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Is an International U.S.-Mexico Park At Big Bend Moving Closer to Reality?

The idea of an international park along the U.S.-Mexican border around Big Bend National Park has been kicking around for decades. A statement released after the recent North American Leaders Summit has revived hopes of supporters of the concept, but what did that statement really say?

Web Page Provides Keys To Finding Olympic National Park's Waterfalls

Olympic National Park is a decidedly wet and misty place, one where the thick forests and leafy understory make it hard to see past the bend in the trail. Contributing to this lush, moist setting are some beautiful waterfalls that cascade down moss-covered rocks. These aren't towering falls such as those you find in the Yosemite Valley or the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, but smaller, more intimate "pocket" waterfalls.

Climate Change and National Parks: A Survival Guide for a Warming World -- Loon and Other Birds of the Great Lakes

Change is under way in the Great Lakes, the source of 84 percent of North America’s fresh water and more than 20 percent of the world’s supply. It is a progressive sweeping change that threatens to greatly transform the ecosystems of these inland seas by warming their waters and supplanting native species with harmful invasives. And it is a change that ultimately may threaten the viability of the common loon and dozens of other birds that depend on the lakes.

Climate Change and National Parks: A Survival Guide for a Warming World -- Grizzly Bears

Natural events — wildfires, floods, windstorms — often leave behind obvious marks on the landscapes they touch. Charred trees and scorched meadows, washed out trails, and swaths of fallen trees are some of the reminders of these powerful forces. The impacts wrought by other naturally occurring events and cycles are not always so easy to discern.

Entrance-Fee-Free Weekends Are Costly To National Park Service, But Seem to Be Boosting Visitation

If trends hold, this weekend should be a busy one in the National Park System. Or maybe it won't be. For while it is the last entrance-fee-free weekend in the parks this summer, and the first two seemed to bring out more visitors than normal, there is no apparent hard-and-fast trend tied to these weekends.

Private Development of Fort Hancock in Gateway National Recreation Area Collapses for Lack of Financing

In a turn of events that raises questions about the National Park Service's ability to conduct due diligence, the agency has declared null and void a 60-year-lease given to a developer eight years ago for three dozen historic buildings at Fort Hancock in Gateway National Recreation Area. This decision comes in the wake of six extensions given the developer to prove he had the necessary financing in place to handle the project.
Image icon GATE-Fort_Hancock_History.pdf