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Kings Canyon National Park

Odds and Ends from Around the National Park System: Interior's Transparency Woes, Plowing Hurricane Ridge, and More

A look around the National Park System finds an interesting potpourri of issues, from the Interior Department's struggles with transparency and a move to see Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park kept open-year round to campfire restrictions in Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Agrees Whitebark Pine Trees Might Need ESA Protection

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials announced Tuesday that the agency will take a closer look at whether whitebark pine trees, a key food source for some grizzly bear populations as well as birds and squirrels, need protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Mule Packers from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Prove They're Among the Best in the Business

The ability to "pack a mule" so the animals can safely carry anything from beans to bolts is perhaps as much art as science, and it's a skill that's still in demand in backcountry areas. A team from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks recently won a number of awards during a competition to determine the World Champion Pack Team

Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park Officials Want To Replace Three Backcountry Cabins Located in Wilderness Areas

Officials in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks want to replace three dilapidated backcountry ranger cabins, which, judging from photos, seems like a reasonable decision. But should they be allowed to use power tools in the wilderness settings to get the work done?

Kearsarge Pinnacles, Kings Canyon National Park

Last week Interior Secretary Ken Salazar unveiled an exhibit within the corridors of the Department of the Interior of 26 never-before installed murals taken by famed photographer and conservationist Ansel Adams.

Among the shots is this one, of the Kearsarge Pinnacles in Kings River Canyon.

The images, part of Ansel Adams: The Mural Project 1941-1942, have been installed on the first and second floors of the department as originally envisioned by the artist and then-Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes.

Ansel Adams

Is The American Pika Really On The Road To Extinction Due to Climate Change?

Less than a month after a conservation group expressed its displeasure with the Obama administration for not providing Endangered Species Act protection to the American pika due to the plight it might face due to climate change, a new study suggests the tiny mammals are more widespread than thought and seem to thrive in a temperature range greater than long thought possible.
Image icon Millar&Westfall-pikas.pdf Image icon Beever-Low-Elevation Pikas.pdf Image icon Beever-Climate-Mediated Extirpations.pdf Image icon Pikas-National Monuments.pdf

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