If you’ve scoffed in the past at stories of visitors to Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park who have walked away with valuable gems, maybe this will blow your jaded mind: A 14-year-old found a 7-carat diamond there last weekend just half an hour after he arrived. And as big as this diamond is, the park says the stone isn’t even in the top five of the largest diamonds found there. [More]
parks
Father-Daughter Duo Finds 2-Carat Diamond At Arkansas Gem Park
By 10.12.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Nature’s bounty is always a rewarding experience when you’re visiting one of the nation’s many parks, but one tourist destination can be particularly lucrative for visitors: an Arkansas gem park that lets people keep whatever valuable stones they find. In the recent case of a father-daughter duo, that turned out to be a 2.03-carat diamond. [More]
Public Backlash Grows Against Proposed Ads In National Parks
By 9.27.16
Backlash is growing against a proposal by the National Park Service that would allow some corporate logos and signage within park boundaries, with the majority of folks who weighed in on the idea during a public commenting period saying they’re against it. [More]
Woman Killed After Trying To Save Daughter From Tiger Attack At Chinese Wildlife Park
By 7.27.16
While there are many opportunities for us humans to brush up against wildlife, there’s always the risk of getting too close to nature. A recent tragic incident at a drive-through wildlife park in China shows just how dangerous it can be to interact with wild animals, which are, well, still wild, even if we have up-close-and-personal access to them. [More]
San Francisco Officials Retract Proposal To Rent Out Picnic Plots At Popular Park
By 6.16.16
Usually when you’re preparing for a picnic, you make sure you’ve got everything you may need — food, drinks, a blanket, sunscreen… and a permit for the grass you’ll need to sit on. That last thing ticked off many San Francisco residents, prompting parks officials to pull a proposed plan that would’ve had park visitors reserving plots of grass ahead of time. [More]
No, The National Park Service Isn’t Going To Give Away Park Naming Rights To Corporate Sponsors
By 5.16.16
Recently, the National Park Service announced a proposed donor recognition program that would allow individuals and companies to have their names displayed on things like programs, benches, and other interior spaces at parks as a way to raise much-needed funds. In case that news made folks fear a future that includes The Pepsi Grand Canyon, the agency is taking steps to clarify exactly what the program would entail. [More]
Admission To All National Parks Will Be Free For A Week Starting April 16
By 4.14.16
Need plans for the weekend, but still hurting from filing your taxes? There’s free nature to behold, courtesy of the National Park Service: to celebrate the agency’s 100th birthday, admission to all National Parks will be free between April 16 and April 24. [via the National Park Service] [More]
National Park Service Hiking Entry Fees At 130 Parks To Raise Money Needed For Repairs
By 10.1.15
Before you head to Yosemite or Yellowstone for your next trip, you might want to check the price of admission: the National Park Service is hiking entry fees at 130 locations in order to raise money it needs to fix trails, bridges, and buildings visitors use every day. In some cases, prices will double, or even triple. [More]
Boston Expanding Its Goat-Powered Landscaping System Because Everyone Loves Goats
By 6.10.15
We’ve learned recently that all you need to get people pumped up about a landscaping plan is hire a couple of four-footed workers to do what they already like doing, munching away on vegetation. After a successful season last summer using ruminants as landscapers, Boston is expanding its plan this year, adding more goats at more city locations in need of tending. [More]
Public Park Visitors Banned From Sitting On Grass
By 9.13.13
It’s not uncommon to see a sign in a public park telling people to avoid a section of grass that’s being reseeded, or that things like football games, grilling, and bike riding are forbidden on the grass, but one town in New York has decided that simply sitting on the grass in one of its parks is a big no-no. [More]
NYC Parks To Get Free WiFi, At A Price
By 1.26.11
New Yorkers are slated to get free wifi in 32 public parks next year, but it will come with a pricetag. Park users will get three 10 minute sessions per month, and after that pay 99 cents a day. The money goes to Time Warner and Cablevision, who agreed to provide the wifi as part of the city agreeing to renew their cable-tv franchises for 10 years. Public advocates promptly slammed the deal as the privatization of a public good. [More]
NYC Finds Artistic Street Vendors Shockingly Uncooperative
By 7.19.10
Who would have thought that people who gather at NYC’s public parks to sell their paintings and photography would mind being forced into a designated area? [More]
Government Wipes Out Geese Population In Brooklyn To Ensure Airplane Safety
By 7.13.10
In what has come to be known as “Sully’s Revenge” (by me, just now), wildlife biologists herded about 400 geese from Brooklyn’s ginormous Prospect Park into cages last week, then “took them to a nearby building where they were gassed with lethal doses of carbon dioxide.” [More]
Seven-Year-Old Writes Perfect Complaint Letter, Gets Park Fixed
By 1.24.09
Louisiana seven-year-old Sydney Hotard fixed her broken playground by writing a well-crafted letter to her Parish President. Hotard was concerned that the plastic slide needed to be “more slippery” and that a nearby exposed electrical panel might be “dangerus.” Upon receiving the letter, Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet was so charmed that he ordered municipal workers to immediately fix the playground.
Park Rules Prohibit "Unlicensed Guns" In State That Doesn't License Guns
Here’s a problem for the Lackawanna County park system: They’ve passed new rules that prohibit “unlicensed firearms.” Sounds reasonable until you notice that the park is in Pennsylvania where they apparently don’t license guns.
Awkward! [More]