More Than Just Parks | Grand Teton

Jim and Will Pattiz are media professionals who have a passion for our national parks. Their More than Just Parks plan is to create short films for each of the 59 US National Parks to give people a completely unique viewing experience. They hope that this will encourage folks to get out there and have a one-of-a-kind experience of their own in our national parks. It is...

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More Than Just Parks | Joshua Tree

Jim and Will Pattiz are media professionals who have a passion for our national parks. Their More than Just Parks plan is to create short films for each of the 59 US National Parks to give people a completely unique viewing experience. They hope that this will encourage folks to get out there and have a one-of-a-kind experience of their own in our national parks. It is...

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More Than Just Parks | Olympic

Jim and Will Pattiz are media professionals who have a passion for our national parks. This year they decided to put that passion to work using their talents to produce a captivating short film about Olympic National Park. They chose Olympic National Park because of it’s incredibly rich diversity — it’s glacial mountain peaks, lush rain forests, alpine...

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A youth Civilian Conservation Corps will build a trail of justice and hope

Despite recent upticks in hirings, double-digit unemployment and a slumping U.S. economy have many drawing parallels to the Great Depression, complete with calls for a new Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal that provided millions of young men with conservation jobs. While there are some similarities between now and...

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WiFi, Amazon and food trucks: Trump team’s vision for national parks

  A team of Trump administration advisers – consisting mostly of appointees from the private industry – are urging “modernization” of national park campgrounds, with a vision of food trucks, WiFi and even Amazon deliveries. “Our recommendations would allow people to opt for additional costs if they want, for example, Amazon deliveries at a particular campsite,”...

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The Senate just passed the decade’s biggest public lands package. Here’s what’s in it.

The Senate today passed the most sweeping conservation legislation in a decade, protecting millions of acres of land and hundreds of miles of wild rivers across the country and establishing four new national monuments honoring heroes from Civil War soldiers to a civil rights icon. The 662-page measure, which passed 92 to 8, represented an old-fashioned approach to...

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Study: National Parks Bearing The Brunt Of Climate Change Impacts

Yellowstone National Park escaped the summer without any large conflagrations in its forests, but that could be an anomaly under the current pace of climate change. Pikas could vanish from parks such as Lassen Volcanic and Great Basin. Glaciers and Joshua trees could be seen only in photographs and paintings in their namesake parks, and Virgin Islands and Hawai’i...

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National parks to rethink plan to hike entrance fees after widespread anger

The Department of the Interior said that it planned to revise a controversial proposal to drastically increase entrance fees at some of the most popular national parks in the country. The interior department press secretary, Heather Swift, said the Trump administration decided to rethink its proposal after Americans flooded the National Park Service (NPS) with more than...

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Why Artists are Heading to National Parks and Monuments

When the sun rises at Moraine Park in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), it slowly peaks out from behind Eagle Cliff, casting a pink-orange morning glow onto the pine-flecked slopes of the Continental Divide. The William Allen White Cabin, once owned by the eponymous Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, has a front-row seat to the grandeur. Inside, the scene is just as...

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Utah Parks Set Attendance Records Once Again

With a month to spare, Zion National Park has set a new record for visitation this year, heightening concerns about overcrowding just as park managers consider a controversial fee hike and requiring visitors to go through an online reservation system. The park had counted 4,365,946 visitors through the end of November, representing nearly a 5 percent increase over last...

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Love the Outdoors? The U.S. National Parks Are Hiring

Have you ever wished you could spend your workdays surrounded by awe-inspiring nature? You can now make that dream a reality: the National Park Service is hiring for a variety of positions across its U.S. parks for next year. California’s Yosemite National Park, for example, is currently taking applications for roughly 300 different jobs for next summer. The positions,...

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Adventurer sparks Eurasian rebirth of hiking tourism

The international group of young adventurers who set up operations in a disused building on the outskirts of Dilijan National Park, a two hours’ drive north of the Armenian capital, do not quite look like game-changers. Indeed, they live communally, don simple outdoor gear and bunk down in tents at night, but that is all it has taken to kick off the ambitious...

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National Public Lands Day 2017—less than four weeks away

NEEF’s 24th annual National Public Lands Day (NPLD) is just a few weeks away. Where will you be on September 30, 2017 when hundreds of thousands of people join in the nation’s largest, single-day volunteer effort for public lands? Take a moment to check out NPLD events in your area and register your event today. Whether you are interested in learning about...

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The National Parks Like You’ve Never Experienced Them Before

Veteran travelers of national parks may think they’ve done it all, but not so fast: There are 417 sites managed by the National Park Service, and there are plenty of ways to enjoy each of them. Non-profit friends groups and NPS officials compilde a short list of National Park activities and spots that are a bit off the beaten path, and just plain cool. Lookout Point...

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How to backpack in popular national parks

Cons: There are reservations, permits, people, shuttles and mandatory bear cans. Pros: What you give up in convenience is usually more than repaid in access to jaw-dropping scenery that just can’t be matched on any old footpath through the woods. And it’s really helpful to have that kind of distraction when you’re carrying a 30-pound load. If...

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Coalition on National Parks’ Future Seeks Native Involvement

In this the year of the centennial of the National Park Service, a coalition has emerged with a vision for the future of our national parks and other public lands, a vision of greater diversity and inclusiveness. The “Next 100 Coalition” is comprised of more than 30 civil rights, environmental justice, and conservation organizations. The coalition’s vision statement...

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Peaceful hiking trails lie just outside bustling Hong Kong

Green spaces just beyond the busy metropolis of Hong Kong offer various trails for all levels of hikers, along with tranquility and awesome views. One of the first things you notice is the silence. Minutes from Hong Kong’s frenetic core, yet seemingly a world away, lush landscapes, walking trails and scenic vistas overlook the vertical metropolis below. There is so much...

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Landmark Energy Plan Protects Arches, Canyonlands National Parks

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced July 20, 2016 the completion of its environmental review for a landmark oil and gas leasing plan on federal lands between Arches and Canyonlands national parks. The release of the Moab Master Leasing Plan (MLP) is the result of a collaborative process where the BLM listened to the needs of local leaders as well as from...

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Overlooked Wildlife Experiences in Our National Parks

Think of wildlife in U.S. national parks, and certain images pop to mind: Bears. Bison. Elk. Wolves. All spectacular critters, to be sure. But the National Park Service protects a wide range of wildlife, large and small. Some of these species are cryptic or elusive. But other smaller denizens offer fascinating viewing opportunities. For example, Great Smoky Mountains...

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How Photography Shaped America’s National Parks

Have you ever gotten a postcard from a national park? Chances are the picture that comes to mind—maybe the powerful eruption of Old Faithful spouting up in Yellowstone or the rocky depths of the Grand Canyon—is the same shot that people across the world have seen. There’s a reason for that. The idea of America’s national parks that’s ingrained in the collective...

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North Dakota’s Contributions to Our National Parks’ 2016 Centennial

I needn’t tell you North Dakota is not the first place people consider when asked about national parks. Far from it. Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon—these are the places most people picture when questioned by friends and coworkers about memorable places and bucket list destinations. Who could fault them? Americans and people worldwide are flooded with photographs...

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Congress needs to stop ignoring the repairs backlog at national parks

When household budgets are tight, people tend to put off expensive maintenance projects. So a leaky roof gets patched instead of replaced, or paint is left to peel for a season or two or three longer than a homeowner (not to mention the neighbors) would like. Government agencies do the same thing. And now, after years of putting off less-crucial repairs because of...

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National Parks Go Toe-to-Toe with “Big Water” Over Plastic Bottle Waste

Snowed under by an avalanche of empty plastic bottles, in 2011 National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis told the system’s 408 parks, national monuments and historic sites that they could stop selling bottled water at their concession stands and offer public water bottle filling stations instead. According to Jarvis, the environmental impact of single-use plastic...

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Arches vs. Canyonlands: The rocky relationship of two national parks

      There is a sign at Arches National Park featuring a quote that reads: “Let the people walk.” It’s a line taken from Ed Abbey’s 1968 nature writing classic “Desert Solitaire.” It might seem like an odd choice: Arches, and its nearest city, Moab, Utah, have become virtually everything “Cactus Ed” hated....

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Canyonlands and Arches: Two visions for national parks in one town

“Let the people walk,” reads the quote on a sign at Arches National Park, taken from Ed Abbey’s classic of nature writing, “Desert Solitaire,” about his two seasons as a ranger there. Despite Abbey’s connection to the park, the quote is an odd choice: Arches and its location of Moab, Utah, have become virtually everything “Cactus Ed” hated. The road he opposed turned...

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National Parks Losing Rangers Just When They’re Needed the Most

America’s national parks have never been so popular: Last year saw the highest-ever level of daily visits and campers to Yellowstone, Joshua Tree, and the 57 other nature reserves. Yet the number of park rangers available to help travelers find the perfect trail, answer questions about area flora and fauna, and enforce rules to protect the environment (and other laws) is...

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The Pattiz Brothers are at it again – This time in Zion

Two brothers spent more than three weeks in Zion National Park to put together a 4-minute video that shows some of the park’s many vistas. Filmmakers Jim and Will Pattiz, who are from outside Atlanta, spent 24 days in the park and shot footage at 16 different sites. The stunning video is part of a project they started called More Than Just Parks, an attempt to draw...

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No, Sheltering in Place Doesn’t Include Hiking in Crowds

In locked-down America, the outdoors is one of the only places left to go. And everyone seems to be going. Leaders and health officials around the country are struggling to balance the need for separation with the need for escape and exercise. Southern California’s always-jammed roads were eerily quiet the first weekend of a statewide lockdown meant to slow the spread of...

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