The administrative closure of the Seven Lakes Basin/High Divide area in Olympic National Park for July 9 through July 20 is no longer in effect. Seven Lakes Basin is a quota area and permits will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis for backpacking trips during this timeframe. Permits will be available in person beginning the day before the trip. Advance reservation requests will not be accepted for these dates.

There are many days at Mount Rainier National Park when the contracted helicopter they pay $2,900 a day to be available sits idle, glinting in the sunshine. But then there are days like Sunday, when the whirlybird crisscrossed Washington state to perform rescues at three national parks.

Mountain goats, introduced between 1925 and 1929 to the landscape now covered by Olympic National Park, would be removed from the park through both trapping and lethal means under an alternative the National Park Service has settled on.

NatureBridge, the largest residential environmental education partner of the National Park Service, leads life-changing backpacking programs for high school students in Yosemite and Olympic national parks each summer. These one-week and two-week programs offer the perfect mix of backpacking, science, and adventure and give participants the opportunity to conduct field science investigations in two of the most iconic national parks in the country.