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Fall Color Without the Crowds at the Great Smoky Mountains or the Blue Ridge Parkway?

Both Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway are justly famous for their fall color—and a flood of mid-October visitors. Can you avoid the heavy traffic and still enjoy some autumn foliage by timing your visit a bit earlier? Here's a Traveler trip report.

House Natural Resources Committee To Consider Legislation Affecting North Cascades National Park, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway

Keep your eyes on the House Natural Resources Committee this week, as the committee is expected to take action on measures that could set a precedent for "wild and scenic" rivers, force stocking of non-native fish in North Cascades National Park, and realign wilderness boundaries to allow for a road to be moved out of a flood-prone area in North Cascades.

National Park Service Offers Online Itinerary For Visiting Civil War Era Cemeteries

Military cemeteries are poignant reminders of past wars, of battles that tore the fabric of societies. Today you can walk these grounds at more than 100 national cemeteries that were created prior to 1870. In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the National Park Service has put together an online itinerary you can use to visit these hallowed grounds.

Remembering Roger Kennedy: The Accessible Wild In Science and Religion

The impact the late-National Park Service Director Roger Kennedy had on the National Park Service won't be lost and can't be overestimated. In his 2008 book, Wildfire and Americans; How to Save Lives, Property, and Your Tax Dollars, Mr. Kennedy measured the values of both science and faith in protecting wildness. He presented the following talk, portions of which came from that book, in 2006 during an appearance at the University of New England.

Ozark National Scenic Riverways, A River System At Risk

Earlier this year Ozark National Scenic National Riverways was named to American River's list of Most Endangered Rivers. In the following two-part article Susan Flader, who long taught in the University of Missouri-Columbia History Department, traces the riverways' history while pointing to many of the problems it faces.