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Alaska Officials Considering Proposal To Kill Predators in National Parks Without Park Service Approval

Alaska wildlife officials, in a move certain to flare jurisdictional issues between the state and federal governments if OKed, are proposing that they be allowed to kill predators in national parks and preserves without prior approval from the National Park Service. The proposal has prompted a message from National Park Service officials that Alaska's wildlife management powers "are not absolute when we are dealing with Federal lands within the State."

What Should Be Done With Hazardous Areas of Curry Village In Yosemite National Park?

Late in 2008 a thunderous rockfall from the cliff that holds up Glacier Point slammed down on Curry Village in Yosemite Valley. In the aftermath of that incident, Yosemite National Park officials permanently closed 233 tent cabins, cabins with bath, cabins without bath, or roughly one-third of the village's overnight capacity, due to the threat of more rock peeling off from the cliff. Now they're wondering what to do with those facilities.

Reader Participation Day: Are We Overreaching With Wildlife Management in National Parks?

How far should national park managers go when it comes to wildlife management issues? That's a controversial issue in some circles, as evidenced by the concern being raised over a proposal at Cape Cod National Seashore to poison some crows that have developed a knack for preying on piping plovers, a threatened species along the Atlantic Seaboard under the Endangered Species Act, whose nests are seemingly protected by enclosures.

Cape Cod National Seashore Plan to Protect Piping Plovers By Killing Some Crows Not Welcomed by All

In the world of bird hierarchy, crows are considered one of the most intelligent birds out there. And it's this intelligence that has Cape Cod National Seashore officials considering a plan to kill some of the smartest crows on the cape with hopes of bolstering populations of piping plovers, a diminutive bird that, while perhaps not as brainy as crows, could face extinction if its numbers don't increase.
Image icon CACO Plover factsheet.pdf

Fascinating New Discovery At Dinosaur National Monument Features Complete Skull

The fossil fields at Dinosaur National Monument continue to yield their ancient treasures. In a find being hailed for producing the only complete "sauropod skull in the entire Western Hemisphere from the last 80 million years of the Age of Dinosaurs," paleontologists have tapped into a trove of fossilized bones that they hope will produce a complete skeleton of this particular plant-eater.

Orphan Train Rider Will Share Her Story at Homestead National Monument of America

It's one of most compelling stories from America's history: Between 1854 and 1929 thousands of children from Eastern cities were sent to the Midwest and West on "Orphan Trains." On March 7, 2010, Homestead National Monument of America will host an Orphan Train historian and one of the few remaining Orphan Train Riders for a special program.

Mammoth Cave National Park Extends "Sister" Agreements To Slovenia

Last fall officials at Mammoth Cave National Park forged a working relationship with a park in China that has karst formations similar to those found in Mammoth Cave. Now the U.S. park has looked across the Atlantic Ocean to develop a similar agreement with officials in Slovenia who oversee karst landscapes in that country.