From Fiscal Year 2006 through Fiscal Year 2015 the National Park Service spent roughly $10.5 billion on deferred maintenance projects, and yet the overall price tag for deferred maintenance continued to creep ever higher, leading the Government Accountability Office to wonder if the Park Service's strategy for tackling the projects was sound.

Zion National Park is proposing to redesign the South Entrance Monument site and adjacent parking area in order to enhance visitor safety, expand cultural resource protection measures and help mitigate factors contributing to vehicle congestion experienced at the South Entrance. The monument has become a renowned park feature, enjoyed by travelers from around the globe and is a favored backdrop for millions of visitors’ photographs at the entrance for over 80 years.

An accumulation of human trash and graffiti necessitates the closing of the Angels Landing Trail in Zion National Park in Utah on Thursday so crews can clean it up.

The evening of October 28 I spent a couple of hours in Salt Lake City attending a public meeting regarding Zion National Park’s Visitor Use Management Plan, or VUM. It was the first time I’ve been part of something like this. It was intensely interesting, a really educational experience, and a good look at the careful process that park managers must navigate as they try to manage our national parks for us.