Articles tagged as National Parks | Smithsonian Magazine

Cool Finds

Conservationists Want You to Stop Building Rock Piles

Cairns have a long history and purpose, one that newer stacks sometimes subvert

July 13, 2015

Art, fossils and natural beauty

July 13, 2015

Cool Finds

Here’s Why Scientists Want to Flood the Grand Canyon

Without sediment flowing through the canyon, it loses sandbars vital to the river ecosystem

June 29, 2015

A screenshot of Lynn Hill climbing El Capitan in Street View.

Cool Finds

Scale El Capitan From Your Couch Using Google Street View

The latest expansion of the Maps project takes users up Yosemite’s iconic climb

June 26, 2015

Some parks, like Assateague National Seashore, have already come up with plans to deal with the effects of climate change and how their visitation rates could shift in response.

New Research

How Will Climate Change Affect National Park Attendance?

A new analysis of the effect of global warming on tourism has things heating up in some areas, staying lukewarm in others

June 19, 2015

The dusty white rock of the Las Vegas Formation, near the edge of Tule Springs National Monument, bakes in the midday heat.

Urban Explorations

Discover a Fossil Jackpot Off the Las Vegas Strip

Remains of mammoths, camels and other beasts of the Ice Age tempt visitors out of Sin City and into Tule Springs National Monument

June 2, 2015

The cemetery at St. Philomena’s church in Kalaupapa

The discussion gets sticky with concerns over how to respect the largely Native Hawaiian residents past and present

May 29, 2015

Just a mile down one of the park’s most popular and accessible trails, hikers reap views of Dream Lake.

When Colorado Was (And in Many Ways Still Is) the Switzerland of America

A hundred years ago, city slickers looking for wild times in Rocky Mountain National Park invented a new kind of American vacation

June 2015

Cool Finds

How Feral Donkeys Saved a Lost Hiker’s Life in Death Valley

But not everyone loves shaggy wild donkeys

May 17, 2015

The Wonderland Club Hotel in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Abandoned Settlements Inside National Parks

Once vibrant places, these relics now linger inside America’s great natural treasures

April 24, 2015

The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes with the shadows of the Arctic midnight sunset, Kobuk Valley National Park.

Welcome to the Tundra: Kobuk Valley, One of America’s Least-Visited National Parks

Dramatic weather and impassable terrain shouldn’t stop you from visiting this park

April 20, 2015

Conservationists and recreational paddlers are split on whether to open up remaining National Parks waterways to boaters

March 5, 2015

A herd of domesticated beefalo in Montana. After interbreeding, free-ranging beefalos currently causing problems in the Grand Canyon appear both physically and genetically close to native bison.

Hundreds of the hybrid animals are drying up water resources and messing with the ecosystem, eliciting calls for culling

March 4, 2015

Animal furs on display at Grand Portage National Monument

New Research

The 18th Century Fur Trade Polluted Lake Superior’s Shore With Mercury That’s Never Gone Away

The area’s elevated mercury levels aren’t healthy for fish, birds or humans

February 23, 2015

National Park Service map of loud and quiet areas in the United States—yellow areas represent loud areas, while blue represents quiet.

National Park Service Map Shows The Loudest, Quietest Places In the U.S.

Want some peace and quiet? Avoid cities, the East Coast

February 23, 2015

Navajo activist Delores Wilson opposes development on land she holds sacred: “You don’t want to anger the Holy Beings there.”

Who Can Save the Grand Canyon?

A holy war is being fought over a proposal to build a $500 million commercial development, on the rim of America’s natural treasure

March 2015

Last year broke records with over 292 million visits

February 19, 2015

Yosemite National Parks "carnivore crew" spotted this rare Sierra Nevada red fox with a motion-sensitive camera.

Cool Finds

For the First Time in Almost a Century, a Rare Red Fox Was Seen at Yosemite

Cameras and “hair snares” could preserve a threatened Sierra species

January 29, 2015

Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park.

Celebrate 100 Years of Rocky Mountain National Park

January 26 marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park—and celebrations are going all year long

January 26, 2015

It took just three weeks for Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgensen to make free-climbing history

January 15, 2015