On March 17, 1976, Congress corrected a 70-year old mistake by de-listing Platt National Park and folding the property into Chickasaw National Recreation Area.

While some politicians have rushed to condemn preliminary talks within the Interior Department over whether President Obama should designate any national monuments, past performance shows these establishments can bolster the surrounding economy.

If the Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to set aside national monuments, had never been created, how might that have affected the National Park System as we see it today?

Loggerhead sea turtles, one of four turtle species that have come ashore to nest from Cape Hatteras National Seashore south to Gulf Islands National Seashore, are not doing well, population-wise. The species currently is being proposed for listed as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act.