Update December 18, 2008:

Arches and Canyonlands NP:
Environmentalists file 11th-hour lawsuit to block proposed lease sales in Utah
Reporting from Denver -- Environmental groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday as a last-ditch effort to block the sale of leases for 110,000 acres of federal land in Utah that the Bush administration plans to auction off on Friday.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drilling-utah18-2008dec18,0,3382731.story

Lawsuit seeks to halt gas and oil drilling in Utah
Seven environmental groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the federal Bureau of Land Management, hoping to stop the sale of leases to oil and gas companies on land in Utah that includes what some call the "world's longest art gallery."
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/17/utah.land.lawsuit/

Misc. National Park News:

National park supporters plan statewide fundraising push
The group, which financially supports the three large national parks in the state, hopes to raise more than $625,000. The money will be used to fund almost 20 projects and programs at Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic national parks.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/story/571091.html

Ocmulgee takes step to become national park
A proposal to turn the Ocmulgee National Monument into a national park took a big step Wednesday as a local authority committed money to the vision.
http://www.macon.com/198/story/560458.html

Theodore Roosevelt National Park:
ND park to take comment on elk options
The superintendent of Theodore Roosevelt National Park says the park will take comments on proposals for controlling its elk herd.
http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D954K0P01

Yellowstone National Park:
Winter brings Yellowstone wildlife close to road
We were expecting to see plenty of wildlife on a winter outing to Yellowstone National Park, but -- silly us -- we thought we might have to get through the entrance first.
http://www.sltrib.com/travel/ci_11238506


Yosemite National Park:
Sierra winter wonderland
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK -- Visitors to the floor of the Yosemite Valley on Tuesday were pretty much contained to one intense photographer shooting the snow and ice-covered Merced River and a couple of thieving crows, but the sights in the national park were Christmas-card perfect.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/357/story/598071.html

Misc. Parks News:
Expansion of Biking in Parks Is Proposed
DENVER — Mountain bikers, now barred from most backcountry areas in national parks, could have thousands of miles of trails opened up to them under a rule change proposed Thursday by the Interior Department.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/us/19bikes.html

Park Themes Get Nod for New Coin Series
Just as the 50-state coin program ends, and the year-long six-coin territorial quarter program begins, Congress has approved a series of National Park quarters to begin in 2010.
http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=5904

Yellowstone NP:
Bison get new access
State and federal agencies, after signing an agreement Wednesday in Montana, will begin tolerating some bison that wander out of Yellowstone National Park to winter range near the north and west entrances.
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=4031

Glenn Canyon National Recreation Area:
Fire at Glen Canyon marina destroys 20 boats
PAGE, Ariz. » The National Park Service says a fire at a remote marina in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area has destroyed as many as 20 moored boats.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11273452

Misc. Parks News:
Utah oil drilling leases go fast -- fishily fast in some cases, authorities say
Reporting from Denver -- Bidders at a federal auction Friday snapped up oil and gas leases in Utah's red-rock country, despite a legal challenge that ultimately could prevent them from drilling there.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drilling20-2008dec20,0,6269753.story

Impostor disrupts lands bid
Civil disobedience » U. student drives up bids, may face charges.
He didn't pour sugar into a bulldozer's gas tank. He didn't spike a tree or set a billboard on fire. But wielding only a bidder's paddle, a University of Utah student just as surely monkey-wrenched a federal oil- and gas-lease sale Friday, ensuring that thousands of acres near two southern Utah national parks won't be opened to drilling anytime soon.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_11274601

Big Bend NP:
Big Bend's rugged beauty is a winter draw
Late fall and winter are the best time of year in the rugged desert land of Big Bend National Park. Moderate weather — the average daytime high temperature in December is a comfortable 70 degrees at park headquarters — allows exploration of the area’s often-sizzling lower elevations.
http://www.star-telegram.com/living/story/1102560.html

Death Valley
Death Valley Park struggling to keep its sky black
Light pollution from far-away Las Vegas now intrudes
High atop Dante's View, overlooking sheets of salt flats and ribbons of sand dunes, night watcher Dan Duriscoe shone a laser beam at the North Star and steadied his digital camera at the starry heavens.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08356/936372-113.stm

Great Smoky NP:
Gatlinburg: Gateway to the Smoky Mountains
When the widow Martha Jane Huskey Ogle and her extended family arrived at the foot of east Tennessee's Smoky Mountains in the early days of the 19th century, things looked a little different. The majestic, verdant mountains, cut by numerous clearwater, boulder-strewn streams, and the host of wildlife living there were still the same, but the town of Gatlinburg was nonexistent.
http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/travel/12/21/1221gatlinburg.html


When the name Ken Salazar comes up, most Americans would offer one response:
Who?
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200881218055

Misc. Parks News:
Bush Hearts Mountain Biking, Lifts Restrictions in National Parks
On Thursday, Assistant Interior Secretary Lyle Laverty ordered the National Park Service to ease existing mountain biking restrictions, possibly opening nearly eight million acres of recommended or proposed wilderness lands in approximately 30 parks to mountain biking.
http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/12/20/bu...national-parks/

Settling in: From subsistence farming to hopes for a national park
In the late 1780s, John Jacob Mingus and his family moved into Oconaluftee, a North Carolina valley that had been Cherokee territory for thousands of years. Among the first known white settlers of the area that would become the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Mingus became a prosperous farmer and miller.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/dec/21/122108smokies/

National parks still await tourist boom
You might think that fewer airline flights and higher air fares would mean more Americans taking road trips to the national parks.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08356/936137-37.stm

Glacier NP:
Glacier National Park ready for winter
Winter has officially arrived in Glacier National Park as new-fallen snow has blanketed trails just in time for skiers.
http://www.kpax.com/Global/story.asp?S=9562156

Misc Parks News:
Massive task awaits Salazar at Interior
Sen. Ken Salazar has some homework to do.
If he's confirmed as interior secretary, he inherits a massive bureaucracy beset by perennial headaches, and some of the toughest issues are far outside his Colorado comfort zone.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/22/massive-task-awaits-salazar-at-interior/

Utah oil-and-gas auction marked by bogus bidder, Robert Redford and heated protest
More than 100 protesters outside a U.S. Bureau of Land Management oil-and-gas drilling lease auction Friday in Salt Lake City charged the federal government with selling off 164,000 acres of public land for private profit, potentially defiling some of the state’s most treasured national parks.
http://coloradoindependent.com/18069/uta...-heated-protest


Mount Ranier NP:
Mount Rainier shows off new visitor center
Winter recreation provides only a tiny fraction of the annual visitation to Mount Rainier National Park, but on some days travelers would never know it.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard/2008/12/mount_rainier_shows_off_new_vi.html

Yellowstone NP:
Airport moves forward with pricey safety audit
Members of the Jackson Hole Airport board will go forward with a safety audit despite worries over a preliminary price tag that tops $700,000.
http://www.jacksonholenews.com/article.php?art_id=4043

Thanks for posting these links, they are very helpful!

Tony

Thanks, Tony. I like the additional updates, and it seems that folks are reading it. So, that is a good thing. :P

James

I guess that if one headline prevailed today, it would be to simply say it is really really cold out there. :P

James

Death Valley National Park:
Board Denies Off-road Vehicle Access to Death Valley National Park
A Unique Oasis in Southern California's Wildlands Protected Once Again
DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif.— The Interior Board of Land Appeals has denied yet another attempt by extreme off-road vehicle enthusiasts to gain access to Surprise Canyon, a rare, fragile desert stream in Death Valley National Park. This is the third failed attempt in the past two years by off-roaders to gain motorized access to the creek, which begins in Death Valley National Park and flows through an area of critical environmental concern managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/surprise-canyon-12-22-2008.html

Haleakala National Park
Skip winter this year, visit Maui instead
It's only about half as big as Rhode Island, but it more than makes up for its size with diverse attractions running from beaches to scenic mountains.
http://www.mercurynews.com/travel/ci_11289335

Lake Powell National Recreation Area:
No signs of arson or dead fish after Lake Powell fire
Fire marshals investigating the blaze that destroyed 15 boats at Lake Powell found no obvious signs of arson, the National Park Service said Monday.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_11291092

Yellowstone NP:
Sylvan Pass opens for winter season
Yellowstone's east entrance opened for the winter season Monday morning.
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=9566569

Winter warnings issued
The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings above 6,000 feet until 6 a.m. Tuesday and winter weather advisories below 6,000 feet until midnight.
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=9567217

Christmas Eve Update:

Glenn Canyon National Recreation:
Glen Canyon marina fire damage set at $3-5 mil
The National Park Service says last week's fire at a remote marina in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area destroyed boats and facilities valued at between $3 million and $5 million.
http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp?S=9570866&nav=menu613_2_6

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Video):
The sounds of the season fill the voggy air at the Kilauea Military Camp Theater inside the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/volcano/20081223kilaueachristmas.htm

Lassen Volcanic National Park
Storms close road through Lassen park, but feel free to bring cross-country skis
The highway through Lassen Volcanic National Park is snowed in, but the park itself is anything but closed.

Redwood National Park:
Redwood National Park looks to cut trees to improve forest
Redwood National Park is looking to nudge 1,700 acres of cut-over forest back toward what it once looked like 100 years ago.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_11301755

Rocky Mountain National Park:
September 5, 1915: A park in the Rockies
Colorado acted on a passion for preserving its most cherished wild places even at a time when the state was still struggling to tame old frontiers.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/23/a-park-in-the-rockies/

Shenandoah National Park:
Identity of body released by police
The name of the Maryland woman whose body was found in the Shenandoah River in Harpers Ferry was released Tuesday by police.
http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/513746.html?nav=5006

Yellowstone National Park:
New hunt changes elk migration habits
Animals pick up on shift along their routes, take additional time to arrive on south end of refuge.
Jackson Hole elk migration habits have changed this year due in part to good forage, light snowfall and a new hunt on the south end of the National Elk Refuge, biologists say.
http://www.jacksonholenews.com/article.php?art_id=4051

Avalanche danger closes YNP's east entrance
Just one day after opening for the winter season, the east entrance into Yellowstone National Park over Sylvan Pass has been closed to all traffic due to avalanche danger.
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=9573891

Rocky Mountain NP:
Rocky Mountain National Park thankful for supporters
On behalf of Rocky Mountain National Park, I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thanks to all of those who supported the park this past year. We at Rocky are blessed to have a great staff, tremendous volunteers, and the strong support of our local communities as well as park visitors near and far.
http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20...or%20supporters



Yellowstone NP:
Montana: Lawsuit Over Roaming Bison
Lawyers for Montana’s cattle industry asked a state court to block a new agreement that would allow more bison to roam freely outside Yellowstone National Park.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/us/25brfs-LAWSUITOVERR_BRF.html

YNP reopens east entrance
The on again, off again status for Yellowstone National Park's east entrance over the Sylvan Pass continues.
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=9573891&nav=menu227_7

Zion NP:
Off Off Road Use of Snowmobiles Prohibited in Zion National Park
Zion National Park Superintendent would like to remind park visitors that the off road use of snowmobiles in the park is strictly prohibited.
http://www.kcsg.com/news/local/36706309.html