When Washington’s Mount Rainier blew its top 5,600 years ago, a massive mud flow buried much of the Puget Sound under hundreds of feet of mud and rock. Today, smaller mudslides from the volcano, called one of the world’s most dangerous, threaten Mount Rainier National Park. In the past decade, slides have destroyed a bridge […]
National Park Service
Posted inNovember 24, 1997: Restoring a refuge: Cows depart, but can antelope recover?
Our national movie stars
National parks have always played starring roles in Hollywood productions. Sandstone pillars and deep gorges also appear on television and in magazines, selling cars, beer and almost everything in between. But most parks, some of which host an average of 50 productions per year, don’t see a dime from production companies. A 40-year-old rule prohibits […]
Posted inNovember 24, 1997: Restoring a refuge: Cows depart, but can antelope recover?
Greens differ over plan to expand national park
Anyone who has wandered the convoluted canyons of Arches National Park knows this landscape doesn’t lend itself to ruler-straight boundaries. But find the park on a map and you’ll see a stair-stepped outline that cuts across canyons and over mesas. Walt Dabney, the outspoken superintendent of both Arches and Canyonlands national parks, has been trying […]
Posted inApril 14, 1997: Beauty and the Beast
Yellowstone’s ‘geyser guy’ was one of the park’s best friends
In the spray of Old Faithful, in the shimmer of heat within Yellowstone’s turquoise pools, in the steam rolling through the pines, Rick Hutchinson looks back at us. Rick was Yellowstone’s geyser guy, a geologist who was the foremost authority on the world’s foremost collection of geysers and hot springs. I say “was.” But I […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Devils Tower may get a second name
To Plains Indians, the name Devils Tower dishonors a sacred place. But to local Wyoming residents, the name stands for community identity and tourist dollars. When Devils Tower National Monument Superintendent Deborah Liggett revived the idea of renaming the feature, people spoke out in opposition. At an Aug. 15 meeting, says Liggett, “I was labeled […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Strapped parks look for money
Visitors who go to Nevada’s Great Basin National Park to tour limestone caves and gawk at wind-twisted bristlecone pines may not notice anything different this summer. Campground gates and visitors’ center doors are open as usual. Rangers lead hikes to Alpine Lake each morning, and lecture campers in the evenings about everything from bats to […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Yellowstone cutbacks bring out the politicians
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news story, “Strapped parks look for money.” When Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Mike Finley started to feel the budget pinch this summer, he made sure everyone knew about it. Finley closed a popular campground and two museums in Yellowstone, […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
A park boss goes to bat for the land
MAMMOTH, Wyo. – In late October, during the short lull between the traffic jams of summer and the snowmobile crowds of winter, the world’s oldest national park breathes a short sigh of relief. Only a few visitors climb the steaming mound of hot springs that looms above park headquarters here, and a herd of elk […]
Posted inApril 15, 1996: Raising a ranch from the dead
Utah’s Burr Trail still leads to court
A tentative cease-fire over the management of southern Utah’s Burr Trail ended abruptly Feb. 13 when a Garfield County road crew bulldozed a hillside inside Capitol Reef National Park. Garfield County officials say it was “just something that had to be done” to maintain the “county-owned” road. But Terri Martin of the National Parks and […]
Posted inOctober 2, 1995: Did Idaho libel the feds?
Does Religion belong in national parks?
Karl and Rita Girshman, a Jewish couple from Maryland, happened to be naked in their room at Big Bend National Park in 1993 when suddenly, a lodge employee let himself in with a key. He handed the Girshmans a flier, then invited them to “join in worshipping our Lord and Savior” and to “come as […]
Posted inOctober 2, 1995: Did Idaho libel the feds?
Fund raising in parks takes a collection box, and a lawyer
When it comes to First Amendment rights, national parks operate a lot like airports. Park officials cannot discriminate against the speaker or the message, but they do have some discretion over how, where and when the delivery is made. While most decisions are left up to the park superintendent, there are some agency-wide rules, such […]
Posted inSeptember 18, 1995: The West's fisheries spin out of control
Parks may get control of their air
In an effort to maintain the peace and quiet national parks are known for, Rep. David Skaggs, D-Colo., has introduced a bill giving the Park Service more control over who flies over its lands. His National Park Scenic Overflights Concessions Act gives power to the secretary of the Interior and the Park Service to regulate […]
Posted inJune 26, 1995: Colorado's prison slayer
Xerox copiers and black helicopters
In early June, Congressman Scott McInnis, a Republican from Colorado, materialized at the Interior Department building in Washington, D.C., and demanded immediate entrance. Unfortunately for the course of history, he had forgotten his photo I.D. and it took him and the reporter he had in tow 10 minutes to get past the guards. (His forgetfulness […]
Posted inApril 3, 1995: The Great Basin: America's wasteland seeks a new identity
A bitter rancher and a failed compromise
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, The Great Basin: America’s wasteland seeks a new identity. Great Basin National Park was born compromised. Established in 1986, the park covers 120 square miles of the Snake Range, centered on Wheeler Peak near the border of Nevada and Utah. It is […]
Posted inDecember 12, 1994: Shrink to fit
Mount Usher-in-More
While the National Park Service may be talking about minimizing vehicle gridlock at Grand Canyon and Yosemite, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota is planning a $16 million parking lot to handle the memorial’s annual 3 million visitors. Superintendent Dan Wenk proposes charging drivers $4 to $5 to park to help fund the parking lot. Mount […]
Posted inDecember 12, 1994: Shrink to fit
A trial run at Glacier
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Shrink to fit. In the late 1980s, Republican Rep. Ron Marlenee came over from his eastern Montana district to make speeches in the Flathead Basin. In those speeches, he demanded that Gil Lusk get back inside Glacier National Park. At the time, Lusk had […]
Posted inDecember 12, 1994: Shrink to fit
Who will run the new Park Service?
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Shrink to fit. When and if the National Park Service is allowed by the Congress to reorganize itself, it will still have 366 Park Service units and close to 300 million visitors a year. But the management of those parks and visitors and how […]
Posted inDecember 12, 1994: Shrink to fit
Shrink to fit
National Park Service may be downsized and reorganized
Posted inNovember 14, 1994: Land grant universities
Say what?
The NPS wants help ASAP in de-jargonizing its PR under NEPA. Translated, that means for the first time in 12 years the National Park Service is considering changes in procedure under the National Environmental Policy Act, the mother of all environmental protection. Passed in 1969, the act describes which environmental impacts the federal government must […]
Posted inOctober 17, 1994: As elections near, green hopes wilt
Parks give free rides
While the Clinton administration proposes charging people more to visit national parks, the National Park Service continues to lose more than $100 million a year in fees it fails to collect. According to an Interior Department audit, the agency took in $68 million in gate and campground fees at the nation’s 367 parks, monuments and […]