Latin America
On a late May day in 2020, a rare sighting occurred. For the first time in nearly 50 years, California condors had landed within Sequoia National Park, along the U.S. west coast’s Sierra Mountain range. People within the park spotted at least six of these New World vultures.
Nature & Wildlife
Wolves are probably one of the most widely studied species on the planet. What’s fascinating, though, is that just when we think we know almost everything there is to know about them, they find a way to surprise us. It’s estimated that 2 million wolves once roamed freely throughout North America.
Nature & Wildlife
“This is the most magnificent mammal on our continent. Its story is so complicated and so interesting and moves into every aspect of almost every era of our lives and touches on so many subjects you wouldn’t think it would necessarily touch on,” says filmmaker Ken Burns of our national mammal, Bison bison.
Conservation
On December 28, 1973, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed into law. We’ll soon be celebrating the 50th anniversary of this landmark conservation legislation, which has saved hundreds of animals that once wavered on the brink of extinction.
Conservation
The summer that I worked in Montana’s Glacier National Park was one of the best experiences of my life. For three months, I lived within the park’s Many Glacier Valley, waiting tables at its hotel restaurant and hiking among its towering peaks and turquoise waters any chance I could get.
Nature & Wildlife
Our national parks protect some of our nation’s most cherished, iconic and native wildlife species, such as the brown bears of Katmai National Park and the bison—America’s national mammal—of Yellowstone National Park. But, according to some, there’s a dark side to that safety.
Nature & Wildlife
Silence. It can be “deafening” when your ideas are met with disapproval, or when people expect you to act or speak—and you don’t. It can be “golden” when it’s wise to say nothing at all. It can also be “listened to,” if the folk-rock singers Simon and Garfunkel are correct.
Nature & Wildlife
One of the best things about spending time in nature is spotting animals in their natural habitats, seemingly going about their lives as if we weren’t watching. It’s those brief glimpses into the wild that our souls seem to crave.
Conservation
Our national parks aren’t only “America’s best idea,” as environmentalist and nature writer Wallace Stegner called them. These special places are the backbone of national conservation programs.
Nature & Wildlife
When naturalist and conservationist John Muir first happened upon California’s Yosemite Valley in 1868, it was love at first sight. He was taken with its sheer granite rocks, gushing waterfalls and stunning natural beauty, and he also saw the importance of preserving it for future generations. Luckily, the state’s government felt the same way.
Nature & Wildlife
Known for their long, black ear tufts and ability to hunt ghostlike across the surface of deep snow, Canada lynx are the elusive, midsize cats (hardly bigger than a large house cat) that feed almost exclusively on snowshoe hares.
African Safaris
Often, the numbers seem to look bad for African rhinos. Right now, the statistics show that these animals are rapidly declining in core, state-run reserves, such as South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Currently—much like with tigers—more than half of the continent’s remaining rhinoceroses are now on private lands.
