National Park News - January 2008

Hello Everyone,

As always, if you have news to share that focuses on the National Parks system, please feel free to post it here or send me an e-mail!

Acadia NP

Acadia bill moves to full Senate
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) _ The full U.S. Senate is poised to take up a bill that Maine's two senators say would set the stage for improvements to Acadia National Park.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131/NEWS0104/376440179

Visitation Up At Acadia National Park
BAR HARBOR, Maine -- The number of visitors to Acadia National Park grew last year by nearly 6 percent over 2006.
http://www.wmtw.com/news/15162602/detail.html

Canyonlands NP

Park Service using choppers to trap sheep in Canyonlands
The National Park Service may be using helicopters to capture and collar 19 desert bighorn sheep in Arches and Canyonlands national parks in eastern Utah
http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/01/13/011308_8B_bighorn_sheep.html

Death Valley NP

Astronomy Week in Death Valley
Get away from the bright lights of the city and check out the bright lights of the sky.
Saturday, Feb. 2 | time TBA | $20 | Death Valley National Park
Since winter provides longer nights and clear skies, Death Valley National Park will hold Astronomy week from Jan. 28 through Feb.2.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/events/2008/feb/02/340/

As a river runs through it, a Death Valley stream offers insights into flooding and climate change
Death Valley may be known by its three superlatives: hottest, driest, and lowest – as in temperature, rainfall, and elevation in the United States. But it was the flow of water through the National Park that attracted Boston College Geologist Noah P. Snyder to the desert of eastern California.
http://www.physorg.com/news120898031.html

Glacier NP

Exploring the secret life of Glacier National Park's winter
By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian
WEST GLACIER - There is a light at the end of winter's cold, dark tunnel, and it shines the moment you strap on snowshoes for a free guided hike into Glacier National Park's wintry world.

Beginning Sunday, park rangers are inviting the public to join them for two-hour educational walks every weekend, learning the tricks critters use to survive and thrive in the snowy season.
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/06/news/mtregional/news07.txt

Grand Canyon NP

Century-old Grand Canyon gift shop to close
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - A century-old gift shop at the Grand Canyon will close in September, ending a family's three-generation run that began with its patriarch selling souvenirs out of a tent in 1905.
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iyG-nf_U8RKmqpHMf9F0ti9F8QSQ

Winter at the Grand Canyon
Visit Arizona in off-season and you've the snow-dusted canyon to yourself
by Holden Frith
The Grand Canyon is an incredible sight, but the grandeur of it can be lost amid the crowds if you have to jostle scores of fellow tourists to get a clear view.
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/destinations/usa/article3209732.ece

Grand Teton NP

Park Service takes kids on electronic field trips
By Mead Gruver
Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Standing next to Jenny Lake, park ranger Diane McGee tells students about the plants and animals at Grand Teton National Park.
"Very soon, we will have snow falling on the ground," she says. "Winters here are very long. We get up to 200 inches of snow here on the valley floor."
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695242108,00.html

Stranded pronghorn in peril
Wildlife biologists say more than a dozen pronghorn that neglected to migrate out of Jackson Hole this fall could die if the region continues to receive heavy snowfall.
http://www.jacksonholenews.com/article.php?art_id=2619

Great Smoky NP

Alexander Praises $1.5 Million For Great Smoky Mountains National Park
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander Thursday praised the $1.5 million increase in funding for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and championed future efforts to "help our national parks plan ahead so future generations can appreciate and protect them."
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_119843.asp

Olympic NP
Rare fishers released into Olympic National Park
By Paige Dickerson, Peninsula Daily News
OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Nearly a dozen fishers leapt out of their cages and into the forests of Olympic National Park on Sunday.

The cat-sized predators — which are native to Western Washington — disappeared from the area decades ago because of over-trapping in the late 1800s and early 1900s, loss of native habitat and fragmentation.
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080128/NEWS/801280305

Yellowstone NP
Hot springs microbes hold key to dating sedimentary rocks, researchers say
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Scientists studying microbial communities and the growth of sedimentary rock at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park have made a surprising discovery about the geological record of life and the environment.
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=24656

Moving toward a wolf hunt
By JEFF GEARINO
Southwest Wyoming bureau
GREEN RIVER -- Resident sportsman Mark Lutz is a self-described "avid hunter" who usually bags deer, elk and antelope in wildlife-rich southwest Wyoming each fall. He's ready to add gray wolf to that list in a few years.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/article...3d80016fde9.txt

Yellowstone National Park geysers hit the web
Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park keeps blowing steam, and as of Wednesday folks can watch it happen thanks to Yellowstone National Park's first live streaming web cam.
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=7763478&nav=menu227_7

Yellowstone National Park returning to normal after storm
There's some good news for travelers headed to Yellowstone National Park as officials are now reopening roads that were shutdown because of Monday's winter storm.
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=7791650&nav=menu227_3

Yosemite NP
Identity of Yosemite Indians sought in the mists of history
By Vanessa Colón / The Fresno Bee
Who were the early inhabitants of Yosemite Valley -- Miwoks or Mono Lake Paiutes? The answer matters to David Andrews, a Paiute who believes his ancestors' history has been underplayed by the National Park Service.
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/315939.html

Yosemite's tourist-heavy El Portal Road gets emergency repairs
By Mark Grossi / The Fresno Bee
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK -- Between a granite cliff and the Merced River, workers carefully rebuild a crumbling road.
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/355367.html

Wow, nice work james! Thanks for sharing those links!

It's very very snowy out here in Glacier National Park. It's been snowing here for about a week, here's my little bungalo and a shot looking into the park from in front of my house, taken just this morning, 2/1/08.

That's almost what Walla Walla and the Tri-Cities looked like this past week!

Quote:

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That's almost what Walla Walla and the Tri-Cities looked like this past week!

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If you like snow, I've got a place for you. Here is a pic of my cabin up near Donner Pass in CA. This is usually what it looks like about this time of the year. This area consistently gets some of highest snowfall in the Sierras. It is not unusual to get 15' of snow and in bad years we can get 20 (that's on the ground). Of course the skiing is fantastic. I guess you can see what the Donner Party was up against. Unfortunately, we're not going to make it up there this winter, but I hear the snow is great.

Geo