Our National Parks

Yellowstone was the first national park in 1872 and it set the standard for many that followed – Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Mount Rainier and…

Birthdays are a time to celebrate, but an opportunity to look forward as well.There are many challenges the national parks must face in the 21st century,…

Though the national parks have famously been called “America’s best idea," this sentiment is not universally accepted.Native Americans were dispossessed…

The 1964 Wilderness Act was a milestone in American environmental history. After hundreds of years of clearing away the wilderness, the official policy of…

Visitors to our national parks may notice that the boundaries of many parks are marked by straight lines. These lines are political boundaries that have…

The National Park Service finds itself in a seemingly paradoxical circumstance: widely admired, but increasingly uneasy about its ability to carry out its…

National parks have famously been called “America’s best idea." This expression is commonly interpreted as meaning preservation of America’s iconic…

American education is embracing "high-impact” practices such as engagement with real places and problems, experiential and service learning, interaction…

The numbers for 2015 are in and they’re impressive; there were 305 million visits to the national parks last year. And while it’s wonderful that so many…

I’m often asked, “What’s your favorite national park?” It’s a question that gets me excited, thinking about all the parks I’ve been fortunate to visit.…