Who really does manage most national park lodgings? For the big operations in places such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Shenandoah, corporations. Not surprisingly, while many of the 500 management contracts administered by the National Park Service, such as providing firewood or operating a bicycle rental operation, are relatively straightforward, those for large commercial facilities such as lodging in Yosemite or Yellowstone are extremely complicated. David and Kay Scott bring some clarity to this issue in their latest article pertaining to lodging in the National Park System.

A pair of bald eagles has once again returned and is actively tending to its nest within the Pinery Narrows area in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. To protect the eagles from human disturbance, the area surrounding the nest tree will be closed until July 31, 2019. This pair has nested in the national park since 2007 and successfully fledged a total of 15 eaglets.

Higher fees are coming your way for touring the Delta-O1 launch facility at Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, the Mariposa Grove at Yosemite National Park is open for winter, and friends of Cuyahoga Valley National Park have raised millions for a new visitor center. Those are just some of the stories from around the National Park System.

A disadvantage of living in South Georgia is the scarcity of fall colors as the days grow cooler and the nights become longer. The glorious reds, bright yellows, and vivid oranges produced by oaks, maples, cottonwoods, sumac, and other broadleaved trees and shrubs are in short supply where we live. Having both grown up in the Midwest, we miss the changing of the colors during the fall seasons.