Who says special interest groups don't have clout? While national park entrance fees for families and individuals have been inching ever upwards, the National Tour Association has negotiated a deal with the National Park Service to freeze entrance fees for tour groups through 2009.

Officials in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve have greatly scaled back the search for a 68-year-old Wisconsin man, saying there's little hope of finding him alive.

Imagine taking the time to go into your backyard, or the nearby woods, or even a pond close to your home, to catalog all the life you found in it. Not just the deer or snakes or fish, but the birds and insects, reptiles, plants and fungi and everything else biological or botanic. Imagine how fascinating that would be. At Great Smoky Mountains National Park they've been working on just that, and what they've found has been incredible.

Interpretive programs, when done well, can provide an important aspect of resource protection. The guided beach walk at Padre Island National Seashore is one such example. By the end of the program, this newspaper reporter had a different outlook on his environment.