national park

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Heat Kills Tourist Couple in Joshua Tree Park

European couple dies after car becomes stuck on dirt road

(Newser) - Authorities in California have stepped up heat warnings after a couple died of exposure in Joshua Tree National Park. The bodies of Dutch music promoter Augustinus Van Hove, 44, and his German girlfriend, Helena Nuellett, 38, were found along a park road after a day in which temperatures soared as...

Body of Yosemite Hiker Swept Over Vernal Fall Found
 Yosemite Hiker's Body Found 
Aug 8, 2011 9:51 AM CDT

Yosemite Hiker's Body Found

Two companions still missing, both presumed dead

(Newser) - One of the three hikers swept over Yosemite's Vernal Fall last month has been found. Search and rescue workers and rangers recovered David Hormiz's body Saturday, about 240 feet from the base of the 317-foot waterfall, KTLA reports. The bodies of Hormiz's two companions, both also presumed...

Hiker Plunges to Her Death at Yosemite

Hiker Hayley LaFlamme was descending Half Dome

(Newser) - Less than two weeks after three hikers were swept over Vernal Fall , another woman has died at Yosemite National Park. Hayley LaFlamme, 26, had reached the Half Dome summit—a treacherous hike that can take as long as 12 hours to finish—and was descending Sunday when she reportedly lost...

Park Rangers Face Deadly Threat: Other Humans

Guns, solo flying make for dangerous beat

(Newser) - You'd think that bears or mountain lions would be the biggest threat to rangers patrolling US national parks. But it's fellow humans, invariably armed, that pose the real danger. Two recent shootings, including one in Pennsylvania in which a wildlife officer was killed, highlight the growing risks, writes the New ...

Lost Hiker, 64, Recounts 6-Day Ordeal in Desert

He moved as little as possible during the day

(Newser) - A 64-year-old man who survived for six days after getting lost in California's Joshua Tree desert says he survived by staying in shade during the day and walking during the cold nights. Edward Rosenthal said he intended a short walk but got distracted when he took a wrong turn and...

Technology Makes Us Really Bad Campers

You'd think that GPS would help, but it may not

(Newser) - Technology appears to be making some people a lot stupider when it comes to the great outdoors. Thanks to GPS, cell phones, and emergency devices, more people are heading into the wild ill-equipped…then, at best, wasting rangers’ time with their problems—or, at worst, getting injured or killed. The...

Yellowstone's Bears Hungry, Bloodthirsty

You might want to reconsider feeding the bears

(Newser) - Remember those admonishments not to feed the bears? Well, the grizzlies at Yellowstone are hungry this year, reports the AP, and cranky as a result—which doesn't bode so well for human visitors. Two people have already died in 2010 after encountering starving grizzlies. "Pack your bear spray: there's...

Militia Groups Hold Armed Protest on Potomac

Obama signed law that allowed it

(Newser) - A number of militia groups intend to rally on the banks of the Potomac River today, and they'll be packing heat. It'll be the first armed rally ever held in a national park, which ironically is only possible because of a law signed by Barack Obama. But that doesn't hold...

Pistol-Packin' Visitors Now Allowed in National Parks

Congress ditches federal gun restrictions

(Newser) - Be extra nice to the people you meet in Yellowstone—it's now legal for visitors to carry loaded, concealed guns there and in other national parks. Congress has stripped federal firearms restrictions in the parks, leaving limits up to the states where they're located. For nearly a century, the National...

Yellowstone Fire Grows
 Yellowstone Fire Grows 
Sep 29, 2009 3:27 AM CDT

Yellowstone Fire Grows

Officials say park still safe to visit despite 10,000-acre blaze

(Newser) - A wildfire at Yellowstone has consumed almost 10,000 acres of pine forest and closed one of the main roads through the national park. Hundreds of firefighters are working to manage the blaze and keep it away from the park infrastructure. The fire has been burning for at least two...

Record 900K Visit Yellowstone in July

(Newser) - Yellowstone National Park officials are crediting relatively low gas prices and the park's affordability after a record number of people visited in July. America's first national park hosted more than 900,500 people last month, up more than 11% from July 2008 and 6% from the previous monthly record set...

Fla. Python Hunt More Wild Goose Chase
 Fla. Python Hunt 
 More Wild Goose Chase 
ANALYSIS
Jul 30, 2009 12:05 PM CDT

Fla. Python Hunt More Wild Goose Chase

(Newser) - The “Great Florida Python Hunt” is on, but the prey population is likely smaller—and less dangerous—than advertised, Paul Quinlan writes in the Palm Beach Post. Proponents have said there could be 100-150,000 Burmese pythons in the Everglades, a figure the media has seized upon. But the...

America's Best National Parks
 America's Best National Parks 
TRAVEL
Jul 29, 2009 6:20 PM CDT

America's Best National Parks

(Newser) - In the recession, international air travel is down and national park attendance is way up. Forbes runs down the crème de la crème of America’s national treasures, but be warned: “It's been incredibly hard to get camping space at most national parks,” one travel agent...

Michelle, Our National Parks Need You
Michelle, Our National Parks Need You
OPINION
Jul 12, 2009 10:12 AM CDT

Michelle, Our National Parks Need You

Only first lady can stem wilting interest in US' 'attics of history'

(Newser) - Last year, more people visited areas run by the National Parks Service than attended NFL, NBA, MLB, and NASCAR games combined. Still, Timothy Egan writes in the New York Times, the 274 million visits amount to a national crisis. “Our shared outdoor spaces, our attics of history and graveyards...

Ben Stein to Wal-Mart: Hands Off Civil War Battlefield

(Newser) - Ben Stein loves Wal-Mart—just don’t put one smack-dab in the middle of a historic Civil War battlefield in Orange, Va. The 1864 Battle of the Wilderness was a turning point in the conflict, Stein writes in the American Spectator, and the “battlefield is incredibly important environmentally and...

National Parks Plan 3 Free Summer Weekends

(Newser) - The National Park Service is looking to stimulate summer vacations, with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announcing today that entrance fees at 147 national parks and monuments—including the Grand Canyon and Yosemite—will be waived on three weekends this summer: June 20-21, July 18-19, and Aug. 15-16. “During these...

Pot Farms Sprout in National Parks

Rangers warn that illicit, cartel-run plantations are on the rise

(Newser) - America's park rangers are battling a growing number of marijuana plantations taking root in national parks, NPR reports. Marijuana farms have been found in at least six national parks on the West Coast, where rangers say growers camp in the woods all summer, tending hidden plantations that can't be spotted...

Bush Policies Will Blow Through Nat'l Parks for Years

Putting commerce over conservation, White House stifled scientists' protests

(Newser) - Views of spacious skies and purple mountain majesties in US national parks may soon be interrupted by industrial roads and power lines, after years of Bush policies that pushed commerce over conservation, reports the Los Angeles Times. And unlike the many decisions that President Obama can quickly reverse, the changes...

Student May Face Fed Charges for Fake Drilling Bids

Activist infiltrated auction, won 22,000 acres of federal land at auction in protest

(Newser) - A Utah college activist may face federal charges and jail for making bids he can't afford on scenic tracts in a federal drilling auction last month, the Washington Post reports. Economics student Tim DeChristopher wielded his red auction paddle 13 times to snag $1.8 million in property before federal...

Suicides Up in National Parks
 Suicides Up in National Parks 
Jan 2, 2009 12:51 PM CST

Suicides Up in National Parks

'08 a big year for people offing themselves in pretty places

(Newser) - A newly unemployed businessman shot himself in the chest in Glacier National Park. A 46-year-old carpenter with cancer climbed into a canoe in the Everglades and never returned. A 49-year-old builder left a note blaming the economy before killing himself in Georgia’s Kennesaw Mountains. They were just some of...

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