Russian-olive can be an interesting addition to your landscape, with its dense coat of silvery leaves, bright yellow flowers, and relatively compact stature. But it also is a non-native tree that can overwhelm native vegetation, hog water, and disrupt nutrient cycles. In Utah, the National Park Foundation is helping combat this invasive by providing funding to a coalition trying to eradicate Russian-olive from public lands in the southern part of the state.

"Jurassic" isn't just a name from a movie, it's also a term for geologic formations known to contain evidence of dinosaurs. The discovery of a new site with dinosaur tracks at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is being described by scientists as "remarkable," and "an important discovery."

If you've spent anytime around cliffs, you probably can appreciate that climbing up is a lot easier than climbing back down. Well, for three teens and their mother at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, getting down required quick assistance from park rangers who were able to rappel down and safely get the four back on firm ground.

Whether you can thank the hoopla around National Parks: America's Best Idea, or attribute it to the weak economy, there are a number of lodging deals available to be had around the National Park System.