Judge finds for USNPS in dispute over Tule elk in Point Reyes NS

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge ruled in favor of the National Park Service on Monday and rejected claims by animal rights activists that the agency endangered Tule elk populations north of San Francisco.

A group of plaintiffs and the Animal Legal Defense Fund claimed the National Park Service failed to revise a 1980 management plan for the Tomales Point portion of the Point Reyes National Seashore. There, approximately 293 Tule elk live behind an eight-foot fence erected to prevent them from competing for forage and water with the cattle that the service permits to graze on park land.

https://missoulacurrent.com/california-tule-elk/

US NP visits hit 312M in 2022; fewer than 30 of 424 parks account for half of that

Visitation to the National Park System continued to rebound in 2022, with the head count reaching 312 million, the highest tally since the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to the National Park Service. While 27 parks —2 percent of the 424 units in the National Park System— accounted for half of the 2022 visitation, year-over-year increases largely were seen across the system, the agency said Monday.

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2023/02/national-park-visitation-hit-312-million-2022-eight-parks-accounted-quarter

World's first caecilian fossil from Triassic Era found in Petrified Forest NP

A team of paleontologists from Virginia Tech and the U.S. Petrified Forest National Park, among others, have discovered the first “unmistakable” Triassic-era caecilian fossil — the oldest-known caecilian fossils — thus extending the record of this small, burrowing mammal by roughly 35 million years. The find also fills a gap of at least 87 million years in the known historical fossil record of the amphibian-like creature.

https://scitechdaily.com/first-unmistakable-triassic-era-caecilian-fossils-discovered-revealing-origins-of-living-amphibians/