This past year we started a bimonthly column on birding in the national parks, which is a great way to enjoy the parks while learning more about the hundreds of species that flit about the National Park System. Here's a look back at those columns.

Don't overlook the good work of the various friends groups that strive to bring a little extra to the national parks scattered throughout the country.

Planning for the next century of the National Park Service, ecosystems at risk, and fatal grizzly bear maulings were some of the stories that surfaced across the National Park System in 2011. Here's a glance at some of the top stories that the Traveler followed.

The past year took me across the National Park System, from Cape Lookout National Seashore on the North Carolina coast to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska. The stories that spooled out from these trips into the National Park System told of advocacy and nurturing, of history and recreation, and even of controversy. Here's a look back.