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Looking Back Two Decades On Managing The Greater Yellowstone Ecoystem

It’s almost funny sometimes to look back at commotions that were made about relatively small things within a bigger picture. Twenty years ago, a controversy erupted over a mere term and a concept that now, in hindsight, makes all of the resistance and wasted time marshaled by politicians to stop it, seem rather silly. And yet, it marked a turning point in the region that includes America's mother of national parks.

Decades in the Making, the Uproar Over Great Smoky Mountains National Park's North Shore Road Almost Settled

In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, every trail has a history. That’s what makes hiking here so fascinating. But no trail is as historic or as controversial as the Lake Shore Trail, which skirts Fontana Lake in North Carolina. The issue surrounding it is currently the longest-running open item on the park's agenda, but there’s hope it will be resolved soon.

Updated: Big Bend National Park Draft Wilderness Proposal Draws Attention For Road Corridors

Big Bend National Park officials are drawing up a wilderness proposal that could come into play if someone in Congress proposes wilderness legislation for the park. While many have been calling for officially designated wilderness in the park, the proposal is drawing some concern for the wide buffer zones it would create for roads. Park officials, though, maintain the wide corridors are needed to address such things as archaeological and paleontological sites as well as flash-floods.

Grand Teton National Park Researchers Keeping an Eye on Pikas

Climate-driven change in mountain ecosystems is readily visible across the National Park System. In Glacier National Park rivers of ice are shrinking, in Rocky Mountain National Park bark beetles are ravaging forests, and in Yellowstone National Park atypically warm stream waters in summer are stressing fish. To better gauge the climate's impact on pikas in their park, Grand Teton National Park biologists are working to establish baseline data for these tiny creatures.