It's been a tough week for the oil and gas industry, one which has held plenty of anxious moments for several NPS areas located in the vicinity of recent accidents. The latest involved an explosion at a refinery near San Antonio Missions National Historic Park; two of the historic structures were closed temporarily and precautionary measures were taken for possible contamination of important waterways.

Here's a photo contest for all you amateur Civil War buffs. Sponsored by the Civil War Preservation Trust, the Center for Civil War Photography, and History, the deadline to get your images in for consideration is August 31.

The showy tamarisk tree, aka "Saltcedar," long has been reviled as a thirsty scourge of Western national park riparian areas. But new research shows it's not any thirstier than some native species. However, tamarisk isn't valued as highly as cottonwoods and willows by some bird species, the studies say.

Against fears that the white-sand beaches of Gulf Islands National Seashore soon might be darkened by an oily slick from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, natural gas production flows quietly from Padre Islands National Seashore.