Is "Boot Cabin" in the backcountry of Big Bend National Park a fixer upper, or is it beyond any hope of repair? Park officials believe the latter, and want to replace the ranger cabin with a new facility.

Imagine the "office" for doing air-quality studies in Glacier National Park. And if you want to work in that office, the park is looking for some volunteers to help with air-quality monitoring.

From time to time we bring you stories about insecticide spraying in Great Smoky Mountains National Park to combat a non-native pest that is a threat to the park's stands of Eastern hemlock trees. Another chapter of that saga comes from Friends of the Smokies, which raises funds to help carry that battle to the pests.

Due to the prospect of damage from winter floods, the 12 backcountry camp sites in the Narrows of Zion National Park are closed for the foreseeable future, according to park officials.