What doors will the culling of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park open? Is it possible that, in the wake of sharpshooters turning up shortly before sunrise in Rocky Mountain to shoot an elk or two, similar "management" actions will pop up in places like Yellowstone, Theodore Roosevelt, or Wind Cave national parks, or any other park where the natural balance of wildlife is skewed?

The legendary phoenix may have risen from its own ashes, but a campground and other visitor facilities will soon be rising from the mud of recurring flash floods at one location in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The mud has actually been dry for years, but there's good reason for caution in rebuilding at this location, and the project has an unusual twist or two.

It might have been great advertising if the 93-ton truck hauling Coca Cola products hadn't snarled traffic on the main road through Grand Teton National Park. Even then, the photo of the red, Coke-logo emblazoned truck with the snow-capped Tetons as a backdrop is priceless.

Visitation to the National Park System in 2008 was, essentially, flat from the year before. There were spikes in some areas, and deep drops in others, but overall the 275 million visitors who were counted represented just 800,000 fewer than in 2007, according to preliminary data from the National Park Service.