A 12-page filing tied to one of the nation's strongest environmental laws could succeed where the National Park Service so far has failed in trying to determine the extent of environmental contamination at the Caneel Bay Resort on the shores of Virgin Islands National Park.

More than three years after a consultant's report cited environmental wastes at Caneel Bay Resort that could pose a public health risk, Friends of Virgin Islands National Park wants a finalized remediation plan secured with the responsible parties before a decision is made on whether the resort's current operator gets a new lease.

A flareup of Covid-19 in the U.S. Virgin Islands has prompted the territory's governor to ban leisure travel for 30 days, an order likely to throw a wrench into plans to visit Virgin Islands National Park in the coming weeks.

Mangrove trees serve as nature's hurricane barriers for places such as Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, Virgin Islands National Park, and Big Cypress National Preserve. Plus, they provide valuable habitat for fish and other marine life, and are pretty cool for humans who are fortunate enough to paddle through them. But they could be gone by 2050, victims of sea level rise driven by climate change.