Zion News

Originally established as Mukuntuweap National Monument by president William Taft in 1909, Zion National Park turns 100 on July 31, 2009. The park has been hosting programs throughout the spring to celebrate this significant milestone in park history. If you missed them, don’t fear—there are several commemorative events scheduled over the next several weeks.

Lightning has caused as many as five fires in recent weeks, most recently in Zion National Park and near the Colorado-Utah border.A wildfire in the northern part of Zion National Park, near Lava Point, has led to the closure of the West Rim Trail from Lava Point to Potato Hollow. The fire currently covers 20 acres and is described as moderate.The West Rim Trail will remain open from the Grotto to Potato Hollow, as will the Angels Landing and Wildcat Canyon trails.

Peering down a cliff face at the valley floor several hundred feet below, I faltered and gulped. My son, Ian, probably fortified by the sense of immortality that often infects young men in their late teens, scrambled up the narrow trail like a mountain goat.

A Zion National Park international postage stamp will be unveiled during a short ceremony at the Zion Canyon Visitor Center at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

Zion National Park will appear on a U.S. postage stamp for only the second time in its 100-year history, though the image isn't among the park's most recognizable.The stamp, which features a sandstone formation in the slickrock area of the park, will be unveiled Sunday at an event in the Zion Canyon visitor center, just inside the park's south entrance.

 The critically endangered California condor is the largest bird in the Northern Hemisphere. There are only 320 California condors left and of those there are 45 free flying ones in Arizona. With a wingspan of approximately 9.5 feet and an average weight of 22 pounds, this vulture has been causing quite a stir in Southern Utah.

My first impressions as a boy of 9 or 10 riding into Zion Canyon with my parents and sister Elaine were:So, this is what a "national park" is like, "a wonderfully big and spectacularly beautiful … park."Southern Utah writer Lyman Hafen, in the book "Mukuntuweap: "Landscape and Story in Zion Canyon," nicely captured the feeling of when he, too, was a lad and his father would raise the child's eyes to the "Towers of Stone":

With a short drive thru some of the most beautiful country in the nation, residents of Cedar City and St. George can find new terrain to explore, all kinds of attractions from concerts to caves and, of course, life's staple: golf. 

High gas prices and a poor economy didn't keep visitors away from the Washington County area last year.Zion National Park had a record year for visitation with more than 2.7 million visitors and just in Transient Room Tax alone, the county received $3,124,262. 

Zion National Park Superintendent Jock Whitworth announced today that the number of visitors permitted to travel through the Spry Canyon canyoneering route will be increased by more than 50 percent per day for the 2009 season. On Jan. 1, the use limit for Spry Canyon increased from 12 people per day to 20 people per day.   

Even with a down economy, businesses in one Utah town are doing quite well. That's because their economy has been better than ever thanks to Zion National Park. 

The tough economy and resulting slowdown in development in southwest Utah may be a good thing, a Utah Geological Survey official said. A senior scientist for the agency, Bill Lund, said the lag in development has allowed him to make sure government planners, geologists and engineers are aware of the geologic hazards like landslides and flooding in the St. George-Hurricane area.

On a busy summer day in Zion National Park, 16 propane-powered shuttle buses do the work that 5,000 cars once did. The shift to shuttle-only traffic through the heart of the park eight years ago is praised by park officials and locals for its role in cutting congestion, pollution and visitor frustration.

The University of Utah says a hiker who died in Zion National Park over the weekend was the director of the school's Office of Sustainability. Craig Forster also was on the faculty of the College of Architecture + Planning for the last five years.

Southern Utah University has entered an educational alliance with the Zion Park Group, marked by a formal signing ceremony between SUU, Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument and Pipe Spring National Monument at the Zion National Park Nature Center on Wednesday.