Hunters looking for elk in Grand Teton National Park on Thanksgiving Day wound up killing a grizzly bear they said suddenly charged them. The incident prompted calls for the park to bring a halt to the annual elk hunts, but the fact remains more bears are killed by motorists than hunters in the park.

National parks are a great place to experience wildlife in their natural element, and to photograph them. But at times the plight of nature can generate pangs of helplessness, as nature photographer Deby Dixon realized in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

Nearly all the lands within Wupatki National Monument in northern Arizona qualify for a formal analysis as to whether they merit wilderness designation, according to a survey by the National Park Service.

While a report to the National Park Service on how to overhaul its approach to science in the national park is laudable, the authors of Revisiting Leopold failed to address a large issue that goes to the health of the parks -- "an abiding respect for open space."