National parks
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller speaks to media during a COVID-19 update in Sydney, Monday, June 28, 2021. Two naked men were rescued by emergency services from an Australian forest after they were startled by a deer while nude sunbathing on a beach and became lost, police say. (Joel Carrett/AAP Image via AP)
Police rescue spooked nude sunbathers from Australian forest

Jun. 28, 2021 02:24 AM EDT

FILE - Delicate Arch is seen at Arches National Park on April 25, 2021, near Moab, Utah. Record visitation and long lines at Arches National Park in Utah are reviving a push for a reservation system. KUER reports Arches is on track to have its busiest year ever, and that increase in visitation has caused the park to close its gates over 80 times so far in 2021. (AP Photo/Lindsay Whitehurst, File)
Long lines revive push for new system at Utah national park

By Kate Groetzinger Jun. 20, 2021 08:00 AM EDT

Big South Fork visitors spent $24.3M in nearby communities

Jun. 14, 2021 06:49 AM EDT
ONEIDA, Tenn. (AP) — The National Park Service reported Friday that visitors to Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area last year spent $24.3 million...

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, formerly named the Custis-Lee Mansion, as seen from the flower garden, reopens to the public for the first time since 2018 at Arlington National Cemetery, Tuesday, June 8, 2021 in Arlington, Va. The Virginia mansion where Robert E. Lee once lived that now overlooks Arlington National Cemetery is open to the public again, after a $12 million rehabilitation and reinterpretation that includes an increased emphasis on those who were enslaved there. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Mansion once home to Robert E. Lee reopens after overhaul

By Matthew Barakat Jun. 08, 2021 10:19 AM EDT

FILE - Pleasure boats cut through the waters of Lake Conroe, near Conroe, Texas on June 10, 2014. Travelers are leaning toward less-crowded vacation destinations this year. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
Why you should consider a ‘second city’ trip in 2021

By Sally French Of Nerdwallet Jun. 07, 2021 10:18 AM EDT

Sidney Gleason, right, and Joe Gorsuch, both of Syracuse, take a selfie with Lower Ausable Lake in the background, while taking a break at Indian Head summit inside the Adirondack Mountain Reserve, Saturday, May 15, 2021, near St. Huberts, N.Y. A free reservation system went online recently to control growing number of visitors packing the parking lot and tramping on the trails through the private land of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. The increasingly common requirements, in effect from Maui to Maine, offer a trade-off to visitors, sacrificing spontaneity and ease of access for benefits like guaranteed parking spots and more elbow room in the woods. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Party of 4? Your trail is ready. Busy parks try reservations

By Michael Hill May. 28, 2021 07:55 AM EDT

Editorial Roundup: West Virginia

By The Associated Press May. 12, 2021 01:30 PM EDT
Charleston Gazette-Mail. May 10, 2021. Editorial: Can WV hit benchmark for ending mask mandate? Last week, Gov. Jim...

ADDS DATE AND NAME OF PHOTOGRAPHER - In this photo taken by Vadim Kuklov and provided by the U.S. National Park Service, climbers camp on a big wall on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, Calif., on June 24, 2019. The park said Friday, May 7, 2021, it would require climbers to get permits if they spend the night while climbing the granite walls of El Capitan, Half Dome and other iconic granite features. (Vadim Kuklov/National Park Service via AP)
Yosemite climbers face new obstacle: overnight permits

By Brian Melley May. 07, 2021 07:56 PM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2021, file photo, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Fla. Gov. Noem sued the U.S. Department of Interior on Friday, May 30, 2021, in an effort to see fireworks shot over Mount Rushmore National Monument on Independence Day. The Republican governor successfully pushed last year for a return of the pyrotechnic display after a decade long hiatus. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
South Dakota governor expecting many tourists this summer

May. 03, 2021 02:17 PM EDT

Glacier National Park introduces ticket entry system

Apr. 01, 2021 02:57 PM EDT
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — Park officials in Montana have unveiled a temporary ticket entry system for the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor this summer to manage...

A person photographs Yoshino cherry trees that are in full bloom around the Tidal Basin in Washington, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. The 2021 National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates the original gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the city of Tokyo to the people of Washington in 1912. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
It's cherry blossom season, but DC isn't ready to open up

By Ashraf Khalil And Nathan Ellgren Apr. 01, 2021 12:10 AM EDT

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2011 file photo visitors view the dramatic bend in the Colorado River at the popular Horseshoe Bend in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, in Page, Ariz. Grand Canyon National Park officials tentatively plan to reopen the park's eastern entrance in late May 2021, but there's sentiment in the small northern Arizona city that depends on tourism that sooner would be better. “Our sales tax for this year is down nearly 30% from last year," Page city manager Darren Coldwell told the Arizona Daily Sun. “Our Horseshoe Bend visitation is down 80%. So when we say that our numbers dropped off the face of the earth, they really did.” (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
Push on for reopening of the Grand Canyon's east entrance

Mar. 18, 2021 12:02 AM EDT

Tribe allows east entrances of Glacier National Park to open

Mar. 17, 2021 03:24 PM EDT
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Glacier National Park announced its east side entrances would open for winter recreation starting Thursday after the Blackfeet Tribal...

Liz Pace poses with a photo of her grandfather Worthen Jackson, a caretaker of the Capitol Reef Orchards over 50 years ago, on Thursday, March 4, 2021, at Capitol Reef National Park, in Fruita, Utah. Pace, came to Capitol Reef National Park orchards to discuss a proposed orchard rehabilitation plan. (K. Sophie Will/The Spectrum via AP)
Capitol Reef wants to revive orchards as visitors increase

K. Sophie Will Mar. 13, 2021 08:00 AM EST

FILE - In this Jan. 5, 2019, file photo, visitors to Great Smoky Mountain National Park drive through the park but facilities like the Sugarlands and Cades Cove visitor centers in Townsend, Tenn. Despite closing for more than a month because of COVID-19, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park experienced its second busiest year on record last year. According to a news release, the park on the Tennessee-North Carolina border had a total of 12,095,720 visits in 2020. (Robert Berlin/The Daily Times via AP, File)
Smokies sees more than 12M visitors despite virus closure

Mar. 03, 2021 04:39 AM EST

In this July 15, 2018 photo provided by Kurt Kuznicki, people stargaze in the Massacre Rim Wilderness Area in northwestern Nevada, 150 miles north of Reno and near the state line with Oregon. Massacre Rim is one of two areas designated as "dark sky sanctuaries" in Nevada. A bill passed by the Nevada state Senate would create a state program to encourage tourism and preservation of dark sky places. (Kurt Kuznicki via AP)
Nevada Senate passes bill to form 'dark sky places' program

By Sam Metz Feb. 22, 2021 05:05 PM EST

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2021, file photo President Joe Biden signs a series of executive orders on health care, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
In early going, Biden floods the zone with decrees

By Calvin Woodward Feb. 01, 2021 12:06 AM EST

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2019 file photo provided by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, the U.S. National Park Service and the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation, a white wolf is released onto Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. One of the world’s longest-running wildlife field studies has fallen prey to the coronavirus pandemic. Superintendent Denice Swanke said Friday, Jan. 15, 2021 that this year’s mission has been scrapped to protect the scientists and support personnel from possible exposure to the virus. (Daniel Conjanu/The National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation via AP, File)
Pandemic interrupts longtime Isle Royale wolf, moose study

By John Flesher Jan. 16, 2021 08:45 AM EST

NPS cancels search for Acadia carriage tours operator

Jan. 11, 2021 08:00 AM EST
BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) — The National Park Service said it has cancelled its solicitation of a contractor to operate carriage tours in Acadia National Park due...

Ruby's Inn, a hotel in Bryce Canyon City, Utah, near Bryce Canyon National Park, shown Sept. 19, 2020, has been hit hard by a drop in tourism during the coronavirus pandemic, with revenues down 46 percent. (K. Sophie Will/The Spectrum via AP)
Pandemic hits Utah tourism industry hard

By K. Sophie Will Dec. 27, 2020 08:00 AM EST