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National Parks

In an era of rapid change, the managers of our nation's wild spaces are asking: What counts as natural anymore?

The National Parks Face a Looming Existential Crisis

Political uncertainty and a changing climate converge to forge the park system’s biggest challenge yet

Park Ranger Leonard Landa with the bear that killed Michele Koons.

The Deadly Grizzly Bear Attacks That Changed the National Park Service Forever

Visitors to Glacier National Park had long conditioned the predators to seek food from humans, making the maulings somewhat inevitable

This Breathtaking Landscape Is Canada’s Newest Protected Area

The park includes a spectacular beach described in sagas that chronicle Viking explorations of the Canadian coast

The proposal would have seen a racetrack and casino built three miles away from the now-grassy slopes of Gettysburg National Military Park.

Someone Was Actually Trying to Build a Casino Three Miles From the Gettysburg Battle Site

A local businessman said the casino would bring jobs and money to the historic region–but other locals said gaming would irrevocably change Gettysburg

Images of Yosemite, like this one taken circa 1865, helped increase public appetite for the park.

Lincoln’s Signature Laid the Groundwork for the National Park System

The “Yo-Semite Valley” was made a California state park on this day in 1864, but it quickly became a national park

Natural Phenomenon Creates Awesome Waterslide at Great Sand Dunes National Park

Each spring and early summer, melting snow creates waves in Colorado

Cool Finds

Endangered Balkan Lynx Kitten Photographed for the First Time in a Decade

There are less than 50 of these critically endangered cats left in the wild

A 19th-century ranch house was the last place National Park Service workers expected to find a cache of Native American tools.

Cool Finds

Prehistoric Native American Site Discovered Off the California Coast

Sophisticated stone tools date back thousands of years

Each pole is 20 feet high and weighs over 2,000 pounds.

Cool Finds

The Powerful Story Behind Glacier Bay National Park’s New Totem Poles

They’re 20-foot-tall symbols of a slowly healing rift

Torrance Coste of the Wilderness Committee illustrates the immensity of the missing Carmanah cedar in 2012.

Future of Conservation

How Thousand-Year-Old Trees Became the New Ivory

Ancient trees are disappearing from protected national forests around the world. A look inside $100 billion market for stolen wood

It's peak waterfall season in Yosemite National Park—and epic snowmelt means it's better than ever.

Trending Today

Chasing Waterfalls? Head to Yosemite

Don’t stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to—recent snowmelt is fueling spectacular falls

Gold Butte National Monument, Nevada

Trending Today

What Is Bears Ears National Monument?

The Department of Interior will make a recommendation about the land’s fate in early June

Roosevelt became known for meeting with conservation figures like John Muir, something that detractors thought was "unpresidential."

With This One Quotable Speech, Teddy Roosevelt Changed the Way America Thinks About Nature

In a speech at the start of the 1908 Conference of Governors, Roosevelt changed the national conversation about resource use

This majestic Yellowstone elk would like you to shut up.

New Research

Humans Are Making Too Much Noise—Even in Protected Areas

Turns out that protecting natural areas doesn’t give animals much peace and quiet

Synchronous fireflies put on a show each spring in the Great Smoky Mountains. Photinus carolinus is the only firefly species in the U.S. that flashes in unison.

National Parks

If You Want to See Thousands of Fireflies Light Up at Once, Head to the Great Smoky Mountains

A firefly mating ritual turns into a synchronized light show

The lush, rugged landscape of Japan's island of Hokkaido is a major draw for amateur photographers—but do Flickr photos really represent the most important conservation sites?

Future of Conservation

Is #Hashtagging Your Environment on Instagram Enough to Save It?

Location-based data might help pinpoint key ecosystems—or make conservation a popularity contest

Cool Finds

Now Everyone Can Track Yosemite’s Bears Online

The park is displaying delayed GPS data on a new website to stop curious humans from scouting out the creatures in real time

National Park Service Seeks Public Help in Death Valley Fossil Theft

Fossilized footprints, which had been left in a lakebed by ancient mammals and birds, have been swiped

A wild female Amur leopard crouches on a rocky hillside in the Kedrovaya Pad nature reserve in Russia.

Future of Conservation

China Approves Massive National Park to Protect Its Last Big Cats

The 5,600-square-mile reserve along the Russian border will safeguard rare Amur leopards and Siberian Tigers

Prison Ship Martyrs Monument

The Grisly History of Brooklyn’s Revolutionary War Martyrs

The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, a crypt in Fort Greene Park, may become part of the national park system

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