Family, teachers remember Powell boys at Washington funeral

National Parks

Rebuilding a life amid a stunning landscape

Last updated Sunday, January 29, 2012 - 3:58pm

"THE ROPE." by Nevada Barr. Minotaur. $25.99.

Since 1993, Nevada Barr has given readers solid, intriguing tours of America's national parks from Texas to Michigan to the Florida Keys, including an urban national park in New Orleans, via her series heroine, park ranger Anna Pigeon. In this series, readers have been swept up by the vistas, the breathtaking beauty of nature and by the ruthlessness of man. The petite Anna -- fearless, resilient, insightful -- has proven to be an exceptional guide.

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the top national park in the U.S. for visitor spending. In 2010 the park's 9 million visitors spent more than $818 million in neighboring communities

Study: National parks boost local economies by $12 billion

Morgan Simmons The Knoxville News Sentinel

Last updated Friday, January 27, 2012 - 2:02pm

A new study by Michigan State University shows that Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the top national park in the U.S. for visitor spending.

The "Economic Benefits to Local Communities from National Park Visitation and Payroll" estimates that in 2010 the park's 9 million visitors spent more than $818 million in neighboring communities -- double the $415 million generated by Grand Canyon National Park, the second-ranked park in the study.

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FILE - Tourists sit quietly as they view Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah, in August 2000. A federal appeals court in Denver was to hear arguments Thursday Jan. 19, 2012 on the Obama administration's decision to cancel Bush-era oil and gas leases near national parks in Utah. (AP Photo/Provo Daily Herald, Brian Fitzgerald, File)

Appeals court weighs energy leases near Utah parks

Colleen Slevin The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 1:07pm

DENVER -- A federal appeals court must decide if the Obama administration gave energy companies enough notice that it was scrapping Bush-era energy leases near national parks in Utah, the auction for which prompted an environmental activist to drive up prices with his bidding in an act of civil disobedience.

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Mount Rainier National Park superintendent Randy King walks past a photo of Ranger Margaret Anderson and traditional ranger equipment before speaking at Anderson's memorial service Tuesday in Tacoma, Wash. Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young girls, was shot and killed Jan. 1 after setting up a roadblock to stop a vehicle that blew through a checkpoint on the road to the park's visitor center. (ELAINE THOMPSON/The Associated Press)

Thousands celebrate life of slain Mount Rainier ranger with Utah ties

Phuong Le The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - 11:50pm

TACOMA, Wash. — Margaret Anderson became a law enforcement officer with the National Park Service because she wanted to help people, and she put herself in the way of evil on New Year’s Day because of her deep religious faith and love for others, her father told thousands of people Tuesday at her memorial service.

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Yosemite seeks a more diverse visitor base

Louis Sahagun The Los Angeles Times

Last updated Monday, November 14, 2011 - 2:45pm

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- Their Yosemite Valley tour was nearing its end, and the church ladies and gents from South Los Angeles had heard enough. Almost.

"He's been telling us stories he thinks we want to hear for two hours," said Ann Hale, 70, heaving a sigh of frustration from the back of the tram.

In fact, guide William Fontana had been regaling his listeners -- most of them white -- with stories about John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt, about fur trappers and rock climbers.

"We're still waiting for at least a few words about Yosemite's African-American Buffalo Soldiers," Hale grumbled to a fellow passenger.

After filing off the tram, some women from Grace United Methodist Church surrounded Fontana on the sidewalk outside the Yosemite Lodge.

"Questions, ladies?" he asked.

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Environmental law waiver faces northern skeptics

Matt Gouras The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, November 13, 2011 - 9:29am

HELENA, Mont. -- A one-size-fits-all proposal to give border agents control over environmental laws is facing critics who argue it doesn't make sense in places like Montana's Glacier National Park.

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Sequoia suffers from Valley's smog problems

Mark Grossi The Fresno Bee

Last updated Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 4:21pm

FRESNO, Calif. -- Amid the pines and incense cedar in Sequoia National Park, the five o'clock rush hour often is limited to squirrels, mule deer and the occasional skunk crossing the road.

Visitors see spectacular 13,000-foot peaks, the largest trees on the planet and far fewer idling cars than at Yosemite National Park.

So the downside here seems unbelievable: Sequoia's Ash Mountain entrance this year was the worst smog trap in the country.

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Ann Hale takes in the views of Yosemite Valley in October 2011. She was among 23 African American members of South Los Angeles' Grace United Methodist Church who toured the park wanting to know more about the history of Buffalo Soldiers in the park. (Louis Sahagun/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

Yosemite seeks a more diverse visitor base

Louis Sahagun Los Angeles Times

Last updated Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 9:22am

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- Their Yosemite Valley tour was nearing its end, and the church ladies and gents from South Los Angeles had heard enough. Almost.

"He's been telling us stories he thinks we want to hear for two hours," said Ann Hale, 70, heaving a sigh of frustration from the back of the tram.

In fact, guide William Fontana had been regaling his listeners -- most of them white -- with stories about John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt, about fur trappers and rock climbers.

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Huge Yosemite trail project is latest example of parks philanthropy

Paul Rogers San Jose Mercury News

Last updated Monday, October 17, 2011 - 1:43pm

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- For the last five years, hundreds of workers with mules, chain saws and shovels have built new wooden foot bridges on Yosemite National Park's backcountry hiking trails. They have rerouted popular paths to protect the roots of ancient sequoias in the park's Mariposa Grove. And they have installed new signs, stone walls and rock staircases across the famed John Muir Trail.

The $13.5 million job, which was completed this month, is the largest trail restoration project in Yosemite's history. But most of the funding didn't come from taxpayers; $10.5 million was paid for with private donations.

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Quarry Exhibit Hall at Dinosaur National Monument celebrates exhibit, 96th anniversary

Staff Standard-Examiner

Last updated Saturday, October 8, 2011 - 4:05pm

JENSEN -- The National Park Service is hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the new Quarry Exhibit Hall at Dinosaur National Monument.

The new 10,500-square-foot visitor center and exhibit hall features a 50-foot high, 150-foot-long cliff with about 1,500 dinosaur bones.

The exhibit has been closed since 2006 due to structural damage. The re-opening ceremony is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at the park near Jensen.

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Layton man cited for hunting on park grounds

Jasen Asay Standard-Examiner

Last updated Monday, October 3, 2011 - 10:26am

LAYTON — A Layton man is the second hunter in less than two weeks to be issued a citation for illegally hunting in Grand Teton National Park.

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In this Sept. 22, 1994, photo, U.S. National Parks Director Roger G. Kennedy is seen at the Field Museum in Chicago. Former National Park Service Director Roger Kennedy, who staunchly defended his agency from budget cuts, has died at age 85. He had melanoma. (AP Photo/Charles Bennett)

Roger Kennedy, former National Park Service director, dies at 85

Julie Cart Los Angeles Times

Last updated Saturday, October 1, 2011 - 9:40pm

One day deep in the administration of George W. Bush — a time of tumult among environmentalists and conservationists — Roger Kennedy found himself shaking his head and sighing. The Endangered Species Act was in the cross hairs of a Republican Congress and his beloved National Park Service, which Kennedy directed from 1993 to 1997, was under assault.

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(NICK SHORT/Standard-Examiner) Dayna Urquhart (left) and Jim Urquhart photograph Balanced Rock with the stars in the background in April in Arches National Park near Moab.

Stargazers, parks officials hope to save the night

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, October 1, 2011 - 8:57pm

CEDAR CITY — Gazing skyward from his backyard, longtime Southern Utah resident Abe Heck used to marvel at the Milky Way. Now he can’t even see it.

Astronomers, Astronomy, Bryce Canyon National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Development, Economy, Land development, National Parks, Southern Utah, Stargazing, Tourism, Utah, Zion National Park, Featured Read more Comments

(JIM URQUHART/The Associated Press) Environmental activists Chelsea Satre (left) and Julianne Waters sit in the middle of Main Street and block the light rail track after Tim DeChristopher is sentenced at the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. Twenty-six people were arrested after they used zip ties to chain themselves together.

26 protesting DeChristopher activist case may be charged

Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - 11:01pm

SALT LAKE CITY -- City prosecutors on Wednesday considered criminal charges for 26 people arrested after they blocked traffic and the light rail downtown while protesting the sentencing of an environmental activist who thwarted a 2008 government auction of oil and gas leases.

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(JIM URQUHART/The Associated Press) Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher is surrounded by media as he arrives to the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. He was sentenced to two years in prison on federal charges for bidding up prices at an auction of land leases that he couldn't pay for.

DeChristopher gets 2 years in prison for thwarting oil and gas lease auction

Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - 5:32pm

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Utah environmental activist has been sentenced to two years in prison for derailing a 2008 government auction of oil and gas leases near two national parks.