national parks

Park areas that are temporarily closing include Yosemite Valley, where visitors can see rock formations like Half Dome, and Mariposa Grove, an area containing more than 500 mature giant sequoia trees.

The chairman of the board, former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, said in a letter that the Department of the Interior showed no interest in engaging with board members.

Entrance costs would more than double at the country's 17 busiest parks. The park service says it needs to pay for deferred maintenance. But the increases may make the parks less accessible.

The remote Montana lodge could always be counted on for a soft cot and a hot meal. But the Sprague Fire, which is still raging, engulfed it. A silver lining: The kitchen and dining room may be spared.

A 20-square-mile blaze burned the historic Sperry Chalet in Glacier National Park last week. In California's Sierra National Forest, an ancient grove of sequoias was scorched, but the trees survived.

The move reverses an Obama-era policy put in place to encourage national parks to end the sale of bottled water. The aim was to cut back on plastic litter.

A new survey shows that the sound of cars and planes and other forms of noise pollution are rampant across the American wilderness. In many cases, man-made noise is drowning out the background sounds.

More than 8 in 10 fires are started by people. Researchers say humans are not only causing the vast majority of wildfires, they're extending the normal fire season around the U.S. by three months.