It’s the start of National Park Week 2025. If you haven’t already worked up some plans to visit a national park, then this week should be the impetus you need to start formulating an idea for a trip to one of the 433 units within the National Park System.
The partisan divide over natural resource protections took a hard shift to the right with the inauguration of President Trump, who reversed moves the Biden administration took to protect natural resources in Alaska from mining and energy development and hunting bears with baits,
Did you know, coastal Alaskan brown bears tend to be larger than their inland brethren? That's because the coastal bears have access to not only protein-rich sedges and ripe berries, but clams and fat-rich salmon. You can read more about these brown bears in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve by clicking here.
Alaska is a big state (twice the size of Texas) with 19 National Park System units, eight of which are national parks. So how about a quiz focused on these eight parks? How many of you have traveled to any or all of them, and just how much do you really know? Test your knowledge with these 10 quiz questions. You might learn something from the questions as well as the trivia.
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska is a dynamic national park, with movement as a constant force. From rugged, remote mountains, to active volcanoes, to glaciers, to wildlife, to the sockeye salmon industry, this is a national park and preserve attractive to photographers, backpackers, paddlers, birders, botanists, anglers, and hunters.
Contributing photographer and writer Rebecca Latson has spent the past 11 years with the National Parks Traveler, writing about tips and techniques for getting the best national park photos – no matter what camera you use. In her final article for the Traveler before it goes dark on December 31, 2023, Rebecca recaps some of those tips and techniques.