In a brief, four-paragraph memorandum, National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis has brought to an end a controversial budgeting process that stripped arguably key positions from parks. Dubbed "core ops" for its approach to analyzing a park's core operations, the process failed to produce wise budgeting decisions, the director said in a letter to his regional directors.

Here's a sale not to be missed if you find yourself near Olympic National Park in mid-December.

Poet, ranger, author, documentarian. Shelton Johnson has done it all. And now he's been recognized for his excellence as a national park interpreter with the Freeman Tilden Award.

As evidence that there's more to meet the eye than just a river, the folks at New River Gorge National River are talking about creating some shared-use trails for hikers and mountain bikers.