Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas is one of the National Park System units in the path of the annular solar eclipse next month and park staff are offering solar-filtered telescopes and eclipse glasses for safe viewing, ranger programs, and a sneak peek at the preserve's 50th anniversary celebrations in 2024.

The National Park Service is moving to strengthen "the role of American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, Alaska Natives entities, and the Native Hawaiian Community in federal land management," a development that Park Service Director Chuck Sams said "will help ensure tribal governments have an equal voice in the planning and management" of the park system.

National parks across the country continue to lag behind a court-ordered schedule to complete air-tour management plans and are failing to conduct environmentally required studies as they develop those plans, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Despite more than two decades to get the task accomplished, and almost two years after a federal judge ordered the Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service to get the job done by this summer, air tour management plans for eight national parks will not be completed on schedule, according to court documents filed by the two agencies.