"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike." - John Muir, from The Yosemite, 1912 Whether you're a hiker, a museum explorer, or a reader who travels vicariously, Life Lessons will take you on a four-season tour of some of America's most glorious places within the National Park Service-and you'll meet God along the way. In Life Lessons from the National Parks, author Penny Musco: *Brings the NPS sites to life with her first-person experiences; *Shares Scripture and inspirational anecdotes that relate to the parks' stories; *Provides tips for planning your own visits and links to the sites that are referenced Endorsed by Michael J. Oard, co-author of the "True North National Park Series," and by Cecil Murphey, author or co-author of more than 130 books, including Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story and 90 Minutes in Heaven with Don Piper.

Get your kids excited about the great outdoors! This travel guide for kids will highlight the diverse beauty and wonder of the USA's most beautiful natural spaces. From the giant redwoods of Sequoia to the geysers of Yellowstone, this educational book is a fun, child-friendly travel guide that covers all 62 National Parks in the USA. Go on an adventure through America's iconic parks! Bright eye-catching photographs and illustrations and easy-to-read text are the perfect introductions for young nature enthusiasts. Little rangers will learn all kinds of fun facts - like Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska is bigger than Switzerland - and more. Kids will also learn all about the diverse animals and plant life that you can find in the USA. The educational book features special tips to ensure their visits are safe and fun. Kids will also learn how they can help keep habitats clean during their visits. Young readers will get the inside scoop on all the activities there are to do in each National Park, including rock climbing, river rafting, skiing, horseback riding, and cycling. They will also get insider knowledge about each park, like secret caves and endangered animals to make visits extra special! Discover the Wonders of USA's National Parks This delightful kid's book is one adventure that you don't want to miss! Go on an epic journey through America's National Parks, from the wide-open spaces of Grand Teton to the iconic Gateway Arch in downtown St. Louis. Explore the fascinating history of all 61 parks, as well as the unique animals and plants that inhabit the vast wilderness. This kid's book is an ideal gift for young nature lovers and future adventurers! This travel guide will take you on a trip through: All 62 of the USA's national parks from the Great Smoky Mountains on the East Coast to the rocky deserts of Joshua Tree in the West. The diverse flora and fauna that you will find in the USA's National Parks. All the fun activities like rock climbing, river rafting, and more that are available in each of the parks.

For twelve years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it. In this graphic and yet surprisingly funny account of her and others’ extraordinary careers, Lankford unveils a world in which park rangers struggle to maintain their idealism in the face of death, disillusionment, and the loss of a comrade killed while holding that thin green line between protecting the park from the people, the people from the park, and the people from each other. Ranger Confidential is the story behind the scenery of the nation’s crown jewels—Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Great Smokies, Denali. In these iconic landscapes, where nature and humanity constantly collide, scenery can be as cruel as it is redemptive.

What is a park ranger's life? A wild bear who favors Kentucky Fried Chicken A fugitive wanted in eight states A dog that saves his owner's life Wildland firefighters battling nature and fire A ghost haunting a colonial mansion Hikers who stay lost because they think searchers calling their names are wild animals Being willing to risk your life to make our parks safe and help preserve them for the future These are just a few experiences you will read about in A Park Ranger's Life. Drawn from the thirty-two-year career of National Park Ranger Bruce W. Bytnar, you will discover what it takes to be a park ranger, what threats to visitors and resources they deal with on a daily basis, and what you can do to help protect and preserve our national heritage.

This book provides the first comprehensive economic valuation of U.S. National Parks (including monuments, seashores, lakeshores, recreation areas, and historic sites) and National Park Service (NPS) programs. The book develops a comprehensive framework to calculate the economic value of protected areas, with particular application to the U.S. National Park Service. The framework covers many benefits provided by NPS units and programs, including on-site visitation, carbon sequestration, and intellectual property such as in education curricula and filming of movies/ TV shows, with case studies of each included. Examples are drawn from studies in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Everglades National Park, and Chesapeake Bay. The editors conclude with a chapter on innovative approaches for sustainable funding of the NPS in its second century. The framework serves as a blueprint of methodologies for conservationists, government agencies, land trusts, economists, and others to value public lands, historical sites, and related programs, such as education. The methodologies are relevant to local and state parks, wildlife refuges, and protected areas in developed and developing countries as well as to national parks around the world. Containing a series of unique case studies, this book will be of great interest to professionals and students in environmental economics, land management, and nature conservation, as well as the more general reader interested in National Parks.

America's national parks are more popular than ever, drawing record numbers of visitors every year. This special issue is a celebration of these parks, representing the best of the geographic and biological diversity of the far-flung U.S. park system. Packed with extraordinary photographs (as well as intriguing data and detailed descriptions), these pages serve not only as a guide to the parks' individual charms, but also as an appreciation of their unmatched—and fragile—natural splendor.

The National Park Service is one of the most popular federal agencies with the American public. But the agency charged with preserving and protecting the nation's most significant natural and historic places is viewed much more critically by its own employees. There are many reasons for this: evolution of the agency, political interference, poor leadership, failure to incorporate science into management of park resources, and a culture of cronyism and favoritism.After 29 years working for the National Park Service as a park natural resource specialist, and 15 years overseeing programs to preserve endangered black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs, a large bison herd, fossil resources, and native prairie at Badlands National Park, the author found himself targeted by elements within the agency. He spent two years in exile on administrative leave, prevented from working, but still drawing his salary while he fought back against the agency he had served for so many years. He learned hard lessons about speaking out when the Park Service fails its employees and the resources it's supposed to preserve. He faced retaliation and a ruined career without objective investigation or due process, and almost completely in secret. Cases like his are surprisingly common in an agency so concerned about its public image, with secrecy protecting its actions from scrutiny. This book describes this case and shows how it reflects greater problems in the agency. It places the actions against one individual within the context of the many Park Service employees treated similarly in recent years. The author provides context for how the National Park Service has changed in the 21st century and examines how those changes are reflective of the political division in the country today. He also offers solutions to make the agency a better steward of the nation's treasures and a more welcoming place to work.