Experiencing the natural world, and specifically national parks, seems richer when you have kids who can share the experience with you. But how do you raise outdoors-loving youngsters?

The owners of an oyster farm fighting for their business at Point Reyes National Seashore have been issued a cease-and-desist order from the California Coastal Commission pertaining to unpermitted operations.

For the National Park Service, the 112th Congress, which was in session over 2011 and 2012, was notable more for what was not accomplished than what was. In a departure from all other sessions in recent memory, the two-year Congress that ended on January 3rd did not authorize any new national park units, national heritage areas, wild and scenic rivers, national trails, wilderness areas, or studies of potential new designations.

Though an intriguing and beautifully hued sea creature, the Crown-of-Thorn starfish can be deadly to coral reefs. That's why divers at National Park of American Samoa recently killed nearly 100 of the starfisjh.