Some of the most spectacular forests of Douglas fir in the West are found on the west slope of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. Though heavily logged by the timber industry for its straight-grained wood over the years, some important examples of these once-extensive old-growth forests can still be found in western Oregon.

Congaree National Park's synchronous firefly viewing events are scheduled for May 13-16 and May 19-24. Passes will be required to enter the park located in South Carolina on event nights and will be made available through a lottery hosted through recreation.gov.

Keith Diakiw deftly wraps a red-striped Métis sash over my winter coat and around my waist, tying it loosely on the left to signify that I’m taken and not single. One of my fellow “geo-explorers” opts to have her sash tied in the middle as a hard-working Voyageur would have during the fur trade era. Another chooses to be a Métis princess with the sash wrapped over her left shoulder across her heart.

Yellowstone National Park recently awarded an approximately $118 million construction contract to replace the structurally deficient Yellowstone River Bridge on the Northeast Entrance Road near Tower Junction. Funded by the Great American Outdoors Act, this project will preserve year-round public access to and from the park’s Northeast Entrance and communities of Silver Gate and Cooke City, Montana.