A young woman who went for a day hike and wound up spending a week in the backcountry of Big Bend National Park in Texas was found alive on Friday.

Although there are nationally significant resources along a 50-mile stretch of the Ocmulgee River in Georgia to protect through its addition to the National Park System, the National Park Service concluded that the area poses land-acquisition challenges and could be better managed by others.

Culling of the elk herd at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming begins Saturday and runs through December 10.

A wildfire in the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia prompted a closure Wednesday of 20 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway due to smoky conditions and to allow firefighters to stage equipment for fighting the fire.