of fourth-grade students is hanging in the balance because the secretary sees it as a money loser.

Did you hear the news? The more than 330 million people who visited the National Park System last year generated nearly $36 billion in economic activity. Good to know, but we're guessing folks don't visit a park to see how much they spend or how much a business makes. If that were the case, folks would be rooting for Burnett Oil Co. to strike it big in Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida.

If you're in the RV business, or want larger campgrounds, or perhaps more lodging concessions on public lands, you're likely thrilled with the makeup of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's "Made in America" Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee. If you prefer less infrastructure on public lands, well, you're probably in a funk over his appointments.

A private equity firm with global operations that include luxury hotels, ski resorts, and transportation interests such as shipping and railcars is on the brink of what appears to be a sweetheart deal to operate a luxury resort inside Virgin Islands National Park for just about the rest of the century.

From dismantling national monuments to privatizing national park operations to skirting the National Environmental Policy Act to open parklands up to hunting and vanquishing wilderness. Is that on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's agenda? It doesn't take much of an imagination to think so.

What would the National Park System be without a National Park Service? Would you treasure Old Faithful, Delicate Arch, or Thunder Hole as much without a nearby ranger to answer your questions, provide some reassurance for your safety, and care for the integrity of the natural resources that drew you to these places.

If you ever questioned whether the National Park Service is hamstrung by an insufficient budget, all you need do is look at news from the past week.

Having to hand over $70 to gain entrance to Yellowstone National Park for a week's stay is not outrageous. Indeed, there are many who say the fee should be higher. But the problems with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's plan to institute surge pricing for 17 national parks during their busiest seasons are many.

We, as a society, seem to be losing, or perhaps already have lost, our patience to understand the story of nature.

Trying to understand how Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke views himself as a conservationist cut from the mold of Theodore Roosevelt is an ongoing challenge. While he wants to bolster the ranks of hunters and anglers, the secretary also wants to shrink some national monuments, allow target shooting on as many public lands as possible, and allow hunters to chum for bears with donuts and greasy loaves of bread.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop maintain that they are looking to right problems with the Antiquities Act and how it's used to designate national monuments, but at the end of the day they're simply underscoring how politically divisive this country and Congress have become and are working to cater to special factions.

What message did the National Park Service send with its statement, after deciding to reverse a ban on the sale of disposable water bottles, that the move reflected "its commitment to providing a safe and world-class visitor experience..."?

Interior Department officials fumbled an incredible opportunity when they prevented the superintendent of Glacier National Park and a top U.S.G.S. scientist from touring Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg around the park.

When Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke declared Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho safe from a recommendation that it be downsized, he flashed his geology chops, which raises an intriguing question: Were his educational background in anthropology or ethnology, would Bears Ears National Monument in Utah be safe as well?

During the past six months, the outlook for the National Park System has grown decidedly darker than it had been. Threats to the system's natural resources have grown with the Trump administration's attacks upon environmental regulations, proposed staffing cuts will be numbing if implemented, and there's a heightened prospect of creeping privatization.

More, and higher, entrance fees to national parks have been in the news lately, and neither is a good idea, frankly.