Run a breathtaking, and alarming, video of brown bears about to be slaughtered and there's an outpouring of emotion, angst, and vitriol against the National Park Service for allowing such a hunt. Mention that the National Park Service is fully behind snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, where science has demonstrated they're a blight on the landscape, and there's a collective shrug of the shoulders. Has apathy settled in on this issue?
The decision by Yellowstone National Park officials that up to 540 snowmobiles a day should be allowed in the park come winter is supported by the National Park Service's Washington headquarters, which more than likely means another round of court battles is in the offing.
Drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road through Glacier National Park and you're immediately struck by the alpine beauty of this national park. Shimming lakes, waterfalls that seem to dangle from cliffs hundreds of feet in the air, glaciers off which the sun glints. But appearances can be deceiving.
It took more than a year, but crews at Bryce Canyon National Park have been able to reopen the Navajo Loop Trail, which had been closed by a rock slide in May 2006.
An outfitter whose clients at close range gunned down brown bears in Katmai National Preserve contends the hunt is not akin to "shooting fish in a barrel." And Jim Hamilton claims those who filmed portions of the hunt ruined the hunters' experience.
In case you were wondering, there are more than 7,000 rainbow trout, not to mention 26 pink salmon, 215 bull trout, and 539 adult Chinook salmon in the Elwha River in Olympic National Park. Park officials know that because a team of snorkel-spouting biologists swam the river's 42 miles specifically to count the fish.
Officials at Haleakala National Park in Hawaii have decided, in the wake of the death of a woman last week, that more time is needed to review commercial biking tours in the park.
Is there really a need for the Centennial Initiative to generate private dollars for the parks? That doesn't seem to be the case for the Yellowstone Park Foundation, which is recently raised $3 million for things like trails improvements, fisheries work, and curatorial work with park archives.