Development pressures, cellphone towers, and mining threats are among the concerns that landed the Antietam and Monocacy national battlefields, a portion of Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, and seven other battlefields on the 2008 list of "Most Endangered" Civil War battlefields.

I've told you about private development and Valley Forge National Historical Park, and about private development and Acadia National Park, and about the National Park Service being so poor it has to turn to commercial interests to preserve history. So does it come as any surprise that Congress approved, but failed to fund, expansion of Petrified Forest National Park?

The good news from Glacier National Park is that there will be more seasonal employees on the ground this year. The bad news is that cyclic maintenance projects will continue to suffer.

Though not specifically about national parks, there's a new web portal out in cyberspace that I thought you not only would enjoy, but find useful. It's called the Encyclopedia of Life.