A proposal to create a 1.4-million-acre national monument wrapping Canyonlands National Park in Utah should not be dismissed out of hand, but receive serious consideration from the Obama administration. And it should receive equally serious consideration from Utah officials who promote the state's recreational wonders in one breath and demand a turnover of federal lands in the next.

Summer backpack trips and hikes are months away, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be making up gear lists in January or February. And if you're heading to a national park frequented by grizzly or black bears, you'd be wise to look into bear sprays.

Update your national park list, folks, for there are now 59, not 58, "national parks" in the National Park System.

With a nod to the success of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s, a number of federal agencies have agreed to move forward with the Obama administration's 21st Century Conservation Service Corps to put youth and veterans to work across the public landscape.