Wildlife managers say 58 bison have been successfully relocated from the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

Key Colorado River reservoirs Lake Powell and Lake Mead are both only about one-quarter full. The continued drop, due to overuse and an increasingly arid climate, is threatening the fish and the economies built around them.

I applaud everyone from Game and Fish Department staff, who have worked ceaselessly on this issue, to Secretary Bernhardt and Superintendent Keable. Your efforts will ultimately bring back the appropriate balance that is necessary to ensure the success of the bison herd and the Grand Canyon’s resources for generations to come, by using science and skilled volunteers.

Arizona lawmakers and advocates are condemning proposed fee increases at the Grand Canyon and 16 other parks, a move the National Park Service said is badly needed to fund billions of dollars in backlogged maintenance projects.

Democratic senators criticized a National Park Service plan to impose steep increases in entrance fees at 17 of its most popular parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone and Zion, calling the proposed rates “arbitrary and unjustifiable.”

It may not be surprising that an “aquatic desert” turtle faces long odds in life, but environmentalists and biologists still welcomed this week’s endangered species designation for the Sonoyta mud turtle.

Visiting the Grand Canyon and other national parks could get a little pricier. The National Park Service said 115 of its 401 units plan to seek public comment on entrance fees that could go up starting next year.

A Grand Canyon concessionaire has sued the National Park Service, saying a new South Rim services contract gives an unfair advantage to a competitor and would result in a money-losing operation.

A new report shows that visitors to Arizona's national parks last year spent more than $700 million.

With their natural beauty and protected environments, the Grand Canyon and other national parks in the West would seem removed from having mercury in their streams and rivers.