Results tagged “nps”

Joshua Tree, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Death Valley. These National Parks have captured the hearts of Californians and millions of others. Channel Islands, Mojave, Pinnacles, Cabrillo. They're lesser known in Southern and Central California, but sometimes just as beautiful, if not equally. And closer to home here in Los Angeles and heading west into Ventura County are a collection of National Park units hardly spoken about by the millions who live here (and will not be talked about in Ken Burns' 12-hour epic documentary, which debuted last night on PBS).

The Los Angeles region could get another National Recreation Area congressional designation under a study that is proposing three different concepts for the San Gabriel watershed and mountains. Congress directed the National Parks Service to study and evaluate resources in a large area from the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys down to the Orange County border. No, it doesn't mean we'd be within minutes of a new National Park in the traditional sense--Yosemite, Joshua Tree--but it could mean better managed cultural sites or new trails and protected open spaces.

       

"We're not a travelogue, we're not a nature fim, we're not a recomendation on which lodge to stay in. It's the story how this place got started," a zealous Ken Burns said of his upcoming twelve hour documentary on the National Parks. He and his crew have spent what many dream about: six years of traveling the country from National Park to National Park exploring some of the country's most beautiful and historically and culturally significant places.

When National Park Service employees in Thousand Oaks yesterday morning checked on the mountain lions they monitor via GPS in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, they discovered that one of them visited an unusual location. On Wednesday night, one was in the vicinity of the 405 Freeway and the Skirball Museum.

Locally, we've got trails maintained by the city, county and state governments. But one of the lesser known functions of the National Park Service is their National Trails System, which self described as "the network of scenic, historic, and recreation trails created by the National Trails System Act of 1968."

For twenty-four hours starting tomorrow at noon, 120 scientists, 1,400 LAUSD students and community members will embark on the 2nd National Geographic BioBlitz in the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area (though some say it's essentially a National Park), which stretches from the ocean to Cahuenga Pass at the 101 Freeway. Together they will comb the area, as well as Griffith Park, observing and recording as many plant and animal species as possible in 24 hours. Think of it as part scientific endeavor, part festival and part outdoor classroom.