Park Service unveils long-range blueprint for Death Valley

The National Park Service’s blueprint for managing (i.e., protecting) Death Valley National Park, five years in the making, is out. You can link to it here. It calls for new trail heads and marked routes for key areas in the largest national park in the lower 48 states, modest visitor amenity improvements and lots of backcountry protection. The plan gets an early kudo from the head of the National Parks Conservation Association, which is often critical of park service moves. The Chronicle’s Carolyn Lochhead blogs about it.