The Ahwahnee's 1943-1945 stint as the United States Naval Special Hospital was certainly one of the most interesting episodes in its long and storied history.

While the superintendent of Big Cypress National Preserve says the final management plan for the "Addition" lands within the preserve "provides for strong natural and cultural resource protection," the plan itself states that the preferred alternative is likely to adversely affect endangered Florida panthers.

A legacy of the late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, the Wild and Scenic Snake River Headwaters, is moving towards full fruition with an open house next week to discuss how it should be managed.

Birdwatchers in search of herons, bitterns, ducks, and kingfishers could consider a beaver pond to be promising territory, but they might not expect to find either the birds or the pond in the West Texas desert. Big Bend National Park offers all that and more for visitors with the reopening a boardwalk across a beaver pond on the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail.