Travel Tips
Mountains, seashores, grasslands, wetlands, coral reefs and glaciers. Our national parks protect a multitude of terrains for every taste. And with more than 400 national park units across the country to explore, it can be daunting to choose which one you want to visit the soonest. Luckily, you have help.
Nature & Wildlife
Today, we know that the aurora borealis, commonly called the “northern lights,” occurs when electrically charged particles from the sun zoom into Earth’s atmosphere. The phenomenon is most commonly witnessed during fall and winter at high-latitude locales, including Alaska and northern Canada.
News & More
What you call something imparts meaning. Names can invoke assumptions, connotations, stereotypes and influence how you perceive an animal or a place. A name can also make you feel connected to a more-than-human being or your heritage.
Nature & Wildlife
Many Native American communities belong to a clan that identifies with an animal, such as a bear, eagle or turtle. Such four-legged, winged or swimming family members are considered brothers and sisters. Several play major roles in creation stories, and conversations between them and people flow freely.
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.
Asia & The Pacific
In a few days, many of you will be celebrating Christmas or another religious holiday.
Conservation
Throughout the United States, Native Americans own and/or manage nearly 95 million acres of deserts and forests, grasslands and mountains—much of it in still-intact habitats. That’s 10 million more acres than the National Park Service administers. These extensive holdings make tribes extremely important and significant partners in habitat and wildlife protections.
Conservation
I read about something today that may seem like a small thing to know in the midst of all the news in our lives. But perhaps, deep down inside it, you’ll find a very profound thought and idea. This small item came from a study conducted at Northwestern University in Illinois.
News & More
Later this month, in late July 2017, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears outside Yellowstone National Park and nearby Grand Teton National Park will lose their Endangered Species List protections. Jurisdiction over the bears will be handed over to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. In general, that will mean fewer restrictions on killing the bears.
News & More
When early, intrepid European explorers first began trekking through the New World in the late 1400s, they were awed by the strikingly different cultures they encountered. But they also came to notice something else: remarkable physical similarities between the Asian peoples they had seen during their many travels and these new, soon-to-be-known-as “Native Americans.”
News & More
If you’re a fan of forensic TV programs—such as Bones, Dexter, Fringe or one of the several CSI series—you can’t help but be familiar with the many ways DNA testing may be put to use: to gather evidence at crime scenes, determine family relationships or prove the recent whereabouts of a missing person, among others.
