Baseball, Jazz, War... and now "The National Parks: America's Best Idea."

"In Europe, you had the Roman coliseum or Notre Dame or the Cologne cathedral, but we didn't have anything like that in America," said Dayton Duncan, who wrote the script and authored the companion book, to be published by Alfred Knopf. "But we did have these spectacular natural landscapes that were as unique and ancient as anything in the Old World. But unlike in Europe, they did not belong to monarchs or nobility. They belong to everyone."

The 12-hour, six-part series is set to air on PBS in fall 2009.

The full press release on EarthTimes.

Spurious spruce (Business Week)"Go for Verizon Wireless and stay away from T-Mobile," writes Alena Samuels (LAT). "Although your best bet is probably to get a homing pigeon."

The LA Times compares reception in the national parks.

(Dust Storms over Badwater, June 2007. Burke Griggs Photo.)"When you get into Death Valley National Park, which is where I spend a lot of time, Alltel is the only game out there," said Dan Yahro of Bishop, CA, voicing concerns that Verizon's $5.9 billion takeover bid might leave desert dwellers (and travelers) stranded in silence.

Peter Svensson, AP.

(David McNew / Getty Image)"We must recognize the severity of this crisis we face," said governor Schwarzenegger, proclaiming a statewide drought (and blaming court-ordered protections for San Joaquin salmon).

"The snowpack has been disappearing," said state Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow, "and it has not manifest itself as runoff."

The solution? "Upgrade California's water infrastructure," said the governor. "Let's fix all of these things that need to be fixed rather than waiting and waiting and waiting."

Evan Halper, LA Times.

Refrigerator at Barker Ranch, Panamint Range, Death Valley N.P. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, Pool)"There have been no human remains found," said Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze. "We're finishing up this site and that'll be it."

"The story here is not what was found or what was not found but how we looked," said forensic consultant Charles Illsley. "This has been one of the most exhaustive applications for a number of combined technologies."

"I haven't been this frustrated in a very long time," said Arpad Vass, a senior researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Juliana Barbassa for the AP.

Without the title, what's left for Methuselah and Co.? Photo by Burke Griggs

"The new contender for world's oldest 'tree,'" writes William Tweed from Three Rivers, "is a bush that is not as old as bushes here in California."

The full story, Visalia Times-Delta.

Playa, lee side Red Hill cinder cone, Owens Valley

February looked good, with 98% normal snowpack and the reservoirs nearly full. Then came March and April, together the driest since 1921.

"I have not seen a more serious water situation in my career, and I've been doing this 30 years," said Timothy Quinn, executive director of the Assn. of California Water Agencies.

Uh-oh. What are we going to water our lawns with?

From the LA Times.

What’s the process for writing a guidebook? Obviously, it involves a lot of research, but how much of that is done first-hand? In other words, how many of the restaurants have you eaten in, etc? And how much is done through other avenues of research?

The full interview.

The Tioga Entrance Station, still closed for the season. PHOTO BY BURKE GRIGGS.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 19 through April 27, 2008, as National Park Week. I invite all my fellow citizens to join me in celebrating America's national parks by visiting these wonderful spaces, discovering all they have to offer, and becoming active participants in park conservation.

(At no charge.)

The Bat III--MLB's latest high-performance portable Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. MLB PHOTO.

The United States Forest Service, having long ago farmed out basic facilities maintenance to private concessions, having raised campground rates for the upcoming season by as much as 70%, is now reported to have spent $100,000 each on a pair of state-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's).

"The more tools you have available in your toolbox," said Everett Hinkley, who heads the Forest Service's Remote Sensing Applications Center in Salt Lake City, to the AP, "the better job you can do."

The remote-controlled planes are likely to be used for mapping wildfires and for rooting out marijuana farms. According to one manufacturer, UAV's "can operate safely and unnoticed over sensitive areas," and can be used in such diverse applications as "convoy following," "agricultural mapping," "traffic monitoring," "perimeter surveillance," and "homeland security."

"We believe there are upwards of 5,000 pot growers on national forest land," said Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey to the Associated Press, "that exceeds the number of Forest Service employees in the entire state of California."

From Octatron.com: "SkySeer™ is a lightweight, portable, autonomous-flight UAV designed for single-person operation. It weighs less than five pounds, flies quietly, can be assembled in minutes, and is hand-launched... The night version SkySeer™ includes a thermal camera that allows filming in total darkness. A stealth surveillance mission at night at 250’ has been demonstrated. The two-mile range of coverage can be extended using NetWeaver™. Training is required to fly a SkySeer™."

Check out the competition at MLB Manufacturing website.