Recently added articles from National Parks:

A responsibility to the future.(National Parks Conservation Association's objectives)

Mar 22, 2008; Kiernan, Thomas C. ... Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of speaking to leaders of the Outdoor Industry Association at their annual winter show in Salt Lake City. I discussed how the upcoming centennial of the National Park Service presents us with an opportunity to dramatically reverse a decadeslong decline ...

Sixteen candles.(EDITOR's NOTE)(Editorial)

Mar 22, 2008; Kirkwood, Scott ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I like people who are a little obsessed--they make for good stories. Thankfully, Mary Colter and Freeman Tilden fall into that category. Six months ago, I didn't know a thing about Colter or Tilden. But last October, a few of my colleagues ...

A shining example.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)

Mar 22, 2008; Westlund, Carlyle ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I was intrigued by the article "Threatened Vistas" in the Winter 2008 issue. The answer to proposed coal-fired power plants in the southwest is obvious: solar energy. The January issue of Scientific American highlights 250,000 square miles of land suitable ...

Too much of a good thing?(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)

Mar 22, 2008; Mock, Robin ... Your article about the disappearing brown bears in Katmai National Preserve tugged at my heartstrings. I am thankful for organizations like yours that not only bring these issues to light, but also offer solutions to correct a wrong or overlooked directive. ROBIN MOCK ...

Great expectations.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)

Mar 22, 2008; Osgood, Karen ... We were so pleased to hear that funds may be provided to maintain and preserve the Minidoka Internment Camp in Idaho. We sold our house and bought a motor home to travel the country with a focus on the National Park System. When ...

Correction.(Correction notice)

Mar 22, 2008 ... A Port Chicago historian raised questions about the photograph accompanying "A Silent Explosion" in Winter 2008. The picture shows African-American sailors installing fuses in naval gun projectiles--the type of ...

Events.(Appalachian Trail and National Trails Day )(Brief article)(Calendar)

Mar 22, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IMAGINE SETTING OUT ON A MONTHSLONG HIKE ALONG THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL, and hitting a dead end just 10 miles in. No need to worry--every foot of the 2,100mile trail is still intact. But as the National Trail System marks its 40th anniversary this year, the ...

A battlefield reborn: Gettysburg dusts the cobwebs off the visitor experience.(opening of park and museum in memory of the 1865 Civil War)(Brief article)

Mar 22, 2008; Marquis, Amy Leinbach ... Not long after the Civil War ended in 1865, Americans wandered Gettysburg's battlefields in Pennsylvania in search of a deeper understanding of the war. Several decades later, when the Park Service began managing the site as a National Military Park, rangers did their best to interpret the ...

Eye-opener.(The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada)(Brief article)

Mar 22, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN THE LAWS FIELD GUIDE TO THE SIERRA NEVADA BY JOHN MUIR LAWS, 2,800 watercolor illustrations and fresh; grounded text help readers identify animal tracks, constellations, cloud formations, and more than 1,700 species, many of which are found in national ...

An idea taking flight: a new vision for the Everglades' Flamingo Lodge.(Brief article)

Mar 22, 2008; Kirkwood, Scott ... When Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma tore through the Gulf of Mexico in 2005, most of the attention was properly focused on the thousands of residents who lost their homes. But an icon of the Everglades was also lost. Now the Park Service is looking to reenvision the site for the next ...

Echoes.(Mount Saint Helens)(Quotation)(Brief article)

Mar 22, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mount St. Helens is a national gem. The volcano deserves the recognition and increased visitation that come with national park status. SEAN SMITH, director of NPCA's Northwest regional office, quoted in The Olympian regarding ...

8 years until the park service celebrates its centennial in 2016.(Brief article)

Mar 22, 2008 ... 8 YEARS UNTIL THE PARK SERVICE celebrates its centennial in 2016. As that date approaches, NPCA is assembling a diverse collection of talented leaders to broaden America's view of what the parks can be in their second century. National parks have already evolved from recreation areas to ...

Fenced in: new efforts to secure the nation's border pose serious threats to wildlife.

Mar 22, 2008; Marquis, Amy Leinbach ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As America races to secure its Mexican border with 700 miles of double- and triple-layered fencing, wildlife that have never known political boundaries will have no choice but to recognize them now. The fence, originally intended for urban areas, now ...

Grand Canyon: bigger than life: a new IMAX film captures the experience of rafting the Grand Canyon while illustrating the threats facing this fragile landscape.(Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk)

Mar 22, 2008; Kirkwood, Scott ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Grand Canyon is one of the icons of the National Park System, and the Colorado River, which flows through it, is also a chief source of water for much of the country. Unfortunately, a growing demand for food and water and a severe drought in recent ...

When nature and history collide: is there ever a time when a tree doesn't belong in a national park?(landscape management)

Mar 22, 2008; Kirwood, Scott ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Redwoods and Sequoias. Aspen and birch. Pine and maple. All trees that define the landscapes of the national parks. But as beautiful as they are, sometimes trees just get in the way. Just ask Monika Mayr, superintendent of Vicksburg National ...

While they were sleeping: the science behind a long winter's nap.

Mar 22, 2008; Clynes, Tom ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Take a solitary walk through any of America's national parks in winter, and you may get the impression that you're the sole wakeful presence in an otherwise sleeping world. For the most part, you'd be right. Although some predators are able to find food in ...

A homecoming of sorts: nearly a century after disappearing from the region, a top predator returns to Olympic National Park.(animal reintroduction)

Mar 22, 2008; Marquis, Amy Leinbach ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A dog kennel in British Columbia, Canada, isn't the sort of place you'd expect to find an elusive wild animal. But for a few days in January, a kennel was home to a dozen fishers--sleek, brown, mink-like predators-about to be reintroduced to Olympic ...

That elderly schoolma'am nature: the men and women who wear the "green and grey" add something incomparable to every park visit. And Freeman Tilden's thoughts on the art of interpretation are a big reason why.(Reprint)

Mar 22, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Freeman Tilden is considered by many to be the grandfather of park interpretation. Much of that recognition is due to the 1957 publication of the text, Interpreting Our Heritage, which espouses many of the principles still used to educate park rangers to ...

Mary Jane Colter: architect: called "the best-known unknown architect in the national parks," Mary Jane Colter left her mark on a profession and on our parks.

Mar 22, 2008; Rennicke, Jeff ... Summer, 1932. Only a hint of first light glows in a sky spread over the Grand Canyon like a starsprinkled blanket. A sliver of birdsong whispers from the juniper branches. On the east end of the South Rim, construction is under way on the Watchtower. Near its base, there is a quick ...

Alaska on the rocks: by land or by sea, Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve is something to behold.

Mar 22, 2008; Heacox, Kim ... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] So you're thinking about Alaska, the America that used to be. You've read Jack London and John McPhee. Your last walk in the woods was nice, but the trail was too wide and too well-manicured. You passed four signs, 20 mountain bikers, and 12 hikers ...