Greenpeace activists were able to scale to the top of the iconic Mount Rushmore in July and unfurl a banner of protest over the U.S. approach to global warming because of a number of glaring security lapses, breakdowns and shortcomings at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, according to a National Park Service investigation.

Some good news out of the South Pacific today. The tsunami wave train that smacked the National Park of American Samoa last month didn't damage park artifacts as much as first thought. And that's largely because of the park staff's efforts to rescue the items from the waters that inundated park headquarters.

An intangible but priceless value of parks is the opportunity they provide for healing of mind, body and spirit. A recent example occurred at Dinosaur National Monument when the Wounded Warrior Project led a group of wounded veterans on a rafting trip through Lodore Canyon.

A review of how the U.S. Bureau of Land Management handled energy leases near national parks in Utah shows some areas where the system broke down and carries recommendations for, at a minimum, review of previous leasing decisions. Some tracts, the report said, should be removed from leasing.