Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — So in between everything else that’s going on in the news and my life at this time, which has been pretty busy and productive of late, I had a chance on Thursday to get out on the road for a day trip to Shenandoah National…
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Best Places to View and Photograph Autumn Foliage
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s October, perhaps my favorite month of the year, when the leaves start falling from the trees and begin to changes colors. Studies show that fall is one of the busiest travel seasons of the year, and many people are motivated to visit national parks and other beautiful…
National Parks Set Visitation and Economic Impact Record: Biden Administration Addresses Funding Shortfalls
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the American public appears to be divided on political issues these days and sometimes disagree on the role of government, there is one federal program most people love no matter what political party they vote for at election time: National Parks. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns called this “America’s…
Travel – Something to See in Washington, D.C.: Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — If you find yourself in the Washington region and happen to be traveling down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to see all the monuments and museums in the nation’s capital city, you might notice an exit sign for Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens. If you have the…
Senator Angus King of Maine Presses Biden Administration on ‘Inadequate’ Maintenance Budget and Staff Shortages at National Parks
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Anyone who works in national parks, volunteers with the National Park Service or visits the parks can attest to the fact that staff shortages and maintenance backlogs have plagued the parks for years, through the administrations of Republicans and Democrats. If there is any truth to documentary filmmaker Ken…
Capturing Fall Foliage Pictures in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountain Park
Feed Your Biophilia by Tracking the Art of Rich Autumn Color
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – CATOCTIN MOUNTAINS, Md. — Many years ago in a land far away, I proposed a way to test E.O. Wilson’s Biophilia hypothesis by adding a few questions to annual surveys of visitors in the most visited national park in the United States, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park…
The Story of Wild, Native Brook Trout and Why They Are So Ecologically Important Like the Canary in the Coal Mine for Climate Change
When the Brook Trout Leaps – By Anonymous – The slender dew-tipped grasses are trembling in the breeze, The east is blushing rosy red beneath the Sun’s caress, The wild rose bends to kiss the stream—but only Nature sees, And the reed-harps play weird music just above the water cress. The quail is calling loudly…
Two New National Holidays Proposed: Election Day and Freedom of the Press Day
O wondrous youth Through this grand ruth Runs my boy’s life, its thread The General’s fame, the battle’s name The rolls of maimed and dead I bear with my thrilled soul astir And lonely thoughts and fears And am but history’s courier To bind the conquering years A battle’s ray, through ages gray To light…
Camp David: The White House in the Mountains of Maryland
Editor’s Note: This article is published here for educational purposes only from information published in the public domain on the web – Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – CATOCTIN MOUNTAINS, Md. — The birds arise first. They will sing you awake if you let them. The star singer here is the wood thrush, although…
Spring Bird Migration: A Few Splendid Sentences About Pretty Things
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – Sometimes, when sitting outside in the Appalachian Mountains in the shade thinking about what to write about on Sundays, I wonder how to go about writing splendid, pretty sentences. Perhaps the key is writing about pretty things, not bad news. I don’t know. I’ve even Googled it, and…
Camping Out and Living the Nomadland Life in the Washington Capital Region
National Park Service Adds New Listings to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Park Service has added 16 new listings to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom across 11 states, joining 700 sites, facilities and programs already in the network. They all provide insight into the diverse experiences of freedom seekers who bravely escaped slavery and those who assisted…
President Biden Designates Amache National Historic Site as America’s Newest National Park
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — As many students of history know, after the Japanese attacked Peal Harbor on that day of infamy, Dec. 7, 1941, and the United States declared war and entered World War II, the federal government forcibly removed many Asian Americans from the West Coast to the Granada Relocation Center in…
Somehow We Made It to the First Day of Spring 2022: Get Outside
Senate Sherpa Doug Jones Says He’s Confident of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Confirmation – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — At 11:33 a.m. Sunday, we cross the vernal equinox from winter into spring, and it feels like it’s about time, y’all. The Japanese cherry blossoms are blooming along the Tidal…
National Park Service Highlights Less Famous Parks in Reporting Annual Visitation Numbers
“Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.” – John Muir, 1869 The Yosemite (1912), page 256. Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. – In reporting annual visitation numbers to America’s national parks for 2021, the…
Photo Essay: A Day Trip to the Maryland State Capital of Annapolis
By Glynn Wilson – ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Jan. 12) — Two days before Christmas in 1783, George Washington appeared in the old Senate chamber here to submit his resignation as commander in chief to the Continental Congress. “Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of Action; and bidding an Affectionate…
Photo Essay: Snow Shots in the First Blizzard of 2022
The Big Picture -Â By Glynn Wilson -Â WASHINGTON, D.C. – We are not going to let a few inches of snow prevent the mission from going forward to âpreserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.â A…
Charles Sams Sworn In as First Native American National Park Service Director
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON. D.C. — The National Park Service got its first Senate confirmed director in five years Thursday when Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland swore in Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service languished under the presidency of Donald Trump, according to Roll…
Exploring Shenandoah National Park in Virginia in Autumn
By Glynn Wilson – SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, Va. — Warm, humid October weather that could be attributed to climate change due to global warming from humans burning fossil fuels for energy has slowed the arrival of peak Autumn color in the mountains of Virginia. But it was a beautiful day in the park anyway on…