News in brief.
National Park Service
Posted inDecember 21, 2015: Secrets of the Deep
Pet the nipping pup and hide your newcomer roots: tips from a failed campaign.
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
Leave your dog at home, please
What I say will not make me a popular person, but here it is: For excellent reasons, dogs should not be – and usually aren’t — allowed in the backcountry of national parks. Dogs, being predators, bother wildlife even when they’re leashed. Then there’s canine fecal matter, which carries a number of diseases and parasites […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2015: Water Hustle
Latest: National Park Service intervenes in Alaska predator hunting
BACKSTORYIn Alaska, federal and state officials have long clashed over the management of wolves and bears in national parks and preserves. State law requires sustaining abundant caribou and moose populations for food security, a goal that often entails killing off predators, while the federal 1916 Organic Act mandates keeping healthy populations of all wildlife species. […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2015: Water Hustle
How a plan to save southeastern Colorado went off the rails
Heritage tourism offered a way out of economic doldrums. Why did it go wrong?
Posted inArticles
Alaska’s wolves and bears get new protections
New regulations help wildlife on federal lands. But they’re still no match for state predator control.
Posted inArticles
Park Service may strengthen its oil and gas regulations
Current rules give the agency little leverage to protect lands or restore damage once drilling companies pull out.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
The Latest: Park Service takes the reins at Valles Caldera
The failed experiment in privatized land management has come to an end.
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Will the Land and Water Conservation Fund rise again?
Congress derails the nation’s most successful public access and recreation program.
Posted inArticles
Can studying morality help Yellowstone’s wolves and bison?
Sociologist Justin Farrell plumbs the spiritual depths of environmental struggle.
Posted inArticles
Congress lets sun set on Land and Water Conservation Fund
The nation’s most successful conservation program is in jeopardy.
Posted inArticles
Why Jim Unger came West: a Yellowstone love affair
There are tourists, and then there’s Jim Unger, a Pennsylvania resident who headed out this summer on his 41st pilgrimage to some of the places that have become his second home — the national parks, monuments and historic sites of the West. It all started in 1971, when Jim and his wife, Sandy, both elementary […]
Posted inArticles
For Dinosaur National Monument’s 100th birthday, let’s protect more land
We launched our rafts on Colorado’s Yampa River at Deerlodge Park, and ran Little Joe and Big Joe Rapids. On the second afternoon, we pulled into Mathers Hole Camp under an overhung cliff wall that towered 500 feet above us. As I set up my tent, I thought about the 100th birthday of Dinosaur National […]
Posted inArticles
Invasive crayfish in Oregon devastate native newts
At Crater Lake, the National Park Service is seeking solutions — but it could be too late.
Posted inArticles
Abnormal weather linked to more recreation deaths
Summer is always high season for fatal outdoor accidents, but increased lightning and heat seem to make it worse.
Posted inAugust 31, 2015: Unlocking the Methane Mystery
Renewal through exploration in Greater Yellowstone
Review of ‘The Wild Excellence: Notes from Untamed America’ by Leslie Patten.
Posted inAugust 31, 2015: Unlocking the Methane Mystery
Where vandals target Western parks
A by-the-numbers look at the most graffitied national parks.
Posted inArticles
How the Point Reyes oyster battles challenged our idea of wilderness
Review of a new book, ‘Oyster War’ by Summer Brennan.
Posted inJuly 20, 2015: Shredded
Deaths renew calls for national parks to rescind BASE jumping bans
Squirrel suited flyers say the bans actually contribute to deadly accidents.
Posted inJuly 20, 2015: Shredded
Public-lands visitation and recreation, by the numbers
Fatalities, backcountry trips, ATVs and Denali summit attempts over the years.