First Ladies National Historic site, which was established on October 11, 2000, has a prime location. Nevertheless, the Canton, Ohio, park attracts scarcely more than 10,000 visitors a year. Why is that, and does it really matter?

On October 11, 1974, Congress grafted a new and controversial branch onto the National Park System family tree by creating the first two National Preserves – Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas and Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. Big Thicket, like its Florida cousin, is now a nicely maturing “thirtysomething” park with a lot of visitor appeal.

In a move that could be interpreted as a thumb in the eye of congressional oversight, the Bush administration is moving to revoke Congress's authority to direct the Interior secretary to withdraw public lands from mining under certain situations, according to U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva.

National parks are great places to take photos, and there are some opportunities for unusual images at the Big Thicket National Preserve in southeast Texas. But even after working there as a ranger for several years I was surprised one afternoon to witness the reported sighting of a large mammal not previously known to inhabit the area.