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Organ Pipe Cactus: A Sonoran Desert Treasure

The blue fluttering banner was whipping in the hot, dry, desert wind. It was easily spotted above the cactus garden. It did not signal a restricted zone but, rather, salvation. Beneath the flag was a barrel of water, or aqua. Border jumpers heading north from Mexico who couldn’t carry enough water to last through the trek would most likely find this life-saving liquid.

UPDATE II: Virgin Islands National Park Reeling In Wake Of Hurricane Irma, Emergency Aid En Route

Two days after the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record raked through the Caribbean, tossing boats about like toys and ripping roofs from buildings, help arrived Friday at the island of St. John to begin the recovery of Virgin Islands National Park, where all employees were accounted for and safe.

"Rain For Rent" Intended To Protect Lake McDonald Lodge In Glacier National Park

"Rain for Rent," a large-scale piping system designed to spray water over large areas, was being installed at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park to protect the historic facility and its surrounding complex from the Sprague Fire that has been burning for nearly a month in the mountains above the lake.

Filmmakers Illustrate What's At Risk With Mine Road Proposed To Cross Gates Of Arctic National Park

How do you adequately weigh the pros and cons of a 225-mile road proposed to cross some of the wildest country left in the United States, a landscape with rich cultural ties and natural resources, when the purpose of the road is to enable an open-pit copper mine?

National Park Service Begins Test Of Laser Treatment For Removal Of Jefferson Memorial Biofilm

The National Park Service is preparing to begin a test an experimental laser removal treatment of the biofilm affecting the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, most evident on the dome. The project will clean a test area of 1,000 square feet on the northeast side of the memorial that will allow the National Park Service to evaluate the effectiveness of the technique. The results of this cleaning test will be used to determine how the remainder of the biofilm on the memorial’s dome and pediment might be cleaned.

Great Smoky Mountains Superintendent Gets Temporary Assignment At National Mall

Though the decision reportedly was made several weeks ago, news that Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash was heading to the National Mall and Memorial Parks on a temporary detail came just days after he was criticized for his oversight of a wildfire that blew up into a firestorm last fall.