Summer is always high season for fatal outdoor accidents, but increased lightning and heat seem to make it worse.
National Park Service
Posted inAugust 31, 2015: Unlocking the Methane Mystery
Renewal through exploration in Greater Yellowstone
Review of ‘The Wild Excellence: Notes from Untamed America’ by Leslie Patten.
Posted inAugust 31, 2015: Unlocking the Methane Mystery
Where vandals target Western parks
A by-the-numbers look at the most graffitied national parks.
Posted inArticles
How the Point Reyes oyster battles challenged our idea of wilderness
Review of a new book, ‘Oyster War’ by Summer Brennan.
Posted inJuly 20, 2015: Shredded
Public-lands visitation and recreation, by the numbers
Fatalities, backcountry trips, ATVs and Denali summit attempts over the years.
Posted inJuly 20, 2015: Shredded
Deaths renew calls for national parks to rescind BASE jumping bans
Squirrel suited flyers say the bans actually contribute to deadly accidents.
Posted inJuly 20, 2015: Shredded
Biking the line between wilderness and civilization
A bikepacking trip in Canyonlands offers a new look at a well-travelled landscape.
Posted inArticles
Cliff-jumpers versus condors in SoCal
Can $5,000 fines and jail time protect an endangered species from thrill-seekers?
Posted inArticles
Illegal flights persist despite national park drone ban
Early season drone reports are outpacing the number of incidents last year.
Posted inArticles
National parks scramble to keep up with the crowds
Does Utah’s mega tourism campaign compromise the outdoor experience?
Posted inArticles
New data released on violent threats to federal employees
Documents show 15 incidents in 2014, but don’t account for the Cliven Bundy standoff.
Posted inArticles
Grand Canyon floods are rebuilding sandbars
But there are limits to what can be done to tweak dam management to benefit ecosystems.
Posted inArticles
Battle of the Lands: Denali wins
Readers voted in our bracket-style tournament to crown the West’s best public lands on which to recreate.
Posted inArticles
A Yosemite gathering takes on culture, race, socioeconomics in national parks
Minorities, millennials and urbanites are less likely to visit national parks than upwardly mobile, white baby-boomers.
Posted inMay 11, 2015: The Wetland Wars
The Latest: New incentives for quieter aircraft in the Grand Canyon
More commercial flights are expected this year, if they meet federal noise standards.
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
A defender of North Dakota’s badlands wonders if it’s time to leave
Theodore Roosevelt National Park is not immune to effects of the Bakken oil boom.
Posted inArticles
Navajo election shakes up Grand Canyon development plans
How will the tribe’s new president handle the controversial Escalade project?
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
A wanderer’s guide to Western public lands
Cow patties, extraterrestrials and binoculars can help you figure out where you are.
Posted inApril 10, 2015: Strangers in a Strange Land
On the road with America’s sightseers
A photographer looks at three decades of tourism.
Posted inArticles
Who should manage Grand Teton’s private inholdings?
A dead wolf and jurisdictional confusion in an iconic national park.