If you frequent national parks on a regular basis, you need a well-stocked personal library of park-related books. They're essential to plan for trips, and to place yourself in a national-park setting from the comfort of your armchair. What titles should you stock? In this checklist, the Traveler touches on a general reading list that will provide a sound backbone for your collection. Down the road we'll delve into region-specific lists.

How do you combat a tiny beetle that is killing acres and acres of lodgepole forest that long has served as a gorgeous backdrop to Mount Rushmore National Memorial? That's the puzzling question an interagency team of entomologists and foresters is trying to answer.

During most of the year, if you want to really see Voyageurs National Park you'll need a boat. Nearly a third of the area in the park is water, but during the winter months in northern Minnesota, that water definitely changes character. Until the weather begins to warm, you can drive your car near several islands via the park's ice roads.

If you're heading to Yellowstone National Park soon to view wolves, you might get a bonus: bears are beginning to emerge from their slumber and are roaming for food.