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What Priorities Should The Next National Park Service Director Address?

Yellowstone snowmobiles. Guns in the parks. Climate change. Infrastructure in shambles. These are just some of the issues the next director of the National Park Service will inherit. But how should he or she prioritize their approach to managing the National Park System and addressing its problems?

Greening the Parks: APS Gives a Solar Boost to Grand Canyon’s South Rim Visitor Center

Thanks to APS, Arizona’s major power utility, solar panels will be supplying about 30% of the electrical power for the Grand Canyon’s South Rim Visitor Center by March. APS considers this a wide investment, since the project will show millions of park visitors that Arizona takes solar energy very seriously.

Park Rangers, Active and Retired, Lament Change in Gun Rules for National Parks

How will families with youngsters feel about attending interpretive programs in national parks when the person next to them might be armed? Will the National Park Service have to install metal detectors in parks to ensure gun owners don't enter buildings with their sidearms?

Muir Woods National Monument is More than Really Old, Really Big Trees

Muir Woods National Monument, which celebrates its 101st anniversary today, is swarmed by visitors who admire the giant redwoods but pay little heed to the ecosystem’s lesser publicized features. A profusion of life surrounds those big trees, interacts with them, and participates with them in the intricate processes of energy flow and matter recycling that sustain the ecosystem.

One of Our Oldest National Parks was Also the First of Its Kind in the World

A western version of the Hatfields vs. the McCoys played a role in establishment of this site, which was the first cave in the world to be designated as a national park. It was also among the first NPS areas to use fire as a natural tool to maintain the landscape—but not inside the cave!