National Parks
National Parks
National parks are among the world's most recognizable forms of protected land, combining conservation, scientific research, cultural preservation, recreation, education, and public access. In the United States, the National Park System has developed from an early effort to protect extraordinary landscapes into a vast network of parks, monuments, historic sites, seashores, recreation areas, battlefields, and other protected places. The system is simultaneously expected to preserve natural and cultural resources and make them available for public enjoyment.
The modern national park is therefore more than a scenic destination. Parks function as wildlife refuges, ecological laboratories, repositories of cultural history, recreational landscapes, and public institutions. Their management increasingly involves difficult decisions about climate change, biodiversity, wildfire, invasive species, infrastructure, visitor pressure, historical interpretation, funding, and the relationship between protected areas and surrounding communities.
Conservation and the National Park Mission
The central challenge of national park management is balancing public use with long-term preservation. Visitors are encouraged to experience parks, yet heavy visitation can affect wildlife, vegetation, soils, waterways, historic structures, and the qualities of solitude and wilderness that parks were established to protect.
Conservation has consequently evolved beyond simply preventing development within park boundaries. Modern park management incorporates ecological monitoring, habitat restoration, endangered-species protection, invasive-species control, prescribed fire, watershed management, pollution reduction, and cooperation with neighboring landowners, governments, scientists, conservation organizations, and Indigenous communities.
Many ecological processes important to national parks extend far beyond their formal boundaries. Migrating wildlife, rivers, air pollution, wildfire, invasive organisms, climate patterns, and development in surrounding landscapes can all influence conditions inside parks. Effective conservation therefore frequently requires landscape-scale approaches rather than treating parks as isolated islands of protected habitat.
Wildlife, Biodiversity, and Park Science
National parks provide important habitat for mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, plants, insects, and other organisms. Research on wolves, bison, bears, elk, seals, native fish, amphibians, forests, birds, biological soil crusts, and many other organisms demonstrates the extraordinary biological diversity contained within protected landscapes.
Long-term monitoring has become an important part of park management. Scientists measure ecological "vital signs" such as water quality, forest health, wildlife populations, vegetation change, invasive species, pollution, hydrology, and climate conditions. Environmental DNA, satellite imagery, wildlife cameras, citizen science, and other technologies increasingly supplement traditional field research.
National parks can also serve as reference ecosystems where ecological changes can be observed over decades. Research conducted in places such as Yellowstone, Isle Royale, the Everglades, Olympic, Glacier, Denali, and Great Basin contributes to broader scientific understanding of predator-prey relationships, fire ecology, forest change, aquatic ecosystems, species recovery, and environmental disturbance.
Restoration is becoming increasingly important as managers confront ecosystems that have already been altered. Prescribed fire can restore fire-dependent habitats, stream restoration can recreate conditions favorable to native fish, and wildlife recovery programs can restore ecological relationships that disappeared when predators or other species were eliminated.
Climate Change, Fire, and Environmental Hazards
Climate change is reshaping the conditions under which national parks are managed. Rising temperatures, changing precipitation, drought, wildfire, flooding, sea-level rise, water shortages, shifting vegetation, invasive species, and altered wildlife distributions increasingly affect both ecosystems and visitors.
Wildfire has become one of the most visible management challenges in western parks. Severe fires can close trails and roads, destroy historic buildings, transform forests, threaten communities, and require emergency restrictions on visitor activities. At the same time, scientific research demonstrates that fire is a natural and often essential ecological process, making prescribed burning and other forms of fire management important conservation tools.
Floods, storms, extreme heat, smoke, and changing seasonal conditions can similarly affect infrastructure and public safety. Roads, water systems, trails, campgrounds, visitor centers, historic structures, and other facilities must increasingly be designed or restored with future climate conditions in mind.
Climate change also affects when and how people visit parks. Hotter summers, longer fire seasons, reduced snowpack, changing water availability, and severe weather may shift visitation toward different seasons or destinations. Park planning therefore increasingly connects ecological adaptation with visitor management.
History, Indigenous Lands, and Cultural Interpretation
National parks preserve human history as well as natural landscapes. Historic forts, battlefields, monuments, archaeological sites, transportation corridors, cultural landscapes, buildings, archives, and places associated with civil rights and other social movements all form part of the National Park System.
The history of national parks is also intertwined with Indigenous peoples. Many landscapes eventually incorporated into parks were inhabited, used, managed, or considered sacred by Native communities long before federal protection. The creation of protected areas sometimes involved displacement or restrictions on traditional land use. Contemporary park interpretation increasingly seeks to incorporate Indigenous perspectives and acknowledge these complicated histories.
Debates over historical interpretation demonstrate that parks are not neutral collections of scenery and artifacts. Decisions about exhibits, plaques, monuments, museums, and educational programs influence how millions of visitors understand American history. Controversies over removing or restoring interpretive material illustrate the broader tension between presenting comfortable national narratives and preserving complex or difficult historical evidence.
Art, photography, writing, and public storytelling have also played central roles in creating the idea of national parks. Images of Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and other landscapes helped convince generations of Americans that particular places possessed cultural as well as ecological value and should be preserved for the future.
Visitors, Recreation, and Public Access
National parks provide opportunities for hiking, camping, boating, wildlife watching, photography, climbing, swimming, astronomy, scenic driving, historical exploration, and many other forms of recreation. Some parks receive millions of visitors annually, while remote parks may remain comparatively little visited.
Growing popularity creates both opportunities and problems. High visitation can strengthen public support for parks and generate substantial economic activity in surrounding communities, but overcrowding can produce traffic congestion, parking shortages, campsite competition, trail damage, wildlife disturbance, sanitation problems, and diminished visitor experiences.
Managers have experimented with reservation systems, transportation programs, seasonal restrictions, trail closures, campground policies, education campaigns, and other approaches intended to balance access with resource protection. Debates over such measures reflect a persistent question: how can public lands remain genuinely accessible while preventing their popularity from degrading the resources people come to experience?
Accessibility also involves more than crowd management. Urban parks, recreation areas near major cities, volunteer programs, educational initiatives, and programs that help children and families experience national parks demonstrate efforts to broaden participation in outdoor recreation and conservation.
Funding, Staffing, Infrastructure, and Park Management
National parks depend upon substantial public infrastructure. Roads, trails, bridges, water systems, campgrounds, visitor centers, historic buildings, museums, emergency services, scientific programs, and maintenance operations all require continuing investment.
Funding and staffing shortages can therefore affect nearly every aspect of the park experience. Reduced staffing may mean fewer ranger programs, slower maintenance, less scientific monitoring, diminished emergency response, and greater difficulty protecting wildlife and cultural resources. These pressures become particularly significant when visitation remains high or continues to grow.
Recent debates over park spending have also raised questions about national priorities. Decisions to redirect money, postpone maintenance, alter staffing, change federal contracts, or prioritize particular commemorative projects can affect resources available elsewhere in the National Park System.
Infrastructure itself must increasingly be adapted to environmental change. Floods, wildfires, storms, deteriorating water systems, and other hazards can close major portions of parks and require expensive reconstruction. Maintaining a large and geographically diverse system therefore involves both preservation of existing infrastructure and adaptation to changing environmental conditions.
Parks as Living Laboratories
One of the most important functions of national parks is their role as long-term scientific laboratories. Because many park landscapes receive relatively strong protection from development, researchers can observe ecological processes across long periods and compare protected ecosystems with surrounding landscapes.
Monitoring programs provide information about forests, water, wildlife, pollution, invasive species, climate, visitor impacts, and other ecological indicators. These observations can reveal gradual changes that might otherwise remain unnoticed until ecological damage becomes severe.
Scientific findings also influence practical management. Research can determine where restoration is most likely to succeed, whether introduced species are affecting native organisms, how wildlife responds to visitors, where wildfire risk is increasing, and how ecosystems may change under future climate scenarios.
National parks consequently serve two related purposes: protecting biological and geological resources and expanding scientific understanding of how those resources function.
National Parks as Public Institutions
National parks occupy an unusual position between conservation and democracy. They are protected landscapes, but they are also public institutions whose meaning depends partly upon continued public participation. Visitors, scientists, Indigenous communities, conservation groups, volunteers, historians, nearby residents, elected officials, businesses, and federal employees all influence how parks are understood and managed.
This creates recurring disagreements over development, access, wilderness protection, endangered species, historical interpretation, recreation, tourism, funding, and federal policy. Such controversies are not necessarily separate from the national park idea; they reflect the continuing process of deciding what society believes deserves protection and how those protected places should be used.
The diversity of park units also makes simple definitions difficult. The National Park System encompasses spectacular wilderness, heavily visited scenic landmarks, urban recreation areas, historic structures, archaeological sites, memorials, battlefields, seashores, and landscapes carrying deep cultural and spiritual significance.
Conclusion
National parks represent an ambitious attempt to preserve natural and cultural resources while keeping them available to the public. Their importance extends far beyond scenic recreation. They conserve biodiversity, protect wildlife habitat, preserve historical evidence, support scientific research, provide opportunities for education and recreation, and maintain landscapes that have become important parts of national identity.
At the same time, national parks face growing pressures from climate change, wildfire, invasive species, pollution, overcrowding, aging infrastructure, development, staffing shortages, funding uncertainty, and disputes over historical interpretation. Many of these challenges cross park boundaries and cannot be solved by park managers alone.
The future of national parks will therefore depend on more than establishing protected boundaries. It will require sustained scientific monitoring, ecological restoration, adequate staffing and infrastructure, cooperation with Indigenous peoples and surrounding communities, thoughtful management of visitors, protection of cultural history, and long-term public commitment to preserving these places. National parks remain living landscapes whose ecological and cultural significance must continually be understood, protected, and reinterpreted for future generations.
National Parks
National Park Policy, Management, Funding, Access, and Visitation
| Associated Press | AP News | 2026-08-21
National Park Maintenance Work Sidelined as Freedom 250 Takes Precedence. Reports that hundreds of millions of dollars in previously approved park projects were deprioritized while resources shifted toward anniversary-related projects.
| Cary Dupuy, Cristóbal López, Erika Pelletier | National Parks Conservation Association | 2026-08
FAQ: Border Destruction at Big Bend. Examines border construction inside Big Bend National Park and concerns about habitat, cultural resources, public lands, and environmental review.
| The Guardian | The Guardian | 2026-07-04
Overcrowded and Underfunded: Cuts to National Parks Threaten the U.S.'s “Best Idea.” Examines staffing, maintenance, crowding, ecosystem protection, and management pressures facing major American parks.
| Michaela Pavlat | National Parks Conservation Association | 2026-07
A Bedrock Preservation Law at Risk. Explains why the National Historic Preservation Act is central to protecting historic resources, park landscapes, and Tribal consultation.
| Erika Pelletier | National Parks Conservation Association | 2026-07
New Border Barriers Threaten Our National Parks. Communities Are Fighting Back. Looks at community resistance to new border infrastructure affecting protected landscapes and wildlife habitat.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-26
Reflecting Pool Accounts for Seventy-Seven Percent of Recent Park Service No-Bid Contracts. Investigates federal contracting priorities and how spending decisions can affect resources available throughout the National Park System.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-26
NPS Reverses Course on Public Access in Seeking Developer for Caneel Bay Resort. Examines the debate over redevelopment and public shoreline access within Virgin Islands National Park.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-26
Agreements for San Francisco Bay Area Park Overflights Will Remain in Place After Court Ruling. Examines the continuing debate over aircraft noise and commercial sightseeing above protected park landscapes.
| Rita Beamish | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-24
Battle Lines Have Heightened Over Endangered Species Act. Surveys the scientific, legal, economic, and political debate surrounding protections for threatened wildlife and their habitat.
| Reuters | Reuters | 2026-06-23
Court Lifts Anniversary Deadline for Administration to Reinstall National Park Exhibits. Covers litigation over removal and restoration of historical and scientific interpretation at national park sites.
| Kurt Repanshek | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-21
Trump Administration Taking Aim at Designated Wilderness and Wilderness-Quality Lands. Examines changes to federal wilderness policies and their potential consequences for National Park Service lands.
| Uwa Ede-Osifo | The Guardian | 2026-06-12
Judge Orders Restoration of National Park Plaques Removed Under Directive. A federal ruling addresses government efforts to remove historical and scientific material from public park interpretation.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-06-11
See Stunning Photos of New National Park Land Soon Accessible From America's Longest National Trail. Covers protection of additional Lake Superior shoreline land connected to the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.
| Associated Press | AP News | 2026-06
Kenya's Former Chief Justice Arrested at Protest of National Park Construction. Protesters opposing development inside Nairobi National Park raise broader questions about public participation, conservation, and urban protected lands.
| Sheeka Sanahori | Outside | 2026-05-27
Ocmulgee Mounds Could Become the Next U.S. National Park. Examines efforts to expand protection for a landscape preserving more than 12,000 years of Indigenous history in Georgia.
| Stephanie Pearson | Outside | 2026-03-17
10 Most Endangered Public Lands in America. Reviews threats from development, policy changes, extraction, and environmental degradation affecting parks and other protected landscapes.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-12-11
Position on H.R. 5729, H.R. 6365 & H.R. 6380. Discusses legislation concerning Grand Canyon North Rim reconstruction, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and other federal park-management questions.
| Abigail Wise | Outside | 2025-10-22
What's Really Happening in America's National Parks. Investigates conditions inside major parks as staffing, funding, visitation, maintenance, and political pressures converge.
| Gloria Liu | Outside | 2025-10-22
What I Saw in Yosemite Says Everything About the Future of Our National Parks. Uses a Yosemite visit to examine the practical consequences of changes in federal park policy and staffing.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2025-10-01
Can You Visit a National Park During the Shutdown? Explains how government shutdowns can affect entrances, sanitation, visitor centers, ranger programs, emergency response, and resource protection.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-09-18
Groups Denounce Bills to Nullify Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni and Ironwood Forest National Monuments. Examines proposed removal of protections from culturally and ecologically significant Arizona landscapes.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-07-15
Position on H.R. 281 & H.R. 1809. Discusses proposed legislation affecting Greater Yellowstone grizzly bears and the relationship between wildlife management and Endangered Species Act protections.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-07-09
Supreme Court Ruling Greenlights Mass Layoffs, Parks Groups Warn. Examines how federal workforce reductions could affect ranger services, maintenance, research, wildfire response, and resource protection.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-07-01
Parks Group Opposes “Alligator Alcatraz” Detention Center in the Everglades. Discusses environmental concerns surrounding development of a detention facility within the broader Everglades ecosystem.
| Cassidy Jones | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-07-01
Park Visitation Is Up, Staffing Down. Examines record or near-record visitation occurring simultaneously with staffing shortages across heavily used national parks.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-06-24
Intrepid Travel Takes a Stand to Protect U.S. National Parks. Discusses private-sector financial support for park conservation amid concerns about federal funding and staffing.
| Tucker Johnson | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-04-30
Trump's First 100 Days for National Parks. Reviews personnel, conservation, regulatory, and historical-interpretation decisions affecting National Park Service sites during early 2025.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-04
2025 Park Visitation: Prepare for the Unexpected. Describes how staffing shortages can affect science, maintenance, ranger programs, safety, and visitor services even when major parks remain open.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-03-25
NPCA Opposes Legislation Threatening America's Most Imperiled Species. Discusses proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act and their implications for hundreds of species occurring in national parks.
| Sarah Kuta | Smithsonian Magazine | 2025-03-17
These Were the Most—and Least—Visited National Parks in 2024. Reviews record national park visitation and the large differences between heavily visited destinations and relatively little-known park units.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-03-11
Position on Senate Mining and Minerals Bills. Examines tension between mineral extraction on federal lands and protection of national parks and surrounding ecosystems.
| Theresa Pierno | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-03-06
Parks Are Being Dismantled Before Our Very Eyes. Argues that staffing cuts, lease cancellations, and changes to historical interpretation threaten the functioning of the park system.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-03-05
National Park Service Sets Visitation Record Amid Historic Staffing Cuts. Contrasts record 2024 visitation with reductions in staffing and uncertainty surrounding visitor and resource protection services.
| David Pettebone, Jake Jorgenson and Pamela Ziesler | Park Science | 2025-01-15
New Research Shows Mobile Devices Are a Powerful Way to Learn About Visitors. Explores how anonymized mobility data can supplement conventional surveys and reveal how people move through complicated park landscapes.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-01-07
President Biden Establishes Chuckwalla National Monument. Describes protection of more than 600,000 acres that strengthen a larger conservation corridor connecting protected desert landscapes.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025
Monuments for All. Reviews recently established national monuments and the Antiquities Act's historic role in protecting landscapes that sometimes later become national parks.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2022
Quick History of the National Park Service. Provides an overview of Yellowstone, the Organic Act, expansion of the park system, and development of modern federal park administration.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2017-08-15
NPS in the Environmental Era. Examines how environmental legislation, ecological science, wilderness protection, and changing public expectations reshaped national park management after the 1960s.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2016-03-10
Origin of the National Park Idea. Traces how concern about disappearing wilderness and western landscapes led to Yellowstone and the broader American national park concept.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2016-03-10
Creation of the National Park Service. Explains the political campaign, conservation debates, tourism pressures, and management problems that culminated in creation of the NPS in 1916.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2016
Americans Think National Parks Are Worth Way More Than We Spend on Them. Research estimates the enormous economic and non-market value Americans place on preserving the National Park System.
| Robert Winfree | National Park Service | 2015
Past, Present and Future Goals for Resource Management in National Parks. Discusses the continuing challenge of reconciling public enjoyment with the legal requirement to conserve park resources unimpaired.
Climate Change, Conservation, Restoration, and Park Science
| SFGATE | SFGATE | 2026-08-20
As the American West Dries Out, a Secret Savior Emerges From the Soil. Explores biocrust research in Arches and Canyonlands and its potential importance for erosion control, biodiversity, and dryland restoration.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-18
An Unlikely Recovery on Cape Cod National Seashore. Looks at ecological recovery and conservation work within one of the nation's most heavily used coastal park landscapes.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-15
Working to Save the Florida Reef Before It's Too Late. Explores efforts to restore coral ecosystems associated with Biscayne and other protected waters in southern Florida.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-08
An Obligation to Protect the Florida Reef. Considers why declining coral reefs require stronger conservation measures both inside and outside national park boundaries.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2026-04-17
2025 Science & Stewardship Highlights. Reviews restoration, wildlife recovery, biological soil crust research, bat disease monitoring, fossils, and collaborative conservation projects across western parks.
| Ted Gostomski et al. | National Park Service | 2026-01-20
The Current: Fall 2025/Winter 2026. Summarizes long-term monitoring of birds, water quality, mercury, microplastics, amphibians, and other ecological indicators in Great Lakes national parks.
| Sarah Lynn Rappaport Keener et al. | U.S. Geological Survey | 2025-08-29
National Park Service Staff Perspectives on How Climate Change Affects Visitor Use. Park employees describe how heat, wildfire, storms, water shortages, and sea-level rise are already affecting visitors.
| Katy Perrault | Park Science | 2025-08-29
The Big Benefits of Bringing Back Prescribed Fire. Shows how controlled burning at Cape Cod National Seashore can reduce wildfire fuels while maintaining rare grasslands and historic landscapes.
| Marie Lawrence | Park Science | 2025-08-29
Water, Wildflowers, Fire. Introduces research on aquatic ecosystems, wildfire recovery, species discoveries, seasonal flowering, and environmental change in national parks.
| Glauco Puig-Santana, Madeline Duda and Kelly Moore | Park Science | 2025-08-29
To Meet the Challenge of Marine Debris, First Collect It. Uses shoreline cleanup and debris analysis at Kalaupapa to investigate sources of plastic pollution and possible upstream solutions.
| Scott Shahverdian and Meg Horner | Park Science | 2025-08-29
After Fire, Process-Based Restoration Creates Habitat for Native Fish. Describes restoration of Great Basin streams after wildfire using techniques that mimic beaver-created habitat.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2025-07-16
Park-Specific Climate Futures. Provides localized projections designed to help individual parks assess vulnerability and plan for future climate conditions.
| Emily J. Wilkins et al. | U.S. Geological Survey | 2025-07-04
Adapting Visitor Use Management Under a Changing Climate Across the U.S. National Park System. Interviews with park staff identify adaptation efforts, institutional barriers, visitor-safety concerns, and research needs.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2025-04-16
Park Science Magazine: Greatest Hits. Collects notable research stories demonstrating how scientific work supports preservation and management throughout the National Park System.
| Michelle Uberuaga | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-03-06
Seeing Recovery at Yellowstone. Reviews rebuilding after the park's destructive 2022 floods while considering climate, staffing, and gateway-community vulnerabilities.
| Claire Baker | Park Science | 2025-01-15
How Parks' Popular Webpages Can Benefit the Climate Conversation. Explores how trusted national park websites can communicate climate science and encourage broader public discussion.
| Park Science Editors | Park Science | 2025-01-15
To Save the American West's Most Iconic Landscape, It Pays to Be Strategic. Examines the steep decline of healthy sagebrush habitat and efforts to concentrate limited conservation resources where they can achieve the most benefit.
| Park Science Editors | Park Science | 2025-01-15
Seasonal Variations in Remotely Sensed Data. Demonstrates how the season in which satellite images are captured can change apparent measurements of forests and developed land.
| Ben Gaglioti | Park Science | 2025-01-15
One Way to See the Future of Alaska's Unparalleled Forests: Look at Their Past. Uses paleoecology and past climate change to investigate the possible future of temperate rainforests in Glacier Bay.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2025-01-13
Park Visitation and Climate Change. Research suggests warming temperatures could alter both the timing and amount of visitation throughout the National Park System.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2025-01-08
Climate Change and Wildland Fire. Explains how warmer and drier conditions are lengthening fire seasons while park managers use prescribed and managed fires to reduce risk.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2025
Adapt to Change. Describes how national parks are adjusting conservation, infrastructure, and management strategies as ecosystems move beyond historical climate conditions.
| H. Sharon Kim, Sean Eagan and Dave Schirokauer | Alaska Park Science | 2025
Changing Visitation Patterns Present Challenges and Opportunities for Alaska National Parks. Examines growing cruise tourism, longer visitor seasons, climate change, and the implications of increasing visitation for Alaska parks.
| Marie Lawrence | Park Science | 2024-08-30
Stormy Weather. Introduces research into extreme storms, climate change, flooding, altered waterways, and the challenges extreme events create for park science.
| Paige Lambert, Scott Esser, Koren Nydick and Varun Kirk Acharya | Park Science | 2023-07-31
How Citizen Scientists Helped a Park Measure Visitor Impacts. Describes how volunteers measured informal trails, human waste, vegetation loss, and other effects of heavy recreation in Rocky Mountain National Park.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2023
Early Detection Is the Best Protection for Old-Growth Forests. Explores remote sensing and field monitoring as tools for identifying drought, heat, and wildfire stress in protected Pacific Northwest forests.
| David Keiser, Gabriel E. Lade, Ivan Rudik | Smithsonian Magazine | 2018-07-19
National Parks Can Be Just as Smoggy as Major Cities. Research shows ozone pollution can significantly degrade air quality in national parks and even discourage visitation.
| Rebecca Hunt | Park Science / National Park Service | 2018-03-30
Introduction to Science and Natural Resource Management for the National Parks. Reviews a century of changing relationships between scientific research, visitor use, preservation, and park management.
| Rebecca Hunt et al. | Park Science / National Park Service | 2018
Science and Natural Resource Management for the National Parks: Milestones, 1916–2016. A detailed timeline showing how science gradually became central to management of park ecosystems and wildlife.
Wildlife, Biodiversity, and Ecology
| Linda Coutant | National Parks Conservation Association | 2026-08
Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down: 5 Recent Decisions Affecting Wildlife. Reviews policy developments affecting wildlife populations and habitat in and around national park landscapes.
| Kayla Randall | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-07-31
Yellowstone Is Among the World's Best Places to See Wild Wolves. Recounts wolf eradication, reintroduction, ecological research, and the transformation of Yellowstone into a major center for wolf conservation.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-07-29
Heading to a National Park? Watch Out for Elk. Research into thousands of wildlife encounters finds that elk account for a surprisingly large share of aggressive encounters in Canadian parks.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2026-07
eDNA Testing Reveals Something Fishy in Olympic Mountain Lakes. Environmental DNA surveys document introduced trout in historically fishless alpine lakes and their potential effects on native amphibians.
| Katherine DeGroff | National Parks Conservation Association | Summer 2026
Divas in Distress. Investigates efforts to save vulnerable beech trees at Pictured Rocks and Sleeping Bear Dunes from a destructive invasive organism.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-25
Moose May Have Been Native to Colorado, Says Study. New evidence complicates longstanding assumptions about whether moose should be considered historically native to Colorado ecosystems.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-05-13
Wolves Are Thriving at Michigan's Isle Royale National Park. New population estimates show how wolf restoration is reshaping the park's long-studied wolf-moose predator-prey system.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-04/05
Cascade Red Foxes Are Notoriously Reclusive. Combines wildlife photography with conservation science surrounding an elusive mountain fox found in and around Pacific Northwest protected areas.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-04-14
Could Robo-Birds Help Save Greater Sage Grouse Near Jackson Hole? Conservationists are testing unusual methods to draw displaying grouse away from dangerous aircraft traffic near the Grand Teton landscape.
| Nicolas Brulliard | National Parks Conservation Association | Spring 2026
Counting Haleakalā's Rainbow Chickens. Examines evidence that introduced golden pheasants may be establishing themselves inside Haleakalā National Park.
| Jacob Baynham | National Parks Conservation Association | Spring 2026
Native Naivete. Describes an invasive eel spreading through the Everglades and preying on native crayfish that perform important ecological functions.
| U.S. National Park Service | Park Science | 2026-02-27
Wild Animals Show Many Different Reactions to People in U.S. National Parks. Research shows that large mammals respond differently to human presence, roads, structures, and temporary reductions in visitation.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-01-30
“Rising Star” of a Prominent Yellowstone Wolf Pack Was Illegally Killed. Covers the illegal killing of a Yellowstone wolf and the conservation problems created when protected animals cross park boundaries.
| Caleb J. Tzilkowski | Park Science | 2025-08-29
A Fish Study's Promising Results Highlight Parks' Role in Conservation. Research from New River Gorge and Delaware Water Gap demonstrates how protected watersheds can conserve native freshwater fish communities.
| Glauco Puig-Santana, Madeline Duda and Kelly Moore | Park Science | 2025-08-29
Devoted Community Aids Work to Enhance Survival of Endangered Seals. Describes community participation in monitoring endangered Hawaiian monk seals at Kalaupapa National Historical Park.
| Todd Cherry, Chandler Hubbard and Lynne Lewis | Park Science | 2025-08-29
The Celebrity Effect: How Famous Wildlife Can Lead to Risky Behavior. Investigates how famous bears and other animals influence visitor risk perception and human-wildlife interactions.
| Mariana Perez and Sarah Stehn | National Park Service | 2025-04
Insights from an Outbreak: Research Opportunities Came With the Spruce Beetle. Describes long-term monitoring of spruce mortality as beetle outbreaks expand through Denali National Park.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-02-25
Fort Peck Tribes, Conservation Groups Defend Yellowstone Bison Plan in Court. Covers legal efforts to preserve a management program that transfers disease-free Yellowstone bison to Tribal conservation herds.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-01-08
Parks Group Responds to Sweeping Grizzly Bear Conservation Plans. Reviews federal decisions concerning grizzly populations associated with Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier, and North Cascades.
| Elias Christian | National Park Service | 2025
The Ecology of Visitation. Studies growing bear-viewing tourism at Katmai and Lake Clark and the challenge of protecting wildlife while maintaining visitor experiences.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2025
24 in 2024: An Explore Nature Year in Review. Highlights notable conservation successes, celestial events, scientific discoveries, species projects, and environmental research throughout the park system.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2024
Assessing Wildlife Responses to Changing Fire Regimes. Research at Rocky Mountain National Park investigates how increasingly severe wildfires affect mammals and biodiversity.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2024
Inventory and Monitoring. Explains the nationwide program that tracks ecological “vital signs” in more than 270 national park units to guide science-based management.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2024
Park Vital Signs Monitoring: Taking the Pulse of the National Parks. Explains how physical, chemical, and biological indicators are used to detect changes in park ecosystem health.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2024
Inventory & Monitoring Partnerships Aim to Improve Park Forest Health From Coast to Coast. Covers forest-resilience initiatives involving whitebark pine, northeastern forests, Hawaiian birds, and cross-agency cooperation.
| Brian Handwerk | Smithsonian Magazine | 2022-04-07
Five Big Changes Scientists Have Documented During Yellowstone's 150-Year History. Reviews major ecological transformations involving wolves, elk, forests, fire, geothermal systems, and climate.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2022
Getting Up Close to the Bears of Alaska's Lake Clark National Park. Explores brown-bear ecology and wildlife viewing in one of America's more remote and lightly visited national parks.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2021
Invasive Species Management. Explores interactions between climate change and invasive organisms and the challenges these combined pressures create for park ecosystems.
| Audubon | Audubon Magazine | 2019
Get Yourself to Indiana's First National Park, Where the Birds Abound. Profiles Indiana Dunes' remarkable mosaic of habitats and the more than 350 bird species documented there.
| National Audubon Society | Audubon | 2018-03-21
The Audubon and National Parks Study: Frequently Asked Questions. Explains research modeling potential climate effects on more than 500 bird species across hundreds of National Park Service units.
| National Audubon Society | Audubon | 2018
Glacier National Park: Birds and Climate Change. Models how changing climate suitability could reshape bird communities within Glacier National Park by mid-century.
| National Audubon Society | Audubon | 2018
Everglades National Park: Birds and Climate Change. Examines the Everglades' importance to hundreds of bird species and the growing challenges posed by rising seas and changing hydrology.
| National Audubon Society | Audubon | 2018
Yellowstone National Park: Birds and Climate Change. Projects potential changes to willow-dependent songbirds and emphasizes links between carnivores, beavers, riparian vegetation, and bird habitat.
| National Audubon Society | Audubon | 2018
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve: Birds and Climate Change. Projects substantial turnover in suitable climate for bird species within America's largest national park.
| National Audubon Society | Audubon | 2018
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve: Birds and Climate Change. Examines glacier loss and the potential for the park to become an important climate refuge for sensitive bird species.
| Audubon | Audubon Magazine | 2018
Summer Birding in the National Parks. Highlights less-crowded national park sites where diverse habitats provide exceptional seasonal birding opportunities.
History, Culture, Indigenous Lands, and Interpretation
| Alina Bourke | National Parks Conservation Association | 2026-07
Our National Parks Deserve Their Full Story. Argues that protecting parks also requires preserving the complicated histories and diverse communities associated with them.
| Katherine DeGroff | National Parks Conservation Association | Summer 2026
The Park Keepers. Follows a grassroots preservation project using community archives to safeguard historical materials associated with the National Park System.
| Rona Marech | National Parks Conservation Association | Summer 2026
A Complicated Birthday. Reflects on Stonewall National Monument's tenth anniversary amid continuing disputes over how LGBTQ history is represented and protected.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-26
Traveler's View: You Can't Sanitize National Parks. An editorial arguing that national park interpretation should present difficult and contested history rather than remove uncomfortable subjects.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-25
New Museum Beneath the Lincoln Memorial Opens to the Public. Covers a new interpretive space revealing both the engineering and historical context of one of Washington's best-known memorials.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-22
A Day in the Park: Golden Spike National Historical Park. Introduces the landscape and history associated with completion of the first transcontinental railroad.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-18
TBT History: Joshua Tree National Park. Looks back at the natural, cultural, and administrative history behind protection of the Joshua Tree landscape.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-11
Perfectly Planned and Landscaped: Skyline Drive. Examines how the famous Shenandoah roadway was designed to blend engineering, recreation, scenery, and landscape architecture.
| Michael P. Branch | National Parks Conservation Association | Spring 2026
In the Sacred Grove. Explores the Newe people's long cultural and spiritual connection to Bahsahwahbee and efforts to secure stronger protection for the landscape.
| Elizabeth Miller | National Parks Conservation Association | Spring 2026
What the Trees Tell Us. Documents historic carvings made by Hispanic sheepherders in Valles Caldera and efforts to preserve this vulnerable cultural record.
| Katherine DeGroff | National Parks Conservation Association | Spring 2026
A Fort's Tale. Examines the role of St. Augustine and Castillo de San Marcos in the Civil Rights Movement and efforts to interpret that history.
| Stephanie Pearson | National Parks Conservation Association | Spring 2026
Cleaning House. Examines the difficult question of what should happen to abandoned historic fishing camps on remote Isle Royale.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-03-25
See the Stunning 171-Year-Old Sketch That Helped Put Yosemite on the Map. Explores an early artistic representation that helped introduce Yosemite's spectacular scenery to a wider American audience.
| Katherine DeGroff, Nicolas Brulliard | National Parks Conservation Association | Winter 2026
Battlefields & Beyond. Recommends National Park Service sites that illuminate the complex origins and founding history of the United States.
| Alan Spears | National Parks Conservation Association | Winter 2026
To Tell the Truth. Argues that national parks have a responsibility to present a complete and sometimes uncomfortable account of American history.
| Nicolas Brulliard | National Parks Conservation Association | Winter 2026
The First American Revolution? Revisits the Pueblo Revolt, when Indigenous communities expelled Spanish colonial authorities from New Mexico in 1680.
| Dorian Fox | National Parks Conservation Association | Winter 2026
Bunker Hill Hero. Investigates the life and historical record of Salem Poor, a Black soldier praised for bravery during the Battle of Bunker Hill.
| Katherine DeGroff | National Parks Conservation Association | Winter 2026
Justice Served. Tells the story of two women associated with a landmark freedom suit now commemorated within Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2024
Stories of Partnership: Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Achievements in Indigenous Communities. Highlights NPS partnerships with Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native communities.
| National Museum of the American Indian | Smithsonian Magazine | 2020-08-25
How Native Americans Bring Depth of Understanding to the Nation's National Parks. Examines Indigenous relationships with park landscapes and the history of displacement that accompanied creation of some parks.
| Ann E. Chapman | National Park Service | 2020
American Conservation in the Twentieth Century. Traces the development of resource conservation, preservation, and wildlife-habitat protection as overlapping strands of American environmentalism.
| Ann E. Chapman | National Park Service | 2020
Nineteenth Century Trends in American Conservation. Examines the intellectual and social movements that eventually produced forests, parks, and other protected public lands.
| Jennifer Billock | Smithsonian Magazine | 2019-07-18
Eight Spots in the United States Where You Can See Petroglyphs. Highlights rock art preserved at Canyonlands and other public lands while emphasizing the long Indigenous history of these landscapes.
| Stephen Pyne | Smithsonian Magazine | 2019-02-06
How the Grand Canyon Transformed From a “Valueless” Place to a National Park. Explores how geology, art, aesthetics, and conservation transformed public perception of the Grand Canyon.
| Jennifer Billock | Smithsonian Magazine | 2019
Hike in the Footsteps of Teddy Roosevelt. Connects modern park visits with Roosevelt's influential trips through Yellowstone, Yosemite, and other protected landscapes.
| U.S. National Park Service | National Park Service | 2018
Art and the Conservation Movement. Explains how painters, photographers, writers, and visual representations helped build public support for protecting spectacular American landscapes.
| Jackie Mansky | Smithsonian Magazine | 2016
How Photography Shaped America's National Parks. Examines how photographs helped establish cultural expectations about wilderness and generated political support for protecting iconic landscapes.
| Jim Morrison | Smithsonian Magazine | 2015-10-08
How the U.S. Army Saved Our National Parks. Recounts the U.S. Cavalry's role in protecting Yellowstone from poaching and exploitation before creation of the National Park Service.
Recreation, Travel, and Visitor Experience
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2026-08-23
Best National Park Water Adventures to Take Before Summer Ends. Surveys rivers, lakes, beaches, and other water-based recreation opportunities across several national park landscapes.
| Linda Coutant | National Parks Conservation Association | 2026-08
6 Ways to Celebrate National Park Week in 2026. Highlights opportunities to visit, learn about, volunteer for, and advocate for national parks during the NPS anniversary celebration.
| Joe Baur | Outside | 2026-07-27
Great Basin National Park: Everything You Need to Know. Explores one of the country's quieter parks, including its ancient bristlecone pines, caves, mountain landscapes, trails, and exceptionally dark night skies.
| Mary Beth Skylis | Outside | 2026-07-22
A Guide to Chattanooga: North America's First National Park City. Examines an urban initiative linking parks, outdoor recreation, environmental stewardship, and community access to nature.
| Linda Coutant | National Parks Conservation Association | 2026-07
You See the Best of People in the Parks. Uses a former member of Congress's park journey to explore how national parks can create shared experiences and social connection.
| Melanie D.G. Kaplan | National Parks Conservation Association | Summer 2026
Of Ice & Heart. Follows cold-water swimmers around Mount Desert Island and explores a distinctive form of recreation near Acadia National Park.
| Keith Henry Brown | National Parks Conservation Association | Summer 2026
Stars, Sand & Scorpions. A first-person journey from New York City to the desert explores the emotional impact of experiencing unfamiliar national park landscapes.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-29
Make-A-Wish Helps Kids Experience National Parks Ahead of America250. Describes a program creating national park experiences for children and their families.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-29
A Day in the Park: Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. Introduces hiking, volcanic geology, photography, and human history at this northern Arizona park site.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2026-06-29
Eastern vs. Western National Parks: Which Are Better? Compares biodiversity, scenery, accessibility, recreation, and visitor experiences in parks across the eastern and western United States.
| Abby Price | Outside | 2026-06-26
Firefly Displays Are Still On at These Lesser-Known National Parks. Highlights national park sites where synchronized and other spectacular firefly displays provide unusual seasonal wildlife experiences.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-24
Photography in the National Parks: A Shenandoah Spring. A photographic exploration of forests, mountain vistas, trails, waterfalls, and changing spring weather in Shenandoah.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-15
A Day in the Park: Devils Tower National Monument. Introduces the monument's geology, trails, Indigenous significance, climbing culture, and visitor experience.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-08
A Day in the Park: Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. Explores sites associated with the Lewis and Clark expedition along with the region's broader cultural and natural history.
| Emilee Coblentz | Outside | 2026-05-26
The Best Campsites in Every National Park. Provides a park-by-park examination of camping opportunities ranging from developed campgrounds to remote backcountry settings.
| Sam MacIlwaine | Outside | 2026-05-21
Yosemite National Park Crowds and Parking Tips for Summer 2026. Looks at congestion and visitor-management problems following elimination of Yosemite's entry reservation system.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2026-05-15
5 Best National Park Alternatives to Avoid Crowds in 2026. Suggests less-visited parks that offer ecosystems and recreational experiences comparable to heavily visited destinations.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2026-05-13
How to Find and Book the Best National Park Campsite. Explains how campsite selection, reservation systems, maps, and local conditions can dramatically affect a park camping experience.
| Suzie Dundas | Outside | 2026-05-07
There's No Right Way to Visit National Parks in 2026. Explores the paradox of overcrowding at popular parks while high visitation also demonstrates political and economic support for preserving them.
| James Edward Mills | Outside | 2026-04-29
Isle Royale National Park: How to Visit This Great Lakes Island. Introduces an unusually remote park where wilderness, wolves, moose, backpacking, and difficult transportation keep visitation comparatively low.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2026-04-28
8 Best National Parks Near Major U.S. Cities. Highlights protected areas whose proximity to metropolitan regions makes national park experiences accessible without long-distance driving.
| Kinsey Gidick | Outside | 2026-04-25
How to Volunteer as a National Park Service Lighthouse Keeper. Examines volunteer programs that maintain historic lighthouse sites while helping visitors understand maritime heritage.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2026-04-10
Why You Should Visit the Most Crowded National Parks. Argues that shared experiences at famous landscapes can remain meaningful even when solitude is impossible.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2026-02-23
National Parks Where You Can Escape the Winter Chill. Looks at warm-weather parks where winter produces comfortable temperatures, fewer visitors, and distinctive ecological conditions.
| Stephanie Pearson | Outside | 2026-02-19
Apostle Islands Ice Caves Reopen for One Day. Documents the brief return of Lake Superior ice caves after climatic conditions kept them inaccessible for more than a decade.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2026-02-06
Bucket List National Park Adventures That Happen Once a Year. Highlights fleeting experiences such as Yosemite's Firefall and seasonal car-free access to Glacier's Going-to-the-Sun Road.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2026-02-02
The Best Time to Visit Zion National Park? Winter. Makes the case for visiting Zion when smaller crowds, cooler temperatures, and easier access transform the experience.
| Emilee Coblentz | Outside | 2025-12-13
National Parks at Christmas: These 5 Light Up the Most. Surveys winter traditions, decorations, historic lodges, and seasonal recreation at several national parks.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2025-10-22
What It's Really Like to Visit America's Most Crowded National Park. Reports from Great Smoky Mountains National Park on congestion, visitor services, and the challenge of protecting a park that receives extraordinary use.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2025-09-26
The Best National Parks for Fall Foliage Adventures. Highlights seasonal forest color and recreation in Great Smoky Mountains, Acadia, and other parks.
| Emilee Coblentz | Outside | 2025-08-28
This Is the Most-Searched National Park of All Time, According to Google. Uses search-interest data to examine the enduring public fascination with America's best-known parks.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2025-08-08
Real “Untamed” Yosemite Locations That Deserve the Spotlight. Uses interest generated by popular culture to introduce lesser-known landscapes and experiences within Yosemite.
| Mike Bezemek | Smithsonian Magazine | 2025-07-10
Seven Mysteries You Can Explore in America's National Parks. Uses unusual natural phenomena, unexplained events, and historical mysteries as a framework for exploring park landscapes.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2025-06-20
The 9 Best Swimming Holes in Our National Parks. Surveys rivers, pools, springs, and lakes that reveal a water-based side of national park recreation.
| Emilee Coblentz | Outside | 2025-06-14
Editor Tips on Navigating National Parks During Peak Season. Provides strategies for managing crowds, transportation, reservations, weather, and changing conditions during busy summer periods.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2025-06-13
Lessons Learned in “Alone” Survival School Could Keep You Alive. Connects wilderness-survival skills to remote national park environments where weather, wildlife, and isolation increase risk.
| Stephanie Vermillion | Outside | 2025-05-30
The 8 Best National Park Star Parties and Festivals. Highlights organized astronomy events that take advantage of some of America's darkest protected skies.
| Graham Averill | Outside | 2025-05-23
The Best Alternatives to Crowded National Park Campgrounds. Examines surrounding forests, public lands, gateway communities, and alternative lodging when campsites inside major parks are unavailable.
| Laura Kiniry | Smithsonian Magazine | 2022-07-22
This New San Francisco Park Sits Above Six Lanes of Traffic. Examines Presidio Tunnel Tops, an urban park project within the broader Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
| Jennifer Nalewicki | Smithsonian Magazine | 2021-03-22
You Can Still Visit These Six Former National Parks. Explores places that once carried national park status and explains why their designations later changed.
| Jim Morrison | Smithsonian Magazine | 2020-06-12
The “New Normal” of Visiting America's National Parks. Documents how parks and gateway communities adapted visitor management and operations during the early COVID-19 pandemic.
| Jennifer Billock | Smithsonian Magazine | 2016-08-10
Six National Parks That Are Best Explored by Boat. Highlights national park landscapes where waterways provide access to scenery, wildlife, historic sites, and remote environments.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2016
Marathoner Sets Out to Run All of America's National Parks. Uses long-distance running as a framework for exploring trails and landscapes throughout the park system.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2014
Take in the Sights and Sounds of the National Parks. Combines park landscapes with recordings and descriptions of birds found in places including Yosemite and other protected areas.
Hazards, Safety, Infrastructure, and Current Developments
| SFGATE | SFGATE | 2026-08-18
Channel Islands National Park Is Getting a New Campground. A new campground on Santa Cruz Island expands overnight access and creates additional opportunities for backpacking and kayaking in the remote park.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-29
Rocky Mountain National Park Implements Stage 2 Fire Restrictions. Reports how extreme fire conditions can quickly lead park managers to restrict campfires and other visitor activities.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-29
Heavy Rains and Flooding Cause Closures in Glacier National Park. Shows how severe precipitation and flooding can disrupt roads, trails, infrastructure, and visitor access.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-29
Wildfire Prompts Closure of Needles District in Canyonlands National Park. Covers a wildfire-related closure and the growing operational challenges posed by fire in western parks.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-27
Reimagining an Iconic Trail in Jasper Two Years After the Fire. Explores trail restoration and recreation planning following a major wildfire in Canada's Jasper National Park.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-26
Bison Injures 12-Year-Old in Yellowstone National Park. A wildlife encounter illustrates why maintaining appropriate distances from large mammals is essential to visitor safety.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-26
Four National Parks in New Mexico Enter Stage II Fire Restrictions. Multiple park units imposed restrictions as hot, dry conditions elevated wildfire danger.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-25
Grand Canyon National Park to Lift Trail Closures Related to Waterline Project. Covers restoration of visitor access following work on the park's crucial water infrastructure.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-25
Boca Chita Key Lighthouse Reopens in Biscayne National Park Following Major Repairs. Reports on restoration of a popular historic destination within the marine park.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-25
Wildfire Burning in Olympic National Park. Reports on wildfire conditions and management in one of America's largest and ecologically diverse temperate protected landscapes.
| Caitlyn Burford | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-07-30
What We've Lost on the Grand Canyon's North Rim. Reflects on cultural landscapes, wildlife, visitor traditions, and historic structures destroyed in the Dragon Bravo Fire.
| National Parks Conservation Association | National Parks Conservation Association | 2025-07-14
NPCA Responds to Wildfires' Destruction at Grand Canyon National Park. Documents the extensive destruction of historic buildings and infrastructure during the North Rim's Dragon Bravo Fire.
Park Landscapes, Geology, and Natural Phenomena
| Nicolas Brulliard | National Parks Conservation Association | Summer 2026
Hidden Colors. Photographer Cody Cobb uses ultraviolet light to reveal colors and biological features in park landscapes invisible under ordinary illumination.
| National Parks Traveler | National Parks Traveler | 2026-06-17
Wildflower Wednesday: Shenandoah National Park. Highlights the diversity of flowering plants visitors can encounter in Shenandoah's forests and meadows.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-05-15
These 15 Breathtaking Photos of Yosemite National Park. A visual survey of Yosemite's waterfalls, cliffs, forests, peaks, and other iconic landscapes.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-04-17
Scientists Still Don't Know How or When the Grand Canyon Formed. New geological research offers evidence about ancient drainage systems involved in formation of the Grand Canyon.
| Matt Brass | National Parks Conservation Association | Spring 2026
Hawaii Dreaming. Uses photographs and illustrations to capture the volcanic landscapes, native ecosystems, and atmosphere of Haleakalā National Park.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-03-10
Vibrant Wildflowers Are Blanketing Death Valley National Park. Unusual rainfall and favorable growing conditions produced the park's most impressive widespread bloom in years.
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026-03-04
See 15 Wild and Wondrous Photographs of Yellowstone National Park. Presents Yellowstone's wildlife, geothermal features, and landscapes through a photographic tour.
| Tracy Scott Forson | Smithsonian Magazine | 2024-07-02
Explore the Great Outdoors With Photography From U.S. National Parks. Uses images from across the country to portray wildlife, geology, forests, deserts, historic sites, and human experiences in national parks.
