Category: Travel

Zion National Park is an incredibly beautiful place to tour, and as a result it is also one of the most popular tours that Bindlestiff Tours does. It is also incredibly popular with those who tour Zion on their own, which is leading to overcrowding and pollution issues. The problems are getting so bad that park officials are beginning to solicit ideas through social media websites like Facebook about ways that the traffic might be alleviated. Most of these solutions that are being proposed involve reserved times for park visits, limitations on the amount of cars, and potentially restrictions on the number of visitors per day (essentially turning people away at the gates.) The overcrowding at Zion and other National Parks is a combined issue resulting from the successes of the National Park Service's "Find Your Park" campaign and the lifestyle push over the last few years to embrace more outdoor activities like hiking. The result has been record numbers of visitors to parks like Zion, which last year saw more than 4 million people visiting the 6 mile canyon, mostly between March and November. At one point, lines for shuttles between the visitors area and the park (which was implemented to alleviate traffic concerns) was an astonishing 300 people long. The over crowding is especially bad at "pinch points" like "Temple of Sinawava" where visitor flow is difficult. While it is certainly good that more people are embracing nature and enjoying the parks, it is becoming obvious that measures are going to be necessary in order to allow visitors to continue enjoying the protected spaces. While they are designed to be enjoyed, they were not designed to be enjoyed by this many people at once. Some of the suggestions that are being entertained are the advertising of "off season"

The Endangered Pupfish of Death Valley National Park Native to Devil’s Hole near Death Valley National Park, the Devil’s Hole pupfish is described as the world’s rarest fish species. With a population of less than 200 in 2005, and only 115 known to remain as of 2016, this tiny, bright blue fish measuring only one inch in length, has been considered critically endangered since 1967. The Devil’s Hole pupfish, or Cyprinodon diabolis, are located in the Amargosa Valley area of southwest Nevada, east of Death Valley. Devil’s Hole is a limestone cavern containing a geothermal aquifer-fed pool. According to studies, the species is thought to have evolved about 60,000 years ago, around the time the cavern became exposed to the surface. Due to the fragility of the surrounding ecosystem, the water has been monitored regularly by government agencies for depth and nutrient content, as well as other factors that may affect the fish’s survival. Agricultural competition for water, pumping in the surrounding area, and even earthquakes has resulted in fluctuating water levels since surveying began. Although they have been found in deeper water, pupfish primarily feed and spawn in a shallow portion of the cavern only 6 by 13 feet in area. Their diet consists of nutrients derived from a layer of algae growing on the bottom shelf, where the shallow pool receives ample sun exposure. With water temperatures at 93 degrees and oxygen levels typically deadly to fish, the pupfish are adapted to their surroundings. However, if the fragile environment becomes too altered, they are unable to be moved to a new home because of the unique conditions in Devil’s Hole. In April of 2016, surveillance cameras captured video of three men breaking into the fenced area surrounding Devil’s Hole. According to authorities who reviewed the video, the men