Loons, mergansers, cormorants and other waterfowl are dying by the thousands in the Great Lakes due to an invasion of non-native species that are threatening to turn the lakes' ecosystem upside down. At Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore even piping plovers, a threatened species, are dying.

On Monday the president is scheduled to release his budget proposal for the 2009 fiscal year. What will be interesting to see is whether he continues to show some love for the National Park Service.

Somehow, the eight-room house survived the Civil War battle that swept across the Wilderness battlefield in Virginia. Now, master craftsmen are working to see that it survives the test of time.

Yellowstone National Park officials met earlier this week with several representatives from Wyoming to discuss the options at their disposal for bombing snow-covered mountain slopes in our nation’s first national park. Why? To keep it clear of avalanche danger for the handful of snowmobiles and snowcoaches that enter the park through Sylvan Pass on the park’s east side each day during the winter season.