For more than a century folks have talked about creating a national park around the unique geology and beautiful landscapes of the Valles Caldera area in New Mexico. Now the latest National Park Service study on that proposal reconfirms that the caldera's landscape is suitable for inclusion and says such an acquisition would be feasibly sound.

The trail to the top of Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park is in need of work to improve safety, install turnouts along the 2.5-mile path, and add a new trailside toilet. Plus, the park is proposing a trail to connect the Manzanita Creek Trail to the Lassen Peak Trail.

In a brief, four-paragraph memorandum, National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis has brought to an end a controversial budgeting process that stripped arguably key positions from parks. Dubbed "core ops" for its approach to analyzing a park's core operations, the process failed to produce wise budgeting decisions, the director said in a letter to his regional directors.

Tower-Roosevelt might be viewed as one of the sleepier areas of Yellowstone National Park, but it's one rich in beauty and history and, since the late 1990s, has become somewhat of a magnet for wildlife viewers anxious to spot wolves. In developing a vision for the area, park officials are trying to contain development, although some argue they are not entirely succeeding.