National Park Newsletter
I. Acadia NP
A. UPDATE: House approves Acadia funds
http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/026255.html By Jonathan Kaplan
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives today approved a bill that would allow Acadia National Park to acquire more land and build a station on the mainland from which to bus visitors to Mount Desert Island.
B. “Eco-Resort Community” Concept To Be Explained at May 14 Session
http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14230&Itemid=31WINTER HARBOR — Proponents of a plan to develop 3,200 acres of wilderness adjacent to Schoodic Point will go public with their “conservation community” concept at an informational meeting on May 14.
II. Big Bend NP
A. Christmas Mountains open to Big Bend visitors
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/...n1.473417f.htmlBy KAREN BROOKS / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – Visitors to Big Bend National Park can now hike into the rugged Christmas Mountains, guns and all, while state officials continue to look for a federal agency to take over the property, Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson announced Thursday.
B. U.S. parks at center of gun debate
http://www.kansascity.com/440/story/584053.htmlBy ANNA M. TINSLEY
McClatchy Newspapers
"Protection is one of the main things that should be allowed," said Mays, 90. "If you are going to travel around, you don't know if punks are there. Punks are everywhere."
III. Death Valley NP
County examining green power with fed grant
By MARK WAITE
BEATTY -- A $492,000 renewable energy study will examine planning issues associated with various wind and solar projects proposed around Nye County, the possibility of converting county buildings to green power and generating biomass from the county landfill.
http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2008/Apr-25-Fri-2008/news/21133033.htmlIV. Glacier National Park
A. Butte, Montana gearing up for National Folk Festival
HELENA, Montana (AP) -- The National Folk Festival comes to Montana this summer, bringing the event's mix of "music, dance and tradition from across America" to historic Butte in Big Sky country.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/04/29/folk.festival.ap/B. Controlling Invasive Fish: Waterfalls Control Spread Of Lake
Trout In Glacier National Park
ScienceDaily (Apr. 28, 2008) — Natural barriers like waterfalls play an important role in preventing lake trout from spreading through Glacier National Park, so maintaining those barriers should be a priority, Montana State University researchers said after conducting a four-year study in the park.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424133349.htmC. Glacier Park gets $490,000 for centennial projects
By FAITH BREMNER
Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Seventy-six national parks will share $51 million under a public-private fundraising venture created two years ago to prepare the National Park Service for its 100th birthday in 2016.
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080425/NEWS01/804250330/1002V. Grand Canyon NP
A. Wildfire burns toward Grand Canyon
PHOENIX, April 30 (Reuters) - Firefighters are battling a forest fire burning out of control toward the Grand Canyon, fanned by strong winds and dry conditions, authorities said on Wednesday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN30515930B. Grand Canyon, U.S. seeing more foreign tourists
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Arizona (AP) -- When Steve Meissner of Berlin bought a 1956 butter yellow Cadillac online, he could have simply had it shipped from Arizona to Germany.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/04/29/grand.canyon.ap/C. Last summer for 102-year-old shop
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Arizona (AP) - At a time when tourists visited the Grand Canyon in stagecoaches, they did their souvenir shopping at a tent set up by a man named John George Verkamp.
http://www.pr-inside.com/last-summer-for-102-year-old-shop-r566417.htmVI. Grand Teton National Park
A. Rule: Guns OK in parks
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne proposed new regulations Wednesday that would allow people to carry a concealed weapon in some national parks and wildlife refuges.
The new rules would allow someone to carry a loaded weapon in a park or wildlife refuge only if the person has a permit for a concealed weapon and the state where the park or refuge is located allows guns in parks, Kempthorne said.
http://www.jacksonholenews.com/article.php?art_id=3019B. The Big Bad Wolf
In the Rockies, man's hatred and fear of the species is on display again.
By Gary Ferguson
It's been nearly 100 years since 22-year-old graduate biology student Aldo Leopold shot and killed one of the last wolves in New Mexico. He later recounted the event with regret, describing having watched in the animal's eyes the "dying of that fierce green fire." Decades later, as one of the most influential conservation biologists of his day, Leopold would be among the first to articulate the importance of predators in healthy ecosystems, calling in 1944 for the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-garyferguson30-2008apr30,0,3510430.story
C. Climbers help at-risk teens reach new heights
By WES SMALLINGLike many visitors to Grand Teton National Park, Alex Wolf gazed up at the majestic chiseled summits of the Grand Teton Range last spring and couldn't help but wonder what it's like to climb them.
The 31-year-old New Yorker is a recovering alcoholic. He had quit drinking months earlier and that spring the outdoors became a sanctuary for him, an escape from the pressures of city life and the temptations that every alcoholic battles each day.
http://www.trib.com/articles/2008/04/24/features/open_spaces/ec40bbd2f38cf64087257434006b85f9.txtD. Hibernating grizzlies emerge early from dens
Cathy Ellis, For the Calgary Herald
American scientists are hoping to determine if climate change is causing grizzly bears to hibernate later each fall and emerge from their winter slumber much earlier.
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=7cb0042b-d8cf-4788-8506-d79e7905ae76VII. Great Smoky National Park
A. Finding a Trail in the Smoky Mountains Just Got Easier
New web site offers expanded, in-depth trail information in a user-friendly format
by Jeff Doran
Louisville, Ky. (April 25, 2008) – Just in time for the arrival of the hiking season, HikingintheSmokys.com launched a new web site today that gives hikers interested in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a robust source of trail information at their fingertips.
http://www.outdoornewswire.com/v/current...349643d35333236B. National Park gets $340,000 in grants
By: CANDICE GRIMM Staff Writer
NATIONAL PARK - Sen. Lamar Alexander's office announced Thursday that Great Smoky Mountains National Park will receive $340,000 in the kickoff of the Centennial Challenge Parks Initiative, a program that calls for an extra $100 million per year for the national parks and private money to match it dollar-for-dollar.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsi...69689&rfi=6C. Tennessee Wildfire Started by Motorcycle Crash
GATLINBURN, Tenn. — A fire blazing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was started by a motorcycle crash.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351600,00.html
VIII. Mount Rainier NP
A. An honored partnership (editorial)
Howling winds and devastating floods had barely subsided in November 2006 when phones started to ring at Mount Rainier National Park. Over and over, the question was the same: "How can we help?"
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2004369408_awarded24.htmlB. Rainier projects on list for matching dollars
National Park Service announces sites that will receive federal money for improvements
JEFFREY P. MAYOR
Private donations combined with matching federal dollars will generate $363,000 to fund six projects at Washington’s three major national parks this year.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/story/344157.htmlIX. Olympic National Park
A. ONP continues spring road and facility openings
(Port Angeles) -- Late low-elevation snowfall continues to complicate some spring road and facility openings at Olympic National Park.
Work began last week on a seven-month project to restore and rehabilitate the Hurricane Ridge Road. Construction-related delays and restrictions will not be necessary until Sunday.
http://www.konp.com/local/3581B. Kodiak adventurers offer tales of island journeys at trails event
By RALPH GIBBS
Mirror Writer
Whale Fest may have officially come to a close today, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be nature-related presentations this weekend. Island Trails Network is sponsoring Trails Summit 2008.
C. New superintendent for Olympic National Park
PORT ANGELES, Wash. -- The Park Service has appointed Karen Gustin as the new superintendent of Olympic National Park.
She replaces Bill Laitner who retired earlier this year.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_olympic_park_superintendent.htmlX. Rocky Mountain National Park
A. 13 elk caught in park test positive for disease
By Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain New
The first results of a new, live-animal test for chronic wasting disease found that 13 of 117 captured elk in Rocky Mountain National Park were positive.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/apr/10/13-elk-caught-in-park-test-positive-for-disease/B. Campgrounds will be closed this summer as pine beetles continue ravaging Colorado’s lodgepole forests
By Rebecca Boyle
Despite its overall eco-friendliness, camping in the Colorado forest this summer might be a little less green.
The forest canopy important to so many campers is under attack by epidemic proportions of the mountain pine beetle, and campgrounds around the state are closing or cutting down trees to protect human forest wanderers.
http://www.fortcollinsnow.com/article/20080430/NEWS/566099598C. Rocky Mountain gray wolf killings prompt lawsuit
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Renewed killing of gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains prompted an environmental lawsuit on Monday, two months after the U.S. government declared these animals no longer needed protection.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN2850334920080428D. Climate Change in Rocky Mountain National Park
ESTES PARK -- Rocky Mountain National Park may not look like the pristine paradise we enjoy today to our children and grandchildren.
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20080408/NEWS/742220276XI. Saguaro National Park
A. Human hands already may be cranking up heat
Common sense tells us that something known as "global warming" is bound to be bad news for a place that's already a desert.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1398478/B. Group seels to preserve 570,000 acres
Arroyo Grande part of state lands eyed for protection
By: Patrick McNamara
For those concerned with the proposed annexation and subsequent development of an expanse of Arizona State Trust Land north of Oro Valley, a new campaign offers a ray of hope.
http://www.explorernews.com/article/show/21928XII. Shenandoah:
A. Shenandoah National Park: Avoid bringing out-of-state firewood
By Lauren Fulbright
In an effort to stop a devastating beetle from reaching Virginia’s forests, campers in the Shenandoah National Park should avoid bringing in firewood from other states, says a park biologist.
http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080404/NEWS01/80404021/1002B. Acid Rain Plagues Valley Despite Regs
Scientists Blame Coal-Fired Plants
By Hannah Northey
It may be an old problem, but it's still causing a ruckus.
For decades, pollution from coal-fired power plants west of the Allegheny Mountains has made its way to the Valley, where scientists say it falls as acidic rain, snow, sleet and sometimes, fog.
http://www.dnronline.com/news_details.php?AID=16177&CHID=1XIII. Yellowstone National Park
A. Yellowstone National Park was on fire in 1988
This year has been a wet Spring at Yellowstone National Park, with the most snow in a dozen years hitting the ground. The conditions are pretty similar to how it was at the park 20 years ago, just before the biggest fires in its history
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=8237341&nav=menu227_3B. The buffalo Fight Back
Buffalo Field Campaign works to return animals to historic range
GARDINER, Mont. - Through powerful and thunderous winds that even knocked out the power in the Yellowstone National Park border town of Gardiner, the buffalo seemingly spoke about the way they were being treated during the Releasing of the Buffalo Spirits ceremony April 15.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417168C. Roads in Yellowstone National Park are beginning to open to car travel
by Jamie Rhein
This winter has dumped several feet of snow on Yellowstone National Park's roads. Getting them cleared for tourists is an undertaking that is not yet done. In the winter, snowmobiling takes over, but in March, the plows start getting the roads ready for car traffic.
http://www.gadling.com/2008/04/20/roads-in-yellowstone-national-park-are-beginning-to-open-to-car/D. Yellowstone to get $1.4M for projects
Yellowstone National Park will receive $1.4 million for children’s programs, an online learning center, artifact preservation and scientific exploration thanks to $700,000 in matching funds from the Yellowstone Park Foundation.
http://www.jacksonholenews.com/article.php?art_id=3000
