As they launched their slender bodies rocket-like into the unknown of their new homes, the fishers had no idea of the weight of expectation riding on their furry shoulders.

A veritable flood of dollars – literally billions – is flowing into the National Park System to address maintenance projects long overdue for attention, but as heartening as that influx is, there's still a lack of balance in how the National Park Service is funded that goes beyond bricks and asphalt.

Once the focus of widespread environmental concern over water quality, the Chesapeake Bay is also now on the front lines of climate change.

Today, numerous species living in Saguaro National Park, including the signature cactus, face many challenges — urban development along with invasive species, drought, and wildfires that are amplified by climate change.

Dual threats -- climate change and growing popularity -- have combined to alter the experience and threaten the barrier island setting of Fire Island National Seashore.

Retreat of the tidewater rivers of ice at Glacier Bay National and Preserve is a clear and easily viewed sign of climate change. Not as visually apparent is what is transpiring beneath the shimmering surface bay waters in this 3.3-million-acre swath of mountain and marine wilderness.

Warming Pacific waters that are impacting whales that summer at Glacier Bay National Park and a worrisome mixture of climate change and urban sprawl that is weighing on Saguaro National Park are just two examples of how outside influences are creating problems inside national parks.

There is no doubt that the park system has issues that must be tackled, from crowds and air-tour noise to cracked concrete, eroding trails, and not enough interpretive rangers to explain the wonders. But take the time to explore these places -- truly explore, not simply count coup with a selfie -- and it's hard not to come away in awe.

The National Park System is an essential laboratory—and also a battleground—in the management of invasive pests.

The horses of Cumberland Island look rough. They’re small, just ponies really, with dull, scruffy coats and wispy manes and tails. They seem awfully thin, no doubt malnourished with only moss and dune grasses to eat.

At Fire Island National Seashore in New York, Hurricane Sandy tore a gaping hole through the seashore’s eastern side, a breach that in hindsight carried much-needed ecological benefits and some important lessons on how park units can recover from major damage.

Wyoming, Idaho and Montana have forged a pact aimed at moving Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears off the federal threatened species list and allowing hunting — by addressing flaws a court found in an earlier delisting effort.

Whether you're a veteran of years of national park travels, or a newbie setting out with an empty national parks passport, there always seems to be new destinations to explore. With this year's crowds of Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Acadia and Grand Teton in mind, here's a handful of park system units sure to please without the jostling.

On a paper placemat filled with tasting notes, three special Glencairn nosing glasses stand in a line. Each is placed on the name of the spirit it contains: Noon Gun Gin, Fort George Genever and Daily Ration Rum. A bonus glass of Granite & Grain Whisky stands behind them. All are made by Compass, a new distillery on Agricola Street, a short walk from here.

There are, across the United States, gems hidden, and some not so hidden, that reflect the richness of America's landscape that remains more than two centuries past the birth of the country. Here in the 21st century, where sprawl is pressing more and more across many states, these places preserved as a collection of national monuments capture the imagination of a time many no doubt thought was long past and protect wild America.

Charles Wilkes stood on the lip of the Kīlauea's summit crater after dark and was astonished by the scene playing out before his eyes.

From hogs to cats to mountain goats, managing non-native mammals, which the public might find cute and endearing, is an ongoing challenge.

Mountains and oceans may be the most visible features of British Columbia’s national parks, but grasslands are some of its most important habitats. Home to thirty percent of the province’s species at risk, grasslands cover only one percent of the province’s land area and are endangered landscapes. Wildfires that renew grasslands were suppressed for decades as people protected forests and built structures.

Yellowstone National Park in 2020 embarked on what Superintendent Cam Sholly calls "the largest housing improvement project in the National Park Service since Mission 66" for park employees, but not all parks are so fortunate.

Can you compress it more?” Her face scrunches with effort. I exhort her, “Push! Really push it!” “Oomph! It barely fits, but I got it.”