Planning a national park visit during the winter months is not as easy as it might seem. Do you pack your long johns, or your swimsuit?

The debate over whether the National Park Service should be allowed to buy the Christmas Mountains for an addition to Big Bend National Park should not be dominated by the personality and rigid mindset of pro-gun Texas land Commissioner Jerry Patterson. So says the Dallas Morning News.

Like springs unsprung the fishers bolted from their boxes and vanished into the forests of Olympic National Park's Elwha Valley, carrying hopes that they would reestablish one of the region's long-lost residents.

Yellowstone National Park officials plan to meet in private with representatives from the state of Wyoming and the town of Cody to discuss snowmobiling over Sylvan Pass. Does that mesh with Park Service Director Mary Bomar's pledge of transparency?