Tag Archive for 'National Park Service'

NPS Map Update

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on February 11, 2008
in National Parks and Monuments, Web Sites and Apps and maps
. 0 Comments

The National Park Service has updated and upgraded the maps on individual parks’ web sites.

They’re basically high-res scans of those Park maps they hand out at Visitors’ Centers — so while they’re not really suitable for hiking, they are great at getting an overview of a specific area you’re planning on visiting … and will at least show you which trails are most likely to be crowded.

There’s a small green rectangular button beneath the banner image on each park, which will fire up the streaming, zoomable flash map. Previously, clicking on any map link on an NPS page would open up a PDF map, which would either display the same information or take down your entire computer with a browser crash.

So yeah, these flash maps are a marked improvement.

Via National Parks Traveler.

Park Service Old-Timers Tell It Like It Is

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on January 8, 2008
in National Parks and Monuments and Politics
. 0 Comments

It often seems like National Park Service employees aren’t really allowed to speak their mind until well AFTER they’ve left the Service — even when it’s their job to specifically do so.

So while we watch President Bush make web videos about how much he loves the Park Service, we can later read a comprehensive Wish List from the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, calling for such things as “principled decision making,” the restoration of science and research to the NPS philosophy, ‘greener’ park buildings and services, halting fee-increases, and returning the NPS to “its former status as a leader in the world conservation movement.”

Wish list, huh? It feels like this should be a “Why The Hell Aren’t Things Already Like This?” list to me.

Via National Parks Traveler.