Nearly 1,500 national park projects sit on a Park Service “low priority” list, according to a Center for Western Priorities map reported by Source NM. Chiricahua is now America's 64th national park, signed into law October 20. And Scotty's Castle in Death Valley returns to the tour schedule, exterior only. Plus Yellowstone's record thermal-area trash haul and restoration work at Minidoka National Historic Site. From the ranger's chair: what I saw inside Scotty's Castle in 2018, and what it says about fixing remote park sites. What to watch: the National Christmas Tree ticket lottery opens October 28.

More information about these parks:

Chiricahua National Park (formerly Chiricahua National Monument): https://www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm

Big Bend National Park: https://www.nps.gov/bibe/index.htm

Death Valley National Park: https://www.nps.gov/deva/index.htm

Yellowstone National Park: https://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm

Minidoka National Historic Site: https://www.nps.gov/miin/index.htm

Petroglyph National Monument: https://www.nps.gov/petr/index.htm

Lake Mead National Recreation Area: https://www.nps.gov/lake/index.htm

Valles Caldera National Preserve: https://www.nps.gov/vall/index.htm

Aztec Ruins National Monument: https://www.nps.gov/azru/index.htm

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve: https://www.nps.gov/neri/index.htm

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A federal judge halts tree cutting at East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C., and the president announces plans to close and rebuild the course. The Park Service denies Humane Borders' request to maintain water stations at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. And the Park Service proposes letting Anaktuvuk Pass residents use off-road vehicles for subsistence in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Plus quick updates on a horse living with a Yellowstone bison herd and the reopening of Zion's main highway. And from the ranger's chair: what ANILCA, the 1980 Alaska lands law, says about subsistence access, and how it frames the Gates of the Arctic rule.

The Park Service is taking public comment on the Grand Canyon's North Rim and Bent's Old Fort, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has sent its comments on the triumphal arch, and the Chiricahua National Park Act still awaits a signature. Plus closures, Fat Bear Week, and a Ranger's Chair on Section 106.

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