Throughout the year we get a fair number of books related to the national parks for review, but we couldn't possibly keep track of all new -- or old, but good stalwarts -- books with park connections. Which books would you recommend to park lovers?
It could, perhaps, be viewed as the wildlife equivalent of "Beach Party," the 1960s-era series of beach-based movies featuring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Only in this case, the beach at Point Reyes National Seashore is covered by elephant seals, not hormone-crazed twenty-somethings.
With few trees, compared, say, to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, counting birds at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area shouldn't be too difficult when the NRA holds its Christmas Bird Count.
Among the interesting exhibits at Ellis Island National Monument is one called "Peopling of America" that traces the paths taken by immigrants to the United States, both before and after the island's immigration center opened for business.
Bear attacks horrify us, and yet they also, in a morbid way, fascinate many. They're evidence that even in today's modern world tragic confrontations with nature do occur and, in the case of bears, demonstrate that man is not always the apex predator.
The Trail of Time, located on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, recently won an Interpretive Media Award from the National Association for Interpretation.
Vail Resorts, which built its reputation on skiing, is expanding its reach into national park concessions with the acquisition of the concession at Flagg Ranch in the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area has grown by nearly 4,000 acres, and taxpayers got a bargain, with the transfer of a prime tract known as the Rancho Corral de Tierra from the Peninsula Open Space Trust to the National Park Service.
Thinking of, or already planning, a trip to Bryce Canyon National Park? Check out the Traveler's "mini-guide" to the park to help prepare. It has sections on lodging, camping, hiking, even wildlife.