Reducing Noise in National Parks

The Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division at the U.S. National Park Service provides scientific support to all the national park units. Its researchers help park administrators understand the current state of their resource conditions and what the effects of pollution are on visitor experience and wildlife, and give them suggestions for how they might reduce pollution...

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Climate Change Is Causing Earlier Springs in National Parks

The National Park Service was created to protect and preserve the United States’ natural wonders. But what happens when climate change starts to alter these sites? U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced a new report revealing that three-quarters of 276 national parks are experiencing an earlier onset of spring. Half of the parks studied are experiencing “extreme”...

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How the National Park Service Is Planning for Climate Change

Five years ago, just after archaeologist Marcy Rockman joined the National Park Service’s new climate change response program, the GOP-controlled Congress slashed its budget by 70 percent. Republicans were determined to squash President Barack Obama’s climate agenda, and many federal officials were deeply discouraged. So Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis convened his...

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Climate change will mean the end of national parks as we know them

After a century of shooing away hunters, tending to trails and helping visitors enjoy the wonder of the natural world, the guardians of America’s most treasured places have been handed an almost unimaginable new job – slowing the all-out assault climate change is waging against national parks across the nation. As the National Park Service (NPS) has charted the loss of...

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The Antiquities Act and America’s National Parks

As Americans anticipate family vacations, many are planning trips to our nation’s iconic national parks, such as the Grand Canyon, Zion, Acadia and Olympic. But they may not realize that these and other parks exist because presidents used their power under the Antiquities Act, enacted on June 8, 1906, to protect those places from exploitation and development. The...

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Americans are proud of their national parks and are willing to pay more to preserve them

Researchers from Harvard and Colorado State have found that Americans would be willing to pay 30 times more than the current annual appropriation in order to preserve and maintain the US National Park system. According to the study, the US public would pay more than $90 billion a year to sustain and protect America’s iconic places. Yet the US National Park system...

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3 national parks in Oregon that never happened

Oregon is no stranger to National Parks. Since 1902, the state has been home to Crater Lake National Park, and over the last century four other spots have won lesser designations from the National Park Service. But in the mid-20th century, Oregon’s scenic beauty was prized by the park service, which proposed several sprawling national parks around the state. Three...

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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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Woman sentenced for vandalism in several National Park Service sites

The woman who defaced sites within several national parks in 2014 pleaded guilty June 13, 2016 to seven misdemeanor counts of damaging government property. Casey Nocket, age 23, was ordered by a federal judge to serve two years of probation and 200 hours of community service. She is also banned from all lands administered by the National Park Service (NPS), US Forest...

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National Park Visitor Spending Contributes $32 Billion to Economy

Spending by a record number of national park visitors in 2015 provided a $32 billion benefit to the nation’s economy and supported 295,000 jobs, according to a report released by NPS Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “The big picture of national parks and their importance to the economy is clear,” Jarvis said of the $16.9 billion visitors spent in communities within 60 miles...

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National Park Service Certifies 2015 Visitation at 307 Million

President Theodore Roosevelt was reelected in 1904, the same year rangers started counting national park visitors. There were more than 120,000 visits to America’s 11 national parks in the first year of counting. This week, the National Park Service (NPS) certified 2015 national park visitation at more than 307 million. It also released its popular Top 10 list of the...

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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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The latest buzz on flying drones in state and national parks: Rules can still be vague

Travelers — especially drone enthusiasts — should know that public park policies vary widely when it comes to unmanned aircraft. Before you send anything aloft — or holler in protest about somebody else’s aircraft — it’s wise to do some homework. Besides the Federal Aviation Administration’s restrictions on small unmanned aircraft, many parks have their...

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All National Parks Are Free On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Admission to all national parks will be free on Jan. 18, 2016 in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The discount gives visitors a chance to skirt the $25 fee for entering sites likes the Grand Canyon in Arizona or Yellowstone in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. The MLK Day promotion is part of events commemorating the National Park Service’s centennial. There will be...

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Centennial could aid national parks’ infrastructure backlog

Under President Dwight D. Eisehower, the nation prepared for the 50th birthday of the National Park Service with a spending splurge that refurbished Independence Hall in Philadelphia and helped complete the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway. This year, the world-famous system turns 100 and the celebration will be far more modest. The Obama...

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National parks set 16 free-entry days in 2016

ll national parks will offer free admission on 16 days next year to celebrate the National Park Service’s 100th birthday. “We added extra fee-free days so that everyone has a chance to join the party,” park service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said in a news release. The 16 free-entry days for 2016 will be: Jan. 18, Martin Luther King Jr. Day April 16-24, National Park...

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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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House Committee Poised To Rewrite National Park Fee Authority

A much anticipated hearing before the House Natural Resource Committee arrives October 28, 2015, and the outcome could be higher fees for national park visitors. Among the potential outcomes outlined in the draft legislation written by U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, (R-UT): motorcyclists and snowmobilers in national parks would face the same entrance fees charged motorists;...

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British Government Extends Boundaries Of Lake District And Yorkshire Dales National Parks

Two of the most popular national parks in England, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District, are set to expand their territory to create the largest area of protected and continuous land for a national park in the country. In 2012, Natural England, the government’s legal adviser on the protection of England’s nature, released variation orders to extend the...

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Free day for seniors at national parks

The National Park service is encouraging senior citizens to enjoy the outdoors. On Oct. 8, 2015 all national parks will grant complimentary access to seniors 62 and older. “Spending time in parks has demonstrated benefits for physical and mental health, and the National Park Service is helping Americans make this connection,” says National Park Service...

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Obama proposes $1.5 billion for national parks

The Obama administration sent to Congress a $1.5 billion proposal to upgrade national parks, using a combination of tax money, fee increases, donations and commercial partnerships for a three-year improvement plan marking the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. The National Park Service Centennial Act would seek $100 million in private donations each year for...

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English national park’s are brimming with nature’s riches

A stock-take of the 10 parks established to preserve the England’s natural riches shows how they have become vital sanctuaries for a wonderful array of threatened and rare plants and animals. While the national parks cover only 10 per cent of England, they contain a high proportion of habitats such as heath, fen and ancient woodland that have been lost over the...

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How Big Water is trying to stop the National Park Service from cleaning up plastic bottles

The National Park Service thought it had a good strategy for reining in the discarded water bottles that clog the trash cans and waste stream of the national parks: stop selling disposable bottles and let visitors refill reusable ones with public drinking water. But Big Water has stepped in to block the parks from banning the plastic pollutants — and the industry found...

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$40 billion of national parks at risk from sea rise

Sea-level rise puts at high risk more than $40 billion in park infrastructure and historic and cultural resources, including almost $90 million in assets at the Canaveral National Seashore, according to a federal report. The report by scientists from the National Park Service and Western Carolina University is based on a study of 40 parks. “Climate change is...

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With U.S. as a Model, China Envisions Network of National Parks

More than 140 years ago, the United States government designated Yellowstone as the nation’s first national park — an untouched Western landscape of geysers, grizzly bears and soaring peaks. The national parks program eventually expanded to include more than 450 sites and has become one of the country’s greatest tourist draws. Now China is trying to do with some of its...

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National Park Service kicks off zero-landfill pilot

Three of America’s most iconic National Parks are getting a helping hand on their waste management practices from Subaru’s zero-landfill experts. It’s unfortunate that some of our most beautiful places, our public lands, are also a place for one of our ugliest habits, wastefulness, to rear its head, but that may be changing, thanks to a partnership...

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National Parks need a little love

Roads and trails and buildings in our national parks are deteriorating, and adequate funding to fix that problem remains elusive. With so many competing demands for federal dollars, the National Parks Service is often a lower priority, especially for repair projects. The result is that despite user fees the backlog of projects at national parks nationwide is $11.49...

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