It started in mid-September; a few flakes began to flutter across the Crown of the Continent in Glacier National Park. The snow since then has slowly spread east and west, north and south. By January the white mantle likely will cover the whole northern tier of the National Park System, from Acadia west to Olympic, south through Rocky Mountain, into Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountain national parks.

Due to concerns about low river flows impeding salmon migrations, Olympic National Park is closing the Quillayute, Dickey, and Hoh River mouths to fishing beginning Monday until further notice. This closure includes portions of each river within the boundaries of the park.

A Utah congressman long unhappy with the authority given presidents under The Antiquities Act to establish national monuments has introduced legislation that would extensively rewrite the century-old act. If enacted, the rewrite would limit the purposes for which monuments could be created, require environmental review, and allow presidents to reduce the size of monuments without congressional action.

There's a new sheriff in town, and he's more than willing to have you test his aim.