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Blue Angels Fly By Grand Tetons

Jul 26th - 14:30pm | Beamis

Where have you been hiding your head in the sand Mookie?

Jul 26th - 13:59pm | Mookie

Wow...if you really believe that only those who have served in the military have the right to voice an opinion? When did the fascists take over?

Jul 26th - 13:39pm | jsmacdonald

FYI, I also blogged (not web-zined) a bit about it. http://www.yellowstone-online.com/2007/07/sounding-off-blue-angels-blast...

Jul 26th - 13:25pm | Tom

It is quite obvious that you were never issued a service number. And you never served.........You have no voice!! SOG2 USS Morton DD948

Jul 26th - 12:10pm | repanshek

I'd be curious to learn how much this photo-op cost the Navy. Perhaps they could make a like donation to Grand Teton, which could use some extra funding. Beyond that, though, don't forget that there's a commercial airport within the park boundaries, so it's not the most quiet place to start with.

Jul 26th - 11:49am | Mookie

Does freedom have a sound? I don't like it...even with the throttles down, the sounds of the engines would still be powerful enough to disturb the wildlife. But I guess the Navy feels harming animals isn't as important than a stupid photo-op.

Judge Tosses Surprise Canyon Lawsuit

Jul 26th - 14:29pm | Anonymous

If it wasn't a road, why was the "road" cherry stemmed in the Desert Protection Act of 1994? This is nothing but a BS response in bed with the eco elitists!

Jul 26th - 11:58am | NSBFRANK

I concur with OB's comments: There is most surely a road up Surprise Cyn. I suspect that the majority of people who claim that there is no road up Surprise Canyon to Panamint City have never been to the area.

Jul 26th - 09:50am | Original Bigfoot

The judge ruling the parties had no standing is not the same as the judge ruling that Suprise Canyon is a road, or no road. The judge merely felt that his court was not the place to make that decision. It is a temporary win for the "no-road" people, and delays any eventual final determination. But the story isn't over yet.

Jul 26th - 01:59am | George Siewerd

Kudos to Judge O'Neill! We can't afford to loose any more pristine parkland than we already have ( Alaska ) because someone feels they have the right to ruin God's wilderness. I enjoy Death Vally and go there as often as I can. The National Park Service does a fine job. Keep up the good work.

Jul 25th - 23:58pm | Snowbird

Kudo's to Earth Justice, a job well done! These stalwarts for the National Parks deserve are high praise and hardy thanks.

Parties in the Parks: Much Ado About Nothing?

Jul 26th - 14:22pm | Beamis

Thanks for the visual Frank. A great and tremendous fireball it would be!

Jul 26th - 14:10pm | Frank

Take a look at this picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10619606@N08/907036905/ It's amazing! How can they fly so close like that?! Just imagine if they crashed in the back country! The explosions would be amazing!

Jul 26th - 13:47pm | Beamis

Since Mr. Macdonald is so dead set against privatization of any kind and believes that the federal government is the best steward for the national parks he'd better get used to the jets. They are part and parcel of the same outfit: the Executive Branch of the U.S. government.

Jul 26th - 10:56am | Rick

Hey Jimmy boy...that's the sound of freedom...your park wouldn't even exist without it. "Death machines?" You need to wise up...that is so over the top it doesn't need further comment...judging from your past comments, you are a real piece of work.

Jul 26th - 06:56am | jsmacdonald

I absolutely do not support privatization of the parks, either in the overt hand-it-over variety, or in the fascistic corporate/government partnerships (closer to Mussolini's definition of fascism) that have always been a part of park history. However, even worse to me are stories like the one I'm about to post in the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

Jul 26th - 06:45am | Beamis

Excellent points Frank. I used to do an evening program about the fact that the NPS was probably the greatest scenic road building organization in world history. A short list of famous pavement ribbons brought to you by NPS planners: the Zion-Mt. Carmel Hwy., Going to the Sun Road, Blue Ridge Parkway, Natchez Trace, George Washington Parkway, Tioga Road, and the Rockefeller Parkway.

Jul 26th - 01:11am | Frank

Kurt,

Jul 26th - 01:02am | jersu

I too vote for Haunted Hiker as Director! Let's start a campaign :)

Jul 25th - 20:10pm | Beamis

It's a pity the agency does not have the Haunted Hiker as its current director, God love her.

Jul 25th - 19:30pm | haunted hiker

Frank, I be quite cynical concerning the way the NPS is managing parks, but the NPS has NOT "failed miserably" as you suggest.

Jul 25th - 17:47pm | repanshek

Beamis, your comments are much appreciated. As for donating to the cause, we're not quite ready to go down that road, but that day might not be far off so stay tuned.

Jul 25th - 16:58pm | Beamis

Kurt y'all are doing a great job of offering a ground breaking website to further much needed dialogue. It is much appreciated. Where can I send a contribution? Remember I'm a free market capitalist and would love to voluntarily support your efforts with a free will offering of monetary support.

Jul 25th - 16:08pm | repanshek

Frank, This is just the latest issue at hand. There have been plenty of posts over the months addressing practices that run contrary to the Organic Act. Just look at the many posts on snowmobiles in Yellowstone, personal watercraft in parks and seashores, ORVs in Big Cypress, and power boats in Everglades, just to name the ones that come immediately to mind.

Jul 25th - 15:58pm | Frank

I'm of the opinion that these events were nothing more than corporate parties totally out of character with the mission the Park Service has promised to uphold on our behalf. The "mission" of the NPS is/was to leave places unimpaired, and they've failed miserably in keeping that promise.

Jul 25th - 14:41pm | ArizonaTraveler

My guess is that if you polled 100 different National Park Service supporters as to which units they feel do not belong in the NPS system, you could easily get 100 different answers, with nearly as many well-conceived supporting arguments.

Jul 25th - 14:29pm | jersu

The cultural resources protected by the park are as important as its natural resources. I agree with an earlier comment that it is a pointless exercise to pit one park against another for a battle between national significance. When the parks were established, either through Presidential Proclamation or as an act of Congress, they were deemed to be important.

Jul 25th - 14:05pm | kath

On the other hand, the Nature Conservancy protects it's portion of Santa Cruz Island so well that it's very difficult for the average person to visit. That part of Santa Cruz Island is no doubt in good hands but I've never been there although I go out to the Channel Islands at least once a year.

Jul 25th - 12:19pm | haunted hiker

Beamis. God love ya. Keep it up. Your voice and perspective are refreshing!

Jul 25th - 11:53am | kath

Since California sends much more to the federal government than we get back, having the Santa Monica Mountains preserved by the federal government is at least a drop in the bucket of having the taxes we send to Washington come back.

Jul 25th - 11:39am | Frank

I personally am ashamed of the criminal theft of places such as the Tetons ... and Shenandoah... And I'm ashamed of the Fed's theft of the Modoc homeland (Lava Beds) so ranchers could graze cows, the theft of the Klamath's sacred Crater Lake, and the theft of the Black Hills so we could blast the images of our presidents into sacred stone.

Jul 25th - 10:45am | Beamis

The consensus, from the comments so far, is for a strong national government that is indespensible to our ability to "function effectively as a great and civilized place to live". What would we do without them? Devolve into barbarism?

Jul 25th - 10:15am | Bob Mackreth

"Who'd a thunk that in 1916, when the the NPS began, that Americans such as Merryland would be clamoring for the inclusion of such places as lumber mills and steel making plants?"

Jul 25th - 10:07am | lepanto

Mr. Beamis -- you invite us to call you 'old fashioned.' Your view is pre-constitutional. Had we relied on local communities, we Tetons would not have been preserved, just to name one.

Jul 25th - 08:28am | Beamis

"I also think the Park Service should include a steel mill and lumber mill in its list of historic sites before they're all dismantled and the scrap parts sold off to the Chinese."

Jul 24th - 21:03pm | Merryland

Rocky Horror Picture Show was supposed to be fiction. This makes me ill. According to the news quotes and photos I've seen (there are lots on the web) there were a lot more than 750 people in attendance. According to the event organizer, he wished they had done a better job of restricting it to the people who were invited (he estimated over a thousand).

Jul 24th - 20:52pm | Merryland

Our family loved Steamtown. I also think the Park Service should include a steel mill and lumber mill in its list of historic sites before they're all dismantled and the scrap parts sold off to the Chinese.

Jul 24th - 20:39pm | kath

Speaking for the 'urban' park in L. A., that is the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. It is mountainous terrain between the San Fernando Valley and Malibu. One of it's 'sites' is the old Paramount movie ranch still used for filming today. It is home to cougars, deer, bobcats and many varieties of raptors.

Jul 24th - 17:03pm | Beamis

"As long as we fight with each other, and belittle and trivialize the significance of this or that park, rather than fight for enough funding in this rich country for all the parks, Congress has an excuse not to fund;"

NPT: Blog or Webzine?

Jul 26th - 11:31am | Anonymous

npt rocks. keep it up.

Jul 26th - 10:06am | haunted hiker

Kurt, As far as I'm concerned, you and Jeremy are doing a terrific job. This webzine pulls off a unique yet wonderful balance between visiting the controversies surrounding managing parks and visiting the beauty and "wonders" (pythons in the Everglades!) of said parks. As you know, even the best newspapers in the world make mistakes. Keep up the good work!

Bringing Color to the Public Lands Landscape

Jul 26th - 10:43am | Anonymous

The same arguments about race diversity on park staffs have been made about gender. And it is nearly always framed as an issue of unqualified women getting jobs that should have gone to qualified men. Sometimes there was even a suspicion that unqualified women were selected over qualified ones so as to prove the point that women could not do the job.

Just Another Snake Story

Jul 26th - 10:10am | haunted hiker

This photo is too much! Check out the smile on the ranger's face. I love it. A while back, I interviewed a couple who witnessed an alligator vs python battle to the death on the Anhinga Trail in 2004. Here's a link to the photo and story that appeared in the NY Times http://www.wildphotoguy.com/photoshoot.htm

Jul 24th - 19:11pm | Merryland

Florida is one giant exotic species nature preserve gone awry. I remember one day at the Visitor Center at the 'Glades seeing a parakeet hanging out with a gaggle of sparrows. The poor little guy was certainly lost, but seemed to find some solace in the group of similar-sized birds with similar needs.

Time Running Out to Comment on Everglades Management Plan

Jul 26th - 09:28am | Phil C

Robert, I agree with you 100%.I grew up on the east coast in Melbourne,and saw Florida as it really was,"beautiful".Too much population now,and it is out of control.Too bad...

Zion Fire Complex Nearing 10,000 Acres, Yellowstone Fire Grows

Jul 26th - 06:42am | jsmacdonald

On the other hand, the Owl fire continues to grow despite cooler weather yesterday and rain in much of the park (though apparently not in the area of the fire). The fire is now 2500 acres and 0% contained. It has crossed Specimen Creek. See http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/owl1.htm

Jul 25th - 12:13pm | Mookie

Looks like rain in Zion has knocked back their fires quite a bit. The latest report shows it over 80% contained, and they've reopened the part of the backcountry that wasn't affected.

Top 10 Most Visited National Parks

Jul 26th - 05:52am | Claire Walter

Even highly visited national parks have undervisited, and sometimes surprisingly accessible, components. We live an hour +/- from Rocky National Park, and last Saturday, four us hiked the Cow Creek Trail. It is on the east (i.e., metro Denver-Boulder-Fort Collins) side of the park, and temperatures in these Front Range cities were flirting with triple digits.

Adventure Seeking in Yosemite with YouTube

Jul 25th - 03:42am | Marc

I did the same trip in June 1990 and thought it was crowded back then. And we were by far less then half the people seen in this video clip. There were wide gaps in the line on the cables, and certainly no queue before you got to the cables. Or maybe we were just earlier in the day - judging from sun and shadows. Yosemite Valley and the day trips from there are places of mass tourism.

Jul 24th - 21:38pm | Art Allen

Anyone who might think that parks are not overcrowded should take a look at this video of the half-dome hike. The mass of humanity clinging to that cable is absolutely amazing. Thanks for bringing the video to our attention.

The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.