You are here

Home » National Parks Traveler

Parks And Local Economies—Observations From Glacier National Park

A recent article in the Traveler highlighted a report that describes the economic impact of NPS areas on "local communities, states and the nation." While some will quibble about the methodology used or the accuracy of the numbers, there's no question that parks are an important factor in the economy of local communities. I was reminded just how much that's the case during a recent visit to Glacier National Park.

Trails I've Hiked: Grinnell Lake By Boat And Boot In Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park is often described as a "hiker's paradise," and over 700 miles of trails offer plenty of choices for what the park describes as "adventurous visitors seeking wilderness and solitude." Glacier also offers some fine shorter hikes that offer a taste of the backcountry with only moderate physical demands, and one of the most popular is the combination boat trip/hike to Grinnell Lake.

Exploring The Parks: Oregon National Historic Trail In Wyoming

Plant yourself -- leaning into the wind, of course -- on the open prairie near South Pass City, Wyoming, and you can quickly envision the setting that faced Conestoga-riding emigrants more than a century ago in their exodus to the West Coast. Endless miles of sagebrush, the Wind River Range looming ever-present to the north, a boundless sky dotted here and there with distant rainstorms.

Olympic National Park Working On Long-Range Mountain Goat Management Plan

Mountain goats are spectacular animals, even iconic in places such as Glacier National Park, but they can cause problems in parks where they don't belong. At Olympic National Park, where a 1920s era introduction project brought non-native goats into the landscape, officials are embarking on a management plan for how to deal with the animals. Adding weight to the need for such a plan was the fatal goring of a hiker in the park four years ago.