"For the first time, we can truly see how popular and meaningful the Appalachian Trail and its landscape are to millions of people," says Cinda Waldbuesser, president and CEO of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, in an official March 2026 statement.
Betty Reid Soskin (1921-2025), who, until her retirement in March 2022 at age 100, was the nation's oldest serving National Park Service (NPS) ranger. She previously was the manager of Reid's Records in Berkeley, a singer and performer, a field representative for California State Assemblymembers Dion Aroner and Loni Hancock, and was an ardent community activist.
Betty leaves behind a powerful legacy for all of us and certainly within the National Park Service. Her thoughtful, introspective musings about the Civil Rights movement and the women's movement and how they intersected are some of the unique moments that I will always treasure...Thanks to Betty we've learned that we can hold multiple conflicting truths at the same time.
In 2025, former ranger and biologist Shannon ''SJ'' Joslin and a group of climbers displayed the flag on El Capitan. Joslin was fired and accused of failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct.
The only interest he has in our parks is the money he can make from them. Case in point is how Socha, as an executive for the hospitality company Delaware North, sued the NPS for $51 million for the naming rights to Yosemite National Park, Ahwahnee, Wawona, etc., claiming they were the company's intellectual property. Twenty-two years as concessionaire entitles them to own and profit from the names? How absurd and disrespectful.
LENOX - Five years ago, as the multi-generational Allegrone family prepared to mark the 100th anniversary of their construction company's opening in Pittsfield, they had good reason to pop the cork on a favorite Italian red wine. The National Park Service had just awarded the Allegrone Cos. a $40 million, two-phase, five-year contract to shore up the massive granite Fort Wood Walls structure built in 1807 to defend New York Harbor.
A huge crowd of New Yorkers and local elected officials gathered in the city's Christopher Park on Thursday to see the LGBTQ+ Pride flag raised at the Stonewall National Monument days after the Trump administration had it removed. But local LGBTQ+ people have been left wondering how long it'll stay up, as the Trump administration issued a statement denouncing the re-raising.
On Thursday, Mississippi Today reported that several officials, who requested anonymity out of fear of retribution, said NPS told them to remove visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument and edit out details about Beckwith. Among the details reportedly flagged for removal: that Evers was found lying in a pool of blood after he was shot. The brochures referred to Beckwith as "a member of the racist and segregationist White Citizens' Council."
Following the removal of a slavery exhibit at the former presidential homes of George Washington and John Adams in Philadelphia earlier this month, the municipal government is suing the US Department of the Interior and the National Park Service (NPS), claiming that the NPS acted outside of its authority. The exhibits memorialised the nine individuals Washington enslaved during his tenure in Philadelphia as the nation was being founded.
If you're planning to visit one of the 11 most popular national parks in the U.S. - two of which are in California - staff might ask a question that could be disquieting: Are you an American citizen? A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior said that the question is being posed only to confirm whether the visitor will have to pay a nonresident fee - which is hefty.
"We are fully committed to upholding the interests of the American people and advocating for compliance with the law," Carol Quillen, president of the National Trust, said in a statement following the hearing, "including review by the National Capital Planning Commission and an opportunity for the public to provide comment and shape the project." (The National Trust was created by Congress in 1949 to aid in the preservation of historically significant sites across the country.)
The US's National Park Service (NPS) will offer free admission to US residents on Donald Trump's birthday in 2026 which also happens to be Flag Day but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth. The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America's civil rights history while also promoting the president's image, name and legacy.
A cyclist was hospitalized after being stabbed at the famed Marin Headlands on Saturday, officials said. CHP spokesperson Arthur Tellez told SFGATE the stabbing occurred at 11:40 a.m. on a congested section of Conzelman Road, near Alexander Avenue where the roads intersect with Highway 101. Tellez said the driver of a black Tesla and a cyclist got into an altercation, with the cyclist suffering stab wounds from a knife.
Key facilities - including the NPS Salem Armory Regional Visitor Center, Central Wharf, and Artist Row bathrooms - will remain open, ensuring visitors will have full access to restrooms and visitor information this season. Visitors will still miss out on other NPS sites though, including Salem's historic homes, the Custom House, and the Friendship of Salem tall ship, all of which will remain closed.
