One-thirteenth of 1 percent of the federal budget gets you funding for the entire National Park System and the agency that oversees it. Yet that miniscule sliver hasn't stopped Congress from eyeing the National Park Service for cuts to help rein-in the federal deficit.
How will you spend your summer vacation? If you're thinking about some R&R in the National Park System, we've got some suggestions and advice to offer. All week-long the Traveler will be offering stories about places to go and things to do in the parks.
A cooperating association that has been developing educational and interpretive materials for units of the National Park System since 1947 and an outfitter that can take you down rivers in some of the West's most iconic national parks are the latest organizations and businesses to help keep the Traveler on-line.
Summer easily is the best time of year to get out and get sweaty in the National Park System, if only because the warmer weather makes more opportunities available. In time to help you plan your summer vacation, here's a potpourri of outdoor adventures in the parks.
Most Yellowstone National Park visitors never set foot on the shores of Shoshone Lake.
Squeezed between the Pitchstone Plateau and Craig Pass at an elevation of 7,791 feet, no roads snake back to the seven-mile-long lake where mechanized locomotion is banned and humans visit by foot or muscle-powered craft or not at all.
While Congress is looking for ways to cut federal spending, non-profit organizations such as the Yellowstone Park Foundation are becoming more valuable for the contributions they make to national parks.
How far removed are we from the day when bison are hunted inside Yellowstone National Park to better manage their numbers? Montana's governor thinks that's a reasonable solution to prevent the spread of brucellosis from park bison to Montana cattle.
The end of the winter season in Yellowstone National Park is right around the corner, with all over-snow travel scheduled to end March 15 so plowing operations can get to work opening the roads for the summer season.
How many times have you headed off on a national park trip and conveniently forgotten your Passport to Your National Parks? Have you ever run out of space for cancellations more quickly than you would have thought? Well, the folks at Eastern National have tackled those problems while celebrating the Passport's 25th anniversary.