There was both good and bad news from Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, where 14 adult quagga mussels have been found attached to moored vessels and dock structures in Lake Powell. The word that the invasive pests have turned up in the big lake isn't good, but all is not yet lost in the battle to keep the invades out of the lake. None of the mussels were close enough together for successful reproduction.

A proposal to create a 1.4-million-acre national monument wrapping Canyonlands National Park in Utah should not be dismissed out of hand, but receive serious consideration from the Obama administration. And it should receive equally serious consideration from Utah officials who promote the state's recreational wonders in one breath and demand a turnover of federal lands in the next.

A possible lack of attention has led to the deaths of two vacationers at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and left a juvenile with minor injuries, according to the National Park Service.

Sunday May 20, 2012 will offer a Celestial Super Bowl—a near-total solar eclipse—and parks in parts of the western U.S. will offer some prime viewing locations. If you want to make travel plans for special eclipse-related activities or purchase equipment for safe viewing, just don't wait too long to do so.