Ben spent weeks mapping the geologic structures in Huerfano County Colorado. Photo by Ben Friedman.

Conservation lands offer a solution There are a few significant places I keep in my heart, places that were meaningful to me during childhood and adolescence that fostered curiosity and sparked lifelong values. At the top of my list — Lower Rhoda Pond in Columbia County, New York, where I learned to swim, canoe and skip stones. Sitka, Alaska, where I first saw bald eagles and humpback whales. Huerfano County in Colorado, where I spent three weeks mapping the geologic structures of the Sangre De Cristo mountain range. Read more

American Discovery Trail. Photo by Jesse Speer, Courtesy USFS.

Saturday, June 6, is American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day®. It shines a light on the wonderful trail opportunities we have in this country — and encourages Americans to help maintain them. The National Trails System contains tens of thousands of miles, with segments in every state and the nation’s capital. Click here for a list of the trails in the system or here to see a PDF map of the system. Read more

Johnston Atoll, one of several areas protected under President Bush's use of the Antiquities Act. Courtesy EPA.

The outgoing president has been up to some last minute attacks on the environment. That is no surprise to some. However, President Bush’s use of the Antiquities Act to protect a large area of the western Pacific Ocean as a National Monument may also be a surprise to some, and it should be commended. He continues a presidential tradition of using the Act to protect some of the nation’s most spectacular natural and cultural resources. In fact, only three presidents since the passage of the Act in 1906 — Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and George H.W. Read more