One-hundred-and-fifty years after President Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, the anniversary was used to launch an ambitious revitalization of the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park.

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site recently hosted its 32nd annual Fort Union Rendezvous that takes place each year during the third weekend in June. This year’s event commenced Thursday with Kids Day in the fort courtyard. Activities throughout the weekend included demonstrations of pottery making, gunsmithing, blacksmithing, bow making, flintlock firing, and frontier cooking. Muskrat skinning and brain tanning were offered for the strong of heart.

It could take until mid-July before the entire Denali Park Road is operating normally in the wake of flooding that damaged the far western end of the 92-mile road, according to Denali National Park officials.

With the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Grant here, we should accept that Yosemite, not Yellowstone, was the birthplace of the national park idea.