By Kelly Heber Dunning As summer approaches, reports of the return of leisure travel are beginning to emerge following the unprecedented shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic. Many of the world’s most popular tourism destinations have begun to plan an eventual reopening, exploring what their “new normal” will look like. The COVID-19 pandemic caused most of […]
The U.S. is beginning the new year with a new national park. The nation’s 63rd national park is also the first to be designated as such in the state of West Virginia, Veranda reported. New River Gorge, in Fayetteville, was officially changed from a national river to a national park as part of the COVID-19 […]
By Natalie Marchant The Great American Rail-Trail will be almost 6,000km when complete, and will serve 50 million people within 80km of the route. Trails have proved invaluable for recreation and transport during lockdown. Cycling and safe routes are vital for cities planning their post-pandemic recovery. Stretching almost 6,000km and crossing 12 states, the Great […]
You can be forgiven for not realizing that we’re in the midst of National Park Week. After all, spring is in the air but you’re probably missing the great outdoors. On Earth Day, President Trump, who seems eager to see social distancing ended, announced that some of the national parks would start to reopen, though […]
By Robin Pomeroy For the great explorers of the 19th and 20th centuries, the prime motivation was getting to places no one had been before: “Because it’s there,” is what British mountaineer George Mallory famously replied when asked why he wanted to climb Everest. But no longer. With all the biggest peaks climbed, poles reached […]
Some backcountry skiers and snowboarders are not just hitting the slopes. They’re measuring how deep the snow is and sending the data to climate scientists. Listen here: “We gave them GPS and of course they all had avalanche probes in their backpacks,” Wolken says. “And we said, ‘OK, go out and sample as much as […]
The world’s largest gypsum dunefield is now the United States’ newest national park. The National Park Service (NPS) welcomed its 62nd member on Friday, when President Donald Trump signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act into law. The act contained a provision redesignating White Sands National Monument in New Mexico as White Sands National Park. […]
Summer has officially come to an end. Luckily, EcoWatch is here to keep its memory alive by sharing the winners of our “Best of Summer” photo contest. For our third ever photo contest, we at EcoWatch broke the competition into two parts: one Judges’ Choice, selected by a talented team of activists, photographers, adventurers and […]
Update, September 17: Voting is now closed. Winners of both EcoWatchers’ Choice and Grand Prize will be announced on Sept. 23. On June 26, EcoWatch launched its “Best of Summer” Photo Contest. Throughout the summer, we’ve been receiving submissions from EcoWatchers, and we’ve been giving readers the opportunity to vote for their favorite image. Our […]