Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, September 12, 2007
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Gallery: Madison Junction to West Thumb, September 12, 2007
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Mammoth Cave National Park, May 25, 2009
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Gallery: Mammoth Cave National Park
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Devil’s Den State Park, Arkansas, March 1, 2008
Lake Devil trail
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Information: Devil’s Den State Park info
Gallery: Devil’s Den State Park
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Red Squirrel, Yellowstone National Park – September 15, 2007
The American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) is one of two species of tree squirrel currently classified in the genus Tamiasciurus and known as pine squirrels (the other is the Douglas Squirrel T. douglasii). It is a medium sized (200–250 g) diurnal mammal that defends a year-round exclusive territory. The diet of these tree squirrels is specialized on the seeds of conifer cones. As such, they are widely distributed across North America wherever conifers are common, except on the Pacific coasts where they are replaced by Douglas Squirrels. Recently American Red Squirrel have been expanding their range to include primarily hardwood areas. Wikipedia
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Information: Yellowstone National Park information
Gallery: Around the Lower Loop, September 15, 2007
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Small arch near Delicate Arch, Arches National Park – September 24, 2007
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Gallery: Arches National Park
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This is the only building original to the site, though it was moved about 200 yards.
Mountain Farm Museum near Cherokee, North Carolina,
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, May 6, 2009
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Gallery: Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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Financial woes of another state budget could result in more park closures. An Associated Press report in Business Week says funding proposed in Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s budget recommendations could prevent a new state park from opening as scheduled and force the closing of other parks.
"We’re going to have to make some tough decisions because we don’t want to thin the soup any more," Johnson said. "It will mean shutting down the parks that don’t have as high visitation so we have the resources to maintain those parks that have higher visitation."
Johnson said the cut would mean the state parks won’t be able to hire maintenance workers, rangers, workers for fee collection stations and other employees needed to run all the parks. Johnson said his office would look at park closures and more limited hours, but he said it was too early to say which parks would be shuttered.
Read the Buisness Week article: Parks chief: La. gov’s budget would force closures.
Continue reading about More state parks in danger of closing.
Rider along the river, Buffalo National River, Arkansas, 2005
Information: Buffalo National River
Gallery: Buffalo National River
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Enos A. Mills – Father of Rocky Mountain National Park,
Bronze statue, Estes Park, 2009
Labor Day Arts and Crafts festival, a traditional Labor Day Weekend event in Bond Park
Gallery: Estes Park and then up to Trail Ridge – September 5, 2009
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Continue reading about Father of Rocky Mountain National Park
In today’s hard economic times, closing state parks seems to be a remedy that many states have used or are considering. A Las Vegas Sun article says Nevada legislators are considering closing all of the state parks in Nevada.
The Nevada Legislature is thinking of closing state parks as it considers how to patch an estimated $900 million budget gap, a move that would save a few million dollars while killing the economies of rural towns and stunting tourism efforts across the state, opponents of the idea say.
Gov. Jim Gibbons has suggested a 10 percent budget reduction for a number of agencies, including the State Parks Division. But the Interim Finance Committee could take that a step further. At its meeting in Las Vegas on Thursday, the committee is expected to consider following the lead of cash-strapped states such as California and Arizona, that have closed some or all of their state parks.
In Nevada, the proposal is the brainchild of Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, who says he is considering shutting down all state parks to save money.
Read the entire article: Would closing state parks to save money do more harm than good?
Continue reading about State park closings – is Nevada next?
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