Carlsbad Caverns opens after heavy snowfall

Carlsbad Caverns National Park reopened Wednesday after heavy snowfall shut down the popular New Mexico tourist stop a day earlier.

Carlsbad Caverns' chief of interpretation and education, Marie Marek, said about 80 people were waiting to get into the park when it opened Wednesday morning, compared with the dozen or fewer people typically waiting when the park opens.

However, New Mexico hasn't seen the last of winter weather this week. The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for the northwest quarter of the state through Thursday morning. The advisory includes Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Farmington, Gallup, Grants, Taos, Los Alamos and Las Vegas. Forecasters say up to three inches of snow is possible at lower elevations.

A desert paradise: Joshua Tree National Park

Following is the second (first was Mesa Verde) of my Top Ten National Park picks, a difficult choice with so many great parks to choose from. To qualify, they had to be RV friendly, offering camping, road-touring, or optional means of seeing the park. They had to encompass some of the most breathtaking and wild scenery in the country, have abundant wildlife, and offer a variety of recreational opportunities to make it a destination choice, a place you could spend days or weeks. They represent several types of terrain spread over nine states and Canada, from Maine to California.

Joshuaa Tree National Park is the only desert park in the list, and provides an introduction to the variety and complexity of the desert environment. The park illustrates the vivid contrast between the higher Mojave and lower Colorado Deserts that range in altitude from 1,200 feet in the Pinto Basin to 5,814 feet, spanning many ecosystems.

Few roads pass through the 1,017,748-acre park, but entrances at both north and south ends of the park connect to a cross-park scenic drive, with spur roads to specific attractions, hikes, petroglyphs, campgrounds, and desert gardens.

The desert explodes with vivid hues in the spring when wildflowers burst through the sand and gravel of the desert floor, painting the desert with a profusion of color. Cacti begin to bloom in April, their neon flowers seem like creations from Photoshop. Best time to visit is in spring and fall, when temperatures moderate. Mid-winter can be cold and windy with occasional snow, while summers are hot and dry.

Hiking trails encourage exploration of the desert scenery: granite monoliths (popular with rock climbers), petroglyphs carved into the rocks by early Native Americans, the dark cavities of old abandoned mines, and the now deserted ranches. Look for wildlife and birds at the park’s five fan palm oases.

There are nine campgrounds. Reservations are available at Black Rock and Indian Cove, which also have dump stations (as does Cottonwood). Water is scarce, this is a desert, so arrive with a full tank and a couple of Jerry jugs for back-up. It's a long drive down to the visitor center to fill up.

From Palm Springs drive east on Interstate 10 to the southern entrance, or on CA62 to Twentynine Palms for the northern entrance. There is a visitor center at both entrances where you can pick up maps and information.

Learn more about desert camping with my new eBook, Snowbird Guide to Camping and Boondocking in the Southwestern Deserts.

In memory of Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo and his journey to CA in 1542

Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma in San Diego commemorates the conquistador and explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and his 1542 journey up the California coast. This national park provides a great spot from which to take in the City of San Diego and the beauty of the Pacific Ocean. The Coronado Islands, mountains, and the sea lie beneath your eyes, seducing you to linger on the refurbished first floor of the lighthouse, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, made of local sandstone and featuring floor tiles taken from the ruins of an old Spanish fort.

Once you’ve seen the panorama of the coast and the nearby urban world,
descend to the water’s edge and get a close-up view of a tidepool. In
autumn and winter, tide levels drop, offering a peek at anemones, sea
stars, and other inhabitants of the ocean’s rocky intertidal zone. Rangers
can take you on guided walks if you wish.

From late December until early March, you can glimpse Pacific gray whales
whose annual migration route passes the park. The whales travel from the
Arctic to Baja California, where they mate and give birth in the warm
waters. The shiny, knuckled back of a gray whale may appear as the animal
breathes out warm, moist air that interacts with cool air at the ocean’s
surface to form a bushy column called a blow or spout. You might see a
whale display its flukes, or tail, before it dives or even see it
breach—throw its body out of the water and return with a terrific splash.

Lassen NP to again offer snow shoe walks

Lassen Volcanic National Park's popular ranger-led snowshoe walks will again be offered from the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center near the park's southwest entrance beginning Dec. 26.

Bring your holiday guests to the park and experience the fun of snowshoeing through a red fir forest blanketed in deep snow, said Superintendent Darlene M. Koontz.

Other activities to enjoy include cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snow play, sledding, snow camping, or just sitting by the fireplace in the visitor center with a cup of hot chocolate after viewing the park film.

Snowshoe walks are offered on Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. at the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center from Dec. 26 through April 4. Programs last 11/2 to 2 hours and are open to individuals and families with children age 8 and older. For safety reasons, infants and children in carriers are not permitted. Rangers provide participants with proper snowshoeing techniques, outdoor survival tips and winter mountain travel safety information. The National Park Service provides snowshoes for the walks. A $1 donation is suggested for their use and maintenance.

The park is always open throughout the winter. The road is plowed to the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center on the south side, which is open daily except Dec. 25.

Wolf numbers up outside Yellowstone, down inside park

Wyoming’s wolf population is thriving and growing in most of the state, despite continuing declines among Yellowstone National Park wolves, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist says.

Wyoming’s wolf population – animals in the Equality State whose home ranges are outside Yellowstone – grew from 178 animals, 30 packs and 16 breeding pairs last year to an estimated 200 in 30 packs with between 19 and 21 breeding pairs this year. The overall increase is 12 percent, although year-end numbers won’t be calculated for some time.

USA Today recently reported that the decline in Yellowstone can partly be attributed to the loss of federal protections for the species in Idaho and Montana. Wyoming wolves remain under the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

Inside Yellowstone, the population declined from 171 wolves in 2007 to 124 wolves in 2008 and 116 wolves this year. The change marks a 32 percent decline in three years, a 6 percent decline this year.

While Montana hunters did kill four wolves from the Cottonwood Pack, which inhabits a territory on both sides of the boundary between Montana and the park, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wyoming wolf recovery coordinator, Mike Jimenez, said Yellowstone’s population decline has more to do with natural processes.

“The wolf populations in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are all expanding and doing very well,” he said. “The population drop in Yellowstone has been anticipated from day one and is from natural causes.”

San Antonio Missions National Historic Park, the Alamo, and Davy Crockett

Many travelers to San Antonio know before they arrive that they want to visit the Alamo, which gained fame during the Texas Revolution. They may, however, need a prod to remember the Alamo’s four sister sites, the missions preserved in the national historical park that bears their name.

Mission San Antonio (also known as the Alamo) and the missions Concepcion, San José, San Juan, and Espada were founded in the 1700s. The four missions in the park display Spanish Colonial baroque architecture, exemplified by Mission San José, with its ornate façade and rose window. When visitors enter a mission church, they may feel as if they have stepped back in time.

The churches work with remnants of walled pueblos, a reconstruction of a 1794 gristmill, and an 18th-century stone aqueduct to bring the Spanish Colonial period into focus. The park’s museum and daily tours also illustrate this chapter of the past.

Although people visit San Antonio Missions National Historic Park (NHP) primarily to discover architecture, art, and history, the park also offers outdoor recreation. The four missions have accessible, short walking paths and a route along the San Antonio River for hiking and bicycling.


San Antonio Missions NHP preserves and interprets the largest concentration of Spanish Colonial resources in the country. Admission to the park is free and open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM.

Top Ten National Parks: Mesa Verde

Visiting the National Parks is at or near the top of the reasons why many of us chose the RV Lifestyle. What better way to tour these national treasures, to experience with all our senses the wondrous glacier-covered mountains, rugged wave-sculpted coastlines, centuries-old Native American dwellings, and free-roaming wildlife--a virtual retrospective of the New World that the first explorers found when they stepped off the boat.

Following is the first of my Top Ten National Park picks. The rest will follow in the weeks ahead. A difficult choice, with so many great parks to choose from, to qualify they had to be RV friendly, offering camping, road-touring, or optional means of seeing the park, encompass some of the most breathtaking and wild scenery in the country, have abundant wildlife, and offer a variety of recreational opportunities to make it a destination choice.

They represent several varieties of terrain spread over nine states and Canada, from Maine to California. Not in any special order, my first profile is Mesa Verde National Park.

Mesa Verde in the Southwestern corner of Colorado celebrated its 100th anniversary as a national park in 2006, the first park in the National Parks system dedicated to preserving the efforts and lifestyle of a human culture, and is the only park in this list whose main attraction is man-made. The park has also been designated a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO.

More than 4,000 archeological sites have been discovered in the park, representing the Ancestral Pueblo (formerly called Anasazi) culture from AD 600 to 1300. Six hundred cliff dwellings hug the cliffs, the best preserved in the nation. For wildlife watcher, in addition to abundant deer and wild turkeys, watch for black bear, elk, coyote, gray fox, and marmot. Free-roaming horses from the Ute Reservation graze along park roads.

The park's Morefield Campground has 435 campsites, 15 with hookups, takes no reservations, and has never filled in its history. Amenities include showers, dump station, laundry, gas station and general store.

Learn more about RVing in Colorado at RVbookstore.com

Padre Island National Seashore bans dogs from park

Padre Island National Seashore in Corpus Christi, Texas announced that the park is now closed to dogs, since "Visitors choosing to bring their dogs to the National Seashore are putting their dogs at significant risk for severe illness and potentially death."

Several dead coyotes have been found and the park has received reports of dogs becoming ill or dying after visiting the park.

The park has limited information regarding the cause of the deaths, but toxicology reports suggest brevetoxin, acquired from the consumption of fish killed by the recent red tide, may be the cause for the recent coyote and dog mortalities.

Brevetoxin is a toxin produced by dinoflagellates, such as Karenia brevis the dinoflagellate responsible for the recent red tide event. There is no known antidote for the toxin.

The National Park Service (NPS) will advise the public once more information is available.

Christmas bird count at Wind Cave NP this Sunday

South Dakota's Wind Cave National Park will host its annual Christmas Bird Count on Sunday, December 13.

The event, like many others throughout the National Park System, is patterned after the National Audubon Society’s effort to document trends in wintering bird life throughout the United States. The count area will include all of Wind Cave National Park and areas of the Black Hills National Forest and Custer State Park.

“This annual activity helps us document winter bird life in the park and surrounding area,” said Wind Cave Superintendent Vidal Davila. “Information from the count is added to the park’s bird database and provided to the South Dakota Ornithological Union.”

People wishing to participate should meet at the park visitor center at 8 a.m. Participants are asked to dress warmly, bring a lunch, field guides and binoculars, something to share for dinner and a place setting. Participants will return to the park’s VIP Center at 4:15 p.m. to compile results and share in a potluck dinner. For more information, contact Barb Muenchau or Dan Roddy at (605) 745-4600.

Mammoths discovered in Waco, Texas

According to the National Park Service (NPS), the Waco Mammoth Site is “The nation’s first and only recorded discovery of a nursery herd of Pleistocene mammoths.”

After 30 years of excavation, the Waco Mammoth Site in Waco,TX a project teaming private landowners and donors in partnership wtih the NPS, the City of Waco, Baylor University, and the Mayborn Museum, is now open!

So far 24 mammoths have been discovered, and it's likely other fossils exist also. If you are an amateur or wannabae Paleontologist and happen to be passing through Waco, the museum is still looking for volunteers to lead tours at the dig site.

The public opening took place Saturday, Dec. 5 and the site will begin normal operating hours on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009.
Admission rates range from $5 to $7. Open 11 AM to 5 PM Tuesdays thru Fridays, 9 to 5 Saturdays.

Battle over Yellowstone bison featured in new TV show

A new one-hour special about the conflict surrounding Yellowstone National Park's bison herd is set to premiere on the cable network Planet Green on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 10 p.m.

Called Buffalo Battle, the show is the pilot episode of a potential series and tracks the work of activists with The Buffalo Field Campaign, an environmental group based in West Yellowstone, MT.

For thirteen years, Field Campaign volunteers have used direct action techniques to oppose the slaughter and management of Yellowstone bison, considered by some to be America's last wild, genetically pure herd. More than 6,000 wild bison have been killed when they left the safety of Yellowstone Park, as part of a plan to manage the cattle disease brucellosis. Bison carry brucellosis and livestock officials argue the migrating animals may transmit the disease to the region's cattle. But Field Campaign activists say the bison pose little or no threat of transmitting the bacterium. A Planet Green film crew spent more than two weeks in the Yellowstone area in May 2009 to document the work of the activists and the state and federal officials trying to manage the bison.

Agents used a helicopter, ATV's and horses to round up and move the bison. Activists opposed the relocation, or "hazing" of the bison, particularly during the spring calving season. They used video surveillance, coordinated wilderness patrols and other direct action techniques to protest the government's work and to gather evidence that relocation is unsafe for the bison and other sensitive wildlife.

Smoky Mountains NP announces road closures

Roads Closed in the Smoky Mountains National Park
* Cades Cove Loop Road will be closed for repaving to all traffic, hikers and bikers starting sometime in March 2010 until at least late May 2010

* Balsam Mountain Road is now closed for winter until May 8th 2010.

* Clingmans Dome Road is now closed to vehicles traffic until May 2010 and will be closed to all hikers, bikers and skiers due to repaving starting February 2010.

* Fontana Dam Access Road to the AT is closed to vehicles (Hikers Allowed) until January 31st, 2010.

* Heintooga Ridge Road is now closed for winter until May 8th 2010.

* Little Greenbrier Road is closed for winter from December 31st 2009 until March 13th 2010.

* Parson Branch Road is closed for the winter and will open in late in April 2010.

* Rich Mountain Road is now closed for winter until March 13th 2010.

* Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in now closed to vehicles and will be closed in December to all hikers and bikers starting sometime in February 2010 until May 2010.

* Roundbottom/Straight Fork is now closed for winter until March 13th 2010.

* The Sinks Parking Area on Little River Road will be closed due to construction from sometime in December 2009 through May 2010.

The fire breathing dragons of Hopewell Furnace NHS

Hopewell Village’s rolling hills, rows of apple trees, rustic barns and outbuildings, and meandering trails suggest a mood of pastoral peacefulness, offering only a clue to what life was like in this bustling 18th century community. The restless colonists of the period, filled with the fervor of a new land of freedom and commerce, were poised to charge into the new century with the bravery and confidence of medieval knights slaying fire-breathing dragons.

The dragons confronted by Hopewell’s residents, however, belched smoke and flames from tall, stone, charcoal-fueled furnace chimneys, that grew out of the ore-rich earth of eastern Pennsylvania in the late 1800s.

Sweat soaked “founders” fed the roaring, voraciously hungry monsters that demanded feeding day and night, seldom shutting down for fear of losing production. There was great demand for the products spit out by these dragons, not just the raw pig iron demanded by the mother country, but also cast iron stoves, plowshares, pots, sash and scale weights, and—when war broke out—cannon and shot.

Manufacturing anything—except for the production of pig iron--was strictly forbidden by England. But the colonists did not take kindly to these orders. Instead the independent entrepreneurs defied England’s proclamation, and when relations exploded into revolution in 1775, the colonies’ forges were producing enough finished goods to rate them as the seventh largest producer of iron products in the world.

Fortunately for these revolutionaries, when war broke out Colonial ironmasters were poised and ready to turn out the weapons, cannon, and shot needed by the Continental Army and Navy to wrest independence from Britain. Established in 1771, the iron-producing Hopewell Village forges operated successfully for 112 years until 1883, when new processes and production methods ushered in an era of efficient, low cost iron production, forcing the furnace to shut down. The roar of the beast would be heard no more.

Today you can tour the grounds and ten restored buildings including the ironmaster’s mansion, cast house and furnace stack, smokehouse, and springhouse as they appeared in the 1820-1840 period, when the furnace produced its most successful product--the cast iron Hopewell Stove.
Exhibits and audio programs show and explain the operation of the furnace and the village. During special event days, the village comes alive with living history programs and demonstrations conducted by characters in period dress.

Hopewell Furnace National Historic site is southeast of Reading, five miles south of Birdsboro, on PA-345

Everglades proposes partial ban on outboard motors

The Everglades once covered most of the southern third of Florida, supporting countless species of plant and animal life. But as more and more people arrived there, more and more changes were made to the Everglades. Now, scientists say the Everglades is dying.

In an effort to prevent boat propellers from tearing up seagrass, the park has proposed banning the use of outboard motors in part of Florida Bay, establishing pole and troll zones where only push poles, paddles, and electric trolling motors could be used.

The no-motor zone is intended to protect seagrass and wildlife habitat, showing that damaged areas can recover, enhancing habitat for fish and other wildlife and improving the experience for people who fish, paddle or watch wildlife.

Acadia National Park passes on sale at half price

Acadia National Park is selling its annual park pass for half price December 1-31. The passes are available at the winter visitor center at park headquarters on Eagle Lake Road, open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day except Christmas. Passes cannot be purchased by phone. For more information call 207-288-3338 extension 0.

Yosemite's Tioga and Glacier Point roads closed

Yosemite National Park has announced that Tioga and Glacier Point roads have closed for the season eliminating vehicle travel through the eastern entrance of Yosemite. Authorities also issued a reminder that all roads within the park, which is open year-round, are subject to chain control or temporary closures. Visitors should carry chains at all times while driving inside park boundaries, and can check on road conditions by calling (209) 372-0200.

Yellowstone grizzly bear deaths down

Fewer run-ins between Yellowstone grizzly bears and hunters and renewed efforts to protect them led to a sharp drop in bruin deaths in 2009, officials say, but the decline has failed to quiet growing concerns about the long-term fate of the species.

The lower death toll comes just a year after a record number of the region's grizzlies were killed. In September, they were returned to the threatened list.

Biologists say it's unlikely this year's death toll will grow much beyond an estimated 46 killed so far, because the massive bears are denning up for the winter. Seventy-nine were killed last year -- by hunters acting in self-defense, wildlife officials dealing with problem bears, natural causes and vehicles slamming into the animals.

Environmentalists pointed to last year's deaths as evidence the bear's slow recovery from near-extermination had turned sour. They argued in part that climate change was forever altering the animal's food supply. But federal officials say last year -- when a short summer drove hungry bears out of deep wilderness and into areas where they got into trouble -- will likely be an exception.

Grand Canyon North Rim to close for season

Motorized access to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon ends for the season next week. The Arizona Department of Transportation will close State Route 67, the roadway leading to the North Rim. Most North Rim facilities closed on October 15.

However, scenic roadways and overlooks, as well as gas stations, camping and gift and book stores have remained open in order to provide basic services until the road closes for the season. State Route 67 and all services on the North Rim are expected to reopen next May. South Rim facilities and the inner canyon remain open year-round. The North Rim campground will still be available for winter camping and is accessible by inner canyon trails from the South Rim or by cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.

SOURCE: www.kswt.com

Great Basin NP in winter

If you've never been to Great Basin National Park just east of Ely, Nevada on the Utah border, try taking a winter trip to the park. Expect snow when you get up into the higher parks of the park, but all visitor center operations have moved to low territory at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center at park headquarters for the winter. The visitor center will be open every day through thewinter except for Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.
Superintendent Andy Ferguson invites visitors to enjoy the special opportunities the change of season brings to Great Basin National Park. Cave tours will continue, also through the winter.

The park maintains the entrance road to the Lehman Cave Visitor Center; the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive to Upper Lehman Creek Campground; and the road into Lower Lehman Creek Campground year round.

Lower Lehman Creek Campground, with 11 sites is open your round on a first come first serve basis.

Road and trail conditions are posted at the park's website. Read more here.

Lassen Volcanic National Park closed for season

You can forget about visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park until late spring. A winter storm and other due Friday has forced the closure today of Highway 89 through the park .

There was 18 inches of snow on the road near Lake Helen at about 8,250 feet and 4 1/2 inches of snow near the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center at 6,700 feet.

This year, the new Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center features a new webcam. Read more here.

Happy Birthday Blue Ridge Parkway

This year is the 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway whose construction began in 1935 at Cumberland Knob. The last stretch was completed fifty-two years later near Grandfather Mountain, NC.

The 469-mile roadway that crosses through 29 counties from Waynesboro, VA to Cherokee, NC will be celebrated throughout 2010, just as Great Smoky Mountains National Park celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2009.

The Blue Ridge Parkway, although not technically a national park, draws more visitors than Great Smoky Mountains National Park--roughly 20 million a year. (The Smokies are still considered the most visited national park because of its true national park status).

Expanded parking at Grand Canyon Visitor Center

On Friday the National Park Service announced that the first phase of the improvements called for in Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim Visitor Transportation Plan is nearing completion. New parking areas at the visitor center are expected to be open in time for Thanksgiving.

This is welcome news for all park visitors because it means things are going to get better--traffic and parking.

Phase I improvements address problems associated with traffic congestion and significant parking shortages in and around Mather Point and the Grand Canyon Visitor Center, including:

• realignment of the South Entrance Road to loop around the Visitor Center area to the south and west
• three new visitor parking lots which will provide parking for up to 600 vehicles
• a new parking lot which will provide parking for 40 commercial tour vehicles.

Click here for more information.

New guide service at Grand Canyon: Your cell phone

Your cell phone can now do double duty as your tour guide to Grand Canyon National Park. You can listen to a park ranger give a two-minute narration on various aspects of the canyon from geology to Native American history to the night sky. You can listen to these narrations at many points of interest on the South Rim from Hermit Road to Yaki Point. Just look for the “Park Ranger Audio Tour” signs, call 928-225-2907, and enter the stop number.

Since this is a phone tour, you can be anywhere along the rim where there is cell phone coverage to listen to the messages. Feel free to stroll along the rim as you listen, then stop and enjoy the view to reflect on what you have just learned. There is no additional charge to listen to these messages. Cell phone coverage at Grand Canyon can be spotty, and not all providers offer service in the park.

You can also download the audio tour files onto your MP3 player or iPhone.

Plenty to see, do at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Colorado's Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park's unique and spectacular landscape was formed slowly by the action of water and rock scouring down through hard Proterozoic crystalline rock. The canyon contains some of the oldest exposed rock on Earth. No other canyon in North America combines the narrow opening, sheer walls, and startling depths offered by the Black Canyon of the Gunnison -- not even the Grand Canyon.

For RVers and other campers, there's good news: the park's campgrounds are spacious, scenic, close to the canyon, and campsites are seldom fully booked. Some sites even have hookups. The National Park, only 10 years old, is located approximately 250 miles southwest of Denver. This excellent eight-minute video provides a great overview of the park and its attractions with a special look at campgrounds.

Documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns, scores millions for National Parks

Ken Burns' acclaimed documentary, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," is being credited with the House's increasing the budget of the National Park Service by $218 million--$47 million more than the administration has asked for. The documentary was shown on PBS in September and October and showed spectacular footage of Yosemite, Yellowstone, and others in our National Parks system.

In addition to highlighting the best features of the parks, it also illustrated how the park service has always ended up shortchanged by Congress, requiring more money than Congress was willing to give it. But as the documentary pointed out, the parks had 275 million visitors last year, and could go over 300 million next year.

The additional money it receives in 2010 will go toward expanding educational programs and facilities, and 45 construction projects. Read the entire article, published in the Federal Times, here.

Fire Island National Seashore fall programs

Don't wait another minute to sign up for Long Island New York's Fire Island National Seashore's special programs. Some of these special programs for the remainder of November and for December 2009 are already filled, but additional tours and activities still have plenty of room for more participants.

The Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society (FILPS) is offering several evening tower tours and other holiday activities, as well as routine tours at the Fire Island Lighthouse.

The Old Mastic House at Fire Island National Seashore's William Floyd Estate closes for the season on November 15, but several special grounds tours and walks will be offered this fall and winter, including a late autumn bird walk on November 22. The program is free, but reservations are requested. (Phone 631-399-2030)

A number of children's programs and activities will be offered during November and December at the Wilderness Visitor Center, including a new Junior Ranger program workshop.

Glacier National Park officials seeking comments

Officials at Glacier National Park are seeking comments to help in an environmental assessment for the development of a wildlife viewing plan for the Many Glacier area.

A number of ideas are being considered, according to a news release from Glacier Park, including:

• New exhibits on wildlife viewing.
• Enlarging some pullouts and/or adding new ones in safer locations to view wildlife
• Reducing the size or removing pullouts altogether in known wildlife crossing areas or those pullouts that place visitors in close proximity to wildlife.
• Lowering speed limits along the entire road or portions of it.
• Constructing viewing platforms at pullouts and at the Swiftcurrent parking lot
• Providing ranger naturalists and spotting scopes at pullouts along the road.

Many glacier, located in the northeast portion of the park, three valleys and several vegetation zones converge, forming a crossroads for many different species of wildlife. The area includes majestic landscapes, lakes and waterfalls, trails, and wildlife viewing.

These valleys provide natural travel corridors for bighorn sheep, black and grizzly bears, mountain goats, wolves, wolverines and many other animals. The Many Glacier Road bisects the travel corridors for these species providing outstanding wildlife viewing.

Heavy visitor traffic, large bear jams, and other safety concerns, combined with new knowledge and understanding about how wildlife travel through and within this region, has prompted the National Park Service to look for ways to protect wildlife while continuing to provide visitors with safe viewing opportunities in this corridor. Human presence and activity that is too close to wildlife can disrupt feeding, caring for young, and the animal's movement through an area.

Public comments are invited on Many Glacier planning.

Comments can be sent directly through the National Park Service planning Web site. Go to http://parkplanning.nps.gov/glac and select Wildlife Viewing Plan-Many Glacier.

Written comments can be mailed to Superintendent, Glacier National Park, Attention: Wildlife Viewing Plan, P.O. Box 128, West Glacier, Montana 59936.

Free Admission to National Parks on Veterans Day Nov. 11

In honor of all the men and women in our armed services, the Department of the Interior announced that it will waive all entrance fees to public recreation land--the National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Reclamation--on Wednesday, November 11, 2009.

In a news release, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, said, “The sacrifices and achievements of the brave men and women of our armed forces can never be understated. We invite all of our visitors to enjoy this fee-free day and take time out on this national holiday to remember our service men and women who are currently serving overseas in harm’s way. ”

Only entrance fees are waived. Fees associated with camping, lodging or other activities will be collected.

Beware of bears this time of year

If you plan to camp this fall in areas populated by bears, including National Parks, be careful. This time of year bears are in constant search of food before denning for the winter. Bears are moving up and down in elevation and moving along river valley bottoms looking for calories -- fruits and vegetables, unsecured food in residential areas (pet food, garbage, bird feeders), and carcasses from hunter harvests. Hikers, campers, hunters -- all recreationists — should use care and be familiar with how avoid encounters in bear country.

Here are some tips about traveling and camping in bear areas.
• Always carry bear pepper spray, have it close at hand, and know how to use it.
• If you are going to be alone in bear country, let someone know your detailed plans; better yet, don’t go alone.
• Be alert to signs of bear activity.
• Think in advance about what you would do in the event of an encounter.
• Make noise as you travel.
• Cook any meals at least 100 yards from any backcountry campsites.
• Store any attractants, including game carcasses, at least 100 yards from any backcountry campsites.
• Hunters: after making a kill get the carcass out of the area as quickly as possible; while field dressing, keep a can of bear spray within easy reach; use special precautions if you must leave and return to a carcass, including placing the carcass where you can easily observe it from a distance when you return. Do not attempt to frighten away or haze a bear that is near or feeding on a carcass.

The only extraterrestrial visit to a national monument: Devil's Tower

In the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind the alien spaceship landed in Devil's Tower, Wyoming, driving Richard Dreyfuss nutty. Remember him modeling a replica of what he saw in his head, which turned out to be the bigger-than-life volcanic monolith that defines the park? For many people, that was their first view of this giant 50-million year old igneous extrusion that rose abruptly out of the grasslands and forests of far northeastern Wyoming.

In fact, if you were one of those first time viewers, you may have found it hard to believe. It had to have been enhanced in Photoshop. This steep-sided, ribbed, black, eruption of molten lava, that rises 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche river. Besides its monstrous, alien-attracting size, a striking characteristic is surface of the tower covered with vertical polygonal columns (there are some four, and six-sided columns as well) that measure 15 to 20 feet in diameter at the base and taper to about ten feet at the summit.

Think of that when looking at the tower to get an idea of its enormous size. And believe it or not, over 50,000 climbers (see arrow on photo at right) have made it to the top and signed the log. And it make it even more weird, these climbers report that they have seen squirrels, rattle snakes, and pack rats among the prairie grasses and prickly pear cactus. How did they get there?

The park is open all year and a 50-site park campground (open April thru October) hugs the river and a KOA is nearby. And while you're here, visit the prairie dog town and hike the trail all the way around the tower of this 1,347-acre monument.

Yellowstone Park visits continue to set records

More than 900,000 people entered Yellowstone National Park in July, up more than 11 percent from the same month in 2008, and up over the previous all time record of 847,000 visitors set in July 1995. Year to date, park attendance is up 10.3 percent. July is typically the park’s peak visitation month, followed by August, June, September, and May.

Visitation in June was just below 644,000, well above the previous record of 609,000 visitors in June 2007.

The West Entrance remains the park’s busiest, with more than 385,000 visitors this July compared to 337,000 a year ago. The greatest percentage increase in visitation was recorded through the East Entrance, up 15.1 percent from July 2008.

Park managers believe the decrease in gasoline prices from over $4 a gallon last July to near $2.50 a gallon this summer helped spur the increase in visitation.

Photo: Great Fountain Geyser.

Mt. Rushmore to be digitally mapped in 3-D

At South Dakota's Mount Rushmore National Memorial preservationists will soon use leading edge technology to digitally document the monument to four American presidents in three dimensions.

Through a groundbreaking partnership with CyArk, a US-based non-profit pioneering in digital preservation, and the Culture Minister of the Scottish Government, Mount Rushmore will become the first international World Heritage site outside of Scotland to be rendered in 3D.

Starting in September, project staff will begin laser scanning, modeling and archiving at the monument. The final three-dimensional, digital model will reveal sculpted surfaces with an accuracy of less than one centimeter. This 3D model will be the focus of the comprehensive CyArk website for showcasing to the public the heritage and historic assets contained within the Memorial boundary.

No entrance fees to National Parks Aug. 15-16

The National Park Service invites you to come by for a free visit later this month-- to relax, to learn a little bit about this nation or to just have some fun. About 200 national parks never charge an entry fee. The 147 National Park Service sites across the USA that do charge fees for entry will waive them the weekend of August 15-16. This is the third and final "free admission" weekend to National Parks this year.

Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias milestone event

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve will be in the spotlight this fall as public television airs Ken Burns’ newest documentary on national parks.

But for America's largest national park — with an area equivalent to six Yellowstones — there is even more excitement as the park celebrates 10 years of restoration work at the historic Kennecott Mine. Designated a National Historic Site in 1998, historians have been busy documenting the century-old mining community, recording interviews with residents who grew up as "Kennecott Kids" and restoring buildings at a site that remains the best example of early 20th century mining. On Sept. 6, a ribbon cutting ceremony will mark the completion of restoration on the mine's General Manager's Office.

Visitors can tour this and other historic mining structures, explore nearby glaciers or watch for wildlife that frequent the area. With four mountain ranges and nine of the 16 highest peaks in the United States, the park and its newly restored Kennecott buildings are a great place to step off into a true Alaska adventure.

Site where WW2 African American servicemen lost their lives given National Park designation

In case you never heard the story, which most of us haven’t, in Northern California right off the Sacramento river the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial is five acres of land set aside to receive a National Park designation for the lives that were lost there.

On July 17, 1944, out of 320 navy sailors, 202 were black and were killed as they loaded munitions for a naval boat during World War II. According to the report in USA Today, they were ordered to “work as cargo handlers, loading explosives, incendiary bombs, depth charges and ammunition onto ships for delivery to the war in the Pacific.” Naval record shows that they had no training in handling munitions.

On that day, the entire area lit up like a roman candle igniting 5,000 tons of munitions in seconds. These sailors were not qualified and during the time of a segregated military they were not going to be given the proper hazard training that this assignment required.

They were expendable and munitions were just the place for them. But, what they thought would be a few dead negroes dropping incidental weaponry resulted in the worst home-front disaster of World War II’s history. The incident leveled buildings, took out the entire pier and crumpled rail cars like aluminum foil.

What happened after the explosion may have been paramount to what happened during the explosion. The incident proved that there was no lesson learned in the devastation. Over 300 African American navy men were ordered to resume loading munitions by August 9, while their white counterparts were given 30 days to recover from the incident. Almost 260 refused and were court martialed and given 8 – 15 years hard labor while others were given a dishonorable discharge.

This incident was a major factor in the inception of the Civil Rights Movement.

Join the Continental Army

On the first Saturday of each month from January to April 2010, from 11 AM to noon, children ages six to 12 are invited to “enlist” in the Continental Army at Valley Forge National Historical Park in eastern Pennsylvania.

A period-costumed interpreter musters in the recruits, who learn how to stand, march, and drill like soldiers. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Kimberly Szewczyk at 610-783-1014 or Kimberly_Szewczyk@nps.gov.