Should grizzly bears be allowed to recover their presence in the North Cascades? The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service are holding a series of meetings on a Grizzly Bear Restoration Environmental Impact Statement that examines whether they should work toward grizzly bear recovery in the region. In the following opinion piece, Rob Smith, senior director of the National Parks Conservation Association's Northwest Region, speaks out in favor of the bears' recovery.

As we begin 2015, which marks the 99th year since the establishment of the National Park Service and National Park System, some troubling trends are more and more apparent. A short review of recent articles should give everyone who supports our parks reason to pause and think about the future.

Adam Markham, director of climate impacts for the Union of Concerned Scientists' Climate and Energy Program and a co-author of the report “National Landmarks at Risk," has written the following rebuttal to Dr. Daniel B. Botkin's column on climate change and his thoughts on what is, and isn't, driving it.

After 50 years, you would expect that the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), which administers the largest inventory of wilderness in the world, would have the best wilderness management program in the world. But, you would be very wrong.