The cool thing about doing this news segment daily is that I am finding new places that I never knew existed...and all within our National Parks System here in the USA. Please note that today we have also decided to start adding a segment called "Outside of the US/Canada Parks System" for news that falls in parks outside of...well, you get it..the USA and Canada. :P

Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP
Decree gives park water right
The last day of 2008 also brought the end of Colorado’s longest-running water-rights contest.
http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/01/11/011209_1a_Black_Canyon_water.html

Lake Mead National Recreation Area:
The National Park Service has positively identified the bodies recovered Saturday from Lake Mohave as 70-year-old James Mercer and 74-year-old Francis Blossom, both of Pahrump, Nev., according to Andrew Munoz, public affairs officer for the National Parks Service's Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2009/01/12/news/local/local5.txt

Misc. Parks News:

Federal wilderness protection for California land moves forward
The Senate clears the way for passage of legislation that would expand wilderness protection to more than 2 million acres of public land nationwide, mostly in California and the West.
Large swaths of California wild lands would gain federal wilderness protection under legislation that took a step toward approval in the U.S. Senate during a rare Sunday session.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wilderness12-2009jan12,0,5425754.story

Outside of the US/Canada Parks System:
Congo NP:
Militia kills ranger in Congo national park
A militia killed a ranger in a Democratic Republic of Congo park where authorities are trying to protect endangered gorillas threatened by civil war, the park said.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/11/congo.gorilla.ranger.killed/


Pudacuo National Park
China's Shangri-La is gateway to region's tourism, prosperity
Leaders are pushing ecotourism at the area's Pudacuo National Park and plan four more parks.
Yang Xuemei grew up tending yak with her family in this outpost on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. These days, she herds tourists through the alpine pastures and other scenic climes of Pudacuo National Park -- 1,243 square miles of soaring mountains and glacial lakes inhabited by red pandas and nearly 100 other endangered species.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-shangrila12-2009jan12,0,5094544.story

Rocky Mountain NP:
Longs Peak snowshoer had heart disease
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATONAL PARK — A 55-year-old Lakewood man who died while snowshoeing with his family in Rocky Mountain National Park had heart disease.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/jan/11/longs-peak-snowshoer-had-heart-disease/