New Plants and Cleaner Air
You never know what will turn up in a national park. Take Joshua Tree National Park. The other day came news that a botanist had added 100 names to the number of plant species found in the southern California park. Among the plants found by Tasha LaDoux are three that are considered either endangered or threatened by state or federal officials.
Meanwhile, back East there's hope that the latest version of the National Park Service's Management Policies will mean the air over Great Smoky Mountains National Park and other parks won't get any dirtier and might even improve.
During a Senate hearing on the latest edition of Management Policies, Park Service Deputy Director Steve Martin told Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee that the agency will work with the designers of proposed coal-fired power plants around the country to ensure they don't worsen the air quality of national parks.