It's easy to take the status of national parks for granted. We read wonderful, beckoning stories about them in magazines and newspapers. And we watch gorgeous travelogue pieces about them on television. But how much do we know about the operational status of the national parks? How much do we know about the health of the natural resources, the condition of historic structures, the state of the workforce that operates and manages the national parks?

The pivot from being blasted by snow and pelted by rainstorms is speeding straight to the next challenge — a powerful melt that can engorge waterways and send torrential flows down wildfire-scarred mountainsides that are just out of the driest three years on record.

A paving project will require closure of the Shark Valley area of Everglades National Park in Florida to allow for repaving of the entrance road, parking lot, and 15-mile tram road.

It's no secret that the public's desire to head to the National Park System is creating logjams and congestion. So it should be no surprise that Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state is the latest unit of the system to consider implementing a timed-entry system for visitors during the busiest months of the year.