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.

I had a short conversation with Charles Sams, the new director of the National Park Service who is getting his bearings in Washington with the agency. Understandably, as he’s being briefed on the multitude of issues across the National Park System and Park Service, the conversation didn’t dig deeply into many topics he found waiting for him.

Known to many as “Pele’s Grandson,” Alexander (“Alex” or “Alec”) Lancaster guided both tourists and scientists to Hawai‘i’s volcanoes for over forty years, from 1885 to 1928.

Are you ready for another National Parks Traveler quiz and trivia piece? First one of the New Year, so it’s all about January Notables.