Perhaps it comes with age, or inadequate sleeping pads, but in recent years I've often found myself shivering through the night during fall backpacking treks. But the arrival of a revolutionary pad from Therm-a-Rest carries the warm promise of making those nights distant memories.

It was long in coming, but the official ceremony marking the dismantling of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams at Olympic National Park was decidedly short. But the future for the river and its watershed will be revolutionary. David Graves, the National Park Conservation Association's Northwest program manager, reflects on the event.

Yellowstone National Park officials said Thursday they need more time to finalize a sound, sustainable winter-use plan for the park and will continue for another winter of temporary guidelines while doing more studies.

Restoring landscapes is not always easy, but when they are restored, the benefits to the surrounding ecosystem can be highly measurable. At Channel Islands National Park off California's coast, restoring Prisoners Harbor will bring back a particularly rare landscape -- a coastal wetland.