Nearly four years ago Paul Hoffman's name became well-traveled as he was defined as the architect of a proposed overhaul of the National Park Service's Management Policies, a drastic overhaul at that. For some reason, he still feels it necessary to defend himself.

Make a wrong turn at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and you could find yourself in a fairly rugged canyon in Grand Teton National Park. That happened twice this week, forcing four skiers to spend cold nights in the woods until rangers could come to their rescue.

"Culling." It's a fairly innocuous word. Look it up in the dictionary and one of the definitions you'll find is "to remove rejected members or parts from (a herd, for example)." Use that word in the context of a national park and, well, that could spur some discussion, if not outright controversy since "natural processes" are supposed to rule in the National Park System.

An ice storm that transformed into a snowstorm early Wednesday has prompted officials to keep Mammoth Cave National Park closed so crews can deal with downed trees and power lines.