Preliminary data shows that a seasonal dog ban that launched Apr. 14 on Combers Beach at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is working to protect migrating shorebirds.

The year is 1862 and I’ve enlisted in the Royal Artillery to help protect Newfoundland. I nervously report to the Queen’s Battery Barracks in St. John’s, don a shell jacket and forage cap and prepare to handle a rifled musket for the first time.

A three-hour rainstorm that dumped nearly 1.5 inches of rain on Death Valley National Park, causing widespread flooding that tore up roads, blew out water systems, and shut down the park, has been classified as a 1,000-year event by the National Weather Service.

As Saturday dawned over Death Valley National Park the impacts of flooding the day before could be seen in most directions: extensive debris flows of mud and gravel, undercut roads with asphalt damage, broken water lines. Overhead, aircraft searched for any stranded vehicles in remote areas of the 3.4-million-acre park, while down below law enforcement provided escorts for visitors who were leaving the park.