USNPS proposes big cuts for air sightseeing tours over — and some bans

Proposed air tour management plans for units of the National Park System released Monday range from a ban on the overflights to greatly reduced numbers of allowed flights, targets that were established with input from Indigenous stakeholders and the public at large.

Air tour bans that would take effect if the proposals become final after a 30-day comment period would apply to Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore National Memorial, both in South Dakota, while Haleakalā and Hawai'i Volcanoes national parks in Hawai'i call for reduced numbers of the flights.

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2023/05/update-national-parks-proposing-ban-significantly-cut-back-commercial-air-tours

Sea level rise is claiming houses at Cape Hatteras NS, and there is no good answer in sight

It’s been a rough stretch for Rodanthe, N.C., a scenic sliver of the Outer Banks where houses are crumbling into the ocean, owners are paying to move properties farther from the pounding surf and residents are pushing officials to do more to protect the fast-eroding shoreline.

At a town meeting early this year, Dare County’s manager, Bobby Outten, explained that the local government couldn’t begin to fund the type of extensive beach nourishment that would buy Rodanthe more time from the encroaching sea. But he did promise to undertake an engineering assessment so residents would know just how much it might cost to dredge offshore sediment and add a new expanse of beach.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/05/15/north-carolina-beach-houses-erosion-solution/

Probe begins into fire that destroyed historic lodge in Olympic NP

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Federal fire investigators arrived Tuesday to examine the smoldering remains of the 12,201-square-foot day lodge at Hurricane Ridge after Sunday’s blaze.

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The 70-year-old lodge, which had been on the verge of rehabilitation, burned to the ground on Sunday, leaving only chimneys and smoking wreckage after a ranger found it fully engulfed in flames at 4:30 p.m. Firefighters from Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue and Port Angeles Fire Department arrived shortly thereafter to find the building had collapsed onto its foundations.

https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/fire-investigators-arrive-to-examine-remains-of-hurricane-ridge-lodge/