A potpourri of items relating to, or brushing by, the national parks. Some interesting, some educational, some to ponder.

* If you're planning to visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park next month, there will be a guided hike into the park's Kahuku Unit to explore an isolated refuge of rare plants in a remnant old-growth Kahuku forest. The program, December 11, is free. It runs from 10 a.m. to 3 pm. The plan is to hike 1.5 miles to see some of the rare plants and wildlife that inhabit this area of the park. To attend, reserve a spot by calling 808-985-6011. Those who make the list -- the program is limited to 15 people -- will meet park rangers at the park’s Kahuku Unit in Ka`u. The gate, located off Highway 11 between mile marker 70 and 71, is open from 9-3 pm. Park officials say participants should be ready to scramble over fallen trees, rough lava rocks, and slippery, wet terrain. Wear sturdy hiking shoes. Weather can be sunny, cool, or rainy. Wear long pants, sunscreen and a hat. Bring rain gear, garden gloves, a day pack, mosquito repellent, lunch and water. There will be opportunities to help protect this rain forest by pulling up the invasive kahili ginger and other invasive, non-native plants throughout the kipuka.

* Like to paddle? The folks at paddling.net have created a cool feature that lets you find launch sites for your canoe or kayak. This is a pretty cool feature, which both lets you find put-ins and take-outs (by GPS coordinates, no less) but also add missing ones. When we checked out this page last week, it was heavy in the northwest, around the Great Lakes and throughout New England, Florida, and Texas. Rocky Mountain states are fairly barren, so if you know where to go in Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Canyonlands, etc., etc., etc., add your knowledge!

* There's a growing concern around a movement in Alberta, Canada, to reclassify units of the provincial park system.

The proposed legislation will shrink the current parks classification system from seven categories to two: provincial parks and heritage rangelands. Gone will be designations of wildland provincial parks, provincial recreation areas, wilderness areas, ecological reserves and natural areas. It will also be easier for the government to change specified uses in a park under the new legislation -- something they will theoretically be able to do without consulting the public.

Here at the Traveler we've from time-to-time floated concerns over the myriad names contained in the National Park Service's list of units and begged that it be trimmed. Should we here in the States share the concerns that conservation groups in Alberta are expressing? To read more about that issue, check out this story in the Edmonton Journal.

* National park rangers will have another tool when it comes to search-and-rescue. According to the folks at Send Word Now, a provider of on-demand alerting, response, and incident management services, is providing its services to the Park Service. According to a release from Send Word Now, the service works "anywhere, anytime," including at Grand Canyon National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Zion National Park, and the National Capital Region in Washington, D.C.

* Proof that you're never too old to learn something: During my recent trek on the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park, I noticed a few long-distance hikers who had those lightweight Crocs dangling from their packs. A great resource for the end of the trail when your dogs are barking.

* Update on St. Mary Lodge and Resort near Glacier National Park: It's been more than three months since we recounted a very bad experience at this lodge just outside the east gate of Glacier. We've never received a response to a letter we sent the lodge's owner concerning our experience there, and now the Better Business Bureau is closing the case because it, too, has been unable to get a response from the owners regarding our complaint. That's unfortunate, because past experiences at the lodge have been great.