Fire is an unrelenting force. When controlled, it represents strength and power. When wild, it leaves behind visible scars. The latter is what the Great Smoky Mountains National Park landscape and community witnessed in recent years. Time provides space to heal, but despite nature’s attempts to renew, tangible evidence of tragedy remains.

National Parks Traveler has operated with only one full-time staffer since its inception, but has a core team of freelance writers, photographers, broadcasters, and technicians that are relied upon heavily to provide content. They're being introduced to you in a series of short profiles.

Counting birds this holiday season? At Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, the annual Christmas Bird Count is scheduled for December 18.

A nearly 30-foot tall white fir from Pennsylvania now stands as the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse in President's Park in Washington, D.C.