national parks

The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved the nomination of Charles “Chuck” Sams III as National Park Service director, which will make him the first Native American to lead the agency that oversees more than 131,000 square miles of parks and other landmarks.

Fat Bear Week has come and gone, with a bear known as 480 Otis becoming the most. “Brown bears are hibernators, so they will sometimes go as much as 6 months without eating, drinking, urinating, defecating. And they’re surviving on their fat reserves…they need to eat a year’s worth of food in fewer than 6 months,” says Mike Fitz, a...

Noreen Wredberg, of California, gets to keep the gem she discovered in Crater of Diamonds National Park.

California firefighters are wrapping the bases of several sequoias, including the world’s largest tree, in fireproof aluminum blankets as a blaze approaches.

With American vacationers congregating in many of the same destinations, some travel spots — even well-known ones — have fewer people than usual.

Acadia National Park’s famed Loop Road is back open for 2021, and just in time — people and their cars will begin surging back for peak season in a few weeks. As summer visitors make their return, they may notice a few key differences in their park experience compared to 2020.

Acadia National Park will continue to require mask wearing for 2021, but is opening some on-site attractions.

DO: have a nature walk and a good time. DO NOT: eat a poisonous mushroom with a rocket fuel ingredient in it.

Watch out if you go mushroom hunting! It may look similar to an edible mushroom, but the “false morel” contains the toxin monomethylhydrazine which is found in rocket fuel. Mycologist Andy Miller from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explains.

The great outdoors has become the great escape during the pandemic.

Face masks are now required in all National Park Service buildings, and on land maintained by the Park Service when physical distancing is not possible, federal officials announced Tuesday.  Visitors and employees must wear masks indoors, plus outdoors on Park Service land when social distancing cannot be maintained, “including [on] narrow or busy trails, overlooks and historic homes,” a...

President-elect Joe Biden has decided on the historic choice of Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico to head the Department of the Interior. The appointment would make her the first Native American Cabinet secretary. But why should we care about the Interior secretary? As NBCLX’s Fernando Hurtado explains, this underappreciated federal agency is more important than you think.

Free access to national parks to wounded veterans in New England and California may become a law.

LX News host Tabitha Lipkin takes us along on her adventure to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, which is in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico and features more than 100 caves.

LX News host Tabitha Lipkin took her GoPro camera when she explored the Guadalupe Mountains National Park recently for a story about climate change. Tabitha gives viewers an inside look of her trip and the behind-the-scenes process of crafting a news story.

To see the impact of climate change, the first place to look is the U.S. national parks. LX News host Tabitha Lipkin traveled to Guadalupe Mountains National Park in West Texas to see firsthand how its fragile ecosystem is at risk — and how presidential politics will determine the future of some of our country’s most precious resources.

“Park Predators” is a new podcast that takes a closer look at true crime cases from national parks in Canada and the U.S. Investigative journalist and host Delia D’Ambra joined LX News for #TrueCrimeTuesday to discuss the new series.

A bill is on its way to President Trump’s desk that would provide billions of dollars for national park repairs and maintenance plus other conservation-related projects. Marcia Argust of the Pew Charitable Trusts joined LX News to discuss how the Great American Outdoors Act will also be a key driver of new jobs.

A bipartisan bill that would spend nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands is on its way to the president’s desk after winning final legislative approval.

Trip organizer Natural Habitat Adventures typically plans exciting excursions like African safaris, yacht cruises through the Galapagos and close-up encounters with pandas. These trips have been put on hold though as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to crush the travel industry ahead of the typically busy summer season.  However, Nat Hab President and founder Ben Bressler is confident that some of his...