National Park Service, which backs the 250ft arch, says it is likely to disrupt historical significance of dozens of sites

A new National Park Service report backs Donald Trump’s proposed arch, despite what it says are adverse effects to the sightlines of a host of landmarks in Washington, including the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.

The report released on Friday says the 250ft-tall (76-meter) memorial arch is likely to disrupt the historical significance of dozens of sites near its planned location adjacent to the Arlington Memorial Bridge.

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© Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

© Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

© Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The proposed land swap would allow easy access to the crown jewel of the national park system. Democrats and former Park Service officials are incensed.

© Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times

Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital seeks to acquire land to construct private road to development outside park

The Trump administration is reportedly pushing to give a parcel of land inside Yosemite, the country’s first national park and one of its most popular, to a Nevada-based private developer.

Staff with the National Park Service have been exploring how the agency can give a quarter-mile parcel to a company operated by Kingsbarn Realty Capital, the news outlet Notus reported on Friday, citing agency documents and unnamed sources “directly familiar with discussions”.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Man, 68, was left searching for help in 116F weather after his car became stuck in mud along remote park road

A French tourist recently died in Death Valley national park after a car mishap left him stranded in 116F (47C) weather.

The visitor, identified as 68-year-old Pierre Michel Formosa, was traveling with another French man along the park’s remote West Side Road when their vehicle became stuck in mud near Queen of Sheba Mine Road.

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© Photograph: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

© Photograph: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

© Photograph: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

The president’s border wall plan could damage or destroy ‘the oldest-known books in North America’

On an overcast summer morning, Carolyn Boyd, an archeologist at Texas State University, stood at the foot of a cave in west Texas, looking up toward a series of towering murals painted on a rock wall. Three massive human-like figures soared toward an overhang that had sheltered the painting from the elements since they were drawn here perhaps 4,000 years ago.

An artist herself, Boyd knows how hard it would have been to paint these long, crisp lines. Before starting, the bands of Indigenous hunter-gatherers who lived in this west Texas valley, where the Pecos River empties into the Rio Grande, would have spent weeks pulverizing gypsum, hematite, limonite and manganese to make paint. They would have gathered massive quantities of sotol stalks to fold its fibers into scaffolding. The painting itself would have required teamwork and precision, with people at the bottom guiding artists on the wall as they painted figures stretching up to 30ft tall.

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© Photograph: Roque Planas/The Guardian

© Photograph: Roque Planas/The Guardian

© Photograph: Roque Planas/The Guardian

The 68-year-old tourist and his companion were driving through Death Valley National Park on a remote road last week when their car got stuck in mud, officials said.

© Mario Tama/Getty Images

Administration’s plan to scrap drilling-free buffer zone around New Mexico site prompts scrutiny from Unesco

The Trump administration’s push to expand oil and gas extraction across the US is set to bring drilling near cherished natural and cultural sites, raising alarm among conservationists and prompting questions from the UN’s heritage body.

Unesco said it had received information on the administration’s plan to scrap a drilling-free buffer zone around the Chaco Culture national historical park in New Mexico, a world heritage site and one of the most important cultural areas in the US. A Unesco spokesperson said it had procedures regarding “potential threats” to a world heritage property and was awaiting a response from the federal government as to its impact.

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© Photograph: Cedar Attanasio/AP

© Photograph: Cedar Attanasio/AP

© Photograph: Cedar Attanasio/AP

Almost 45m acres of national forests could be potentially opened to road construction, drilling and logging

The Trump administration said on Tuesday it plans to rescind the “roadless rule” that has protected old-growth forests in the US for 25 years, potentially opening up almost 45m acres of national forests to road construction, drilling and logging.

Conservationists had feared the announcement was coming since last summer after Brooke Rollins, Trump’s secretary of agriculture, targeted a rule brought in by Bill Clinton’s administration, describing it as “overly restrictive” and an “absurd obstacle” to development.

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© Photograph: Erin Edgerton/AFP via Getty Images

© Photograph: Erin Edgerton/AFP via Getty Images

© Photograph: Erin Edgerton/AFP via Getty Images

Controversial project has faced bipartisan opposition by critics who say it mars pristine environmental area in Texas

Construction on a US-Mexico border project in Big Bend national park has halted, the Trump administration said Monday, as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) evaluates the controversial project in Texas.

“CBP is pausing all construction activity in Big Bend National Park while I visit and conduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation,” CBP’s head, Rodney Scott, wrote in a social media post.

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© Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images

Over the objections of environmentalists, local sheriffs and some state leaders, the Trump administration appears to be moving ahead with border infrastructure in one of Texas’ most beloved parks.

© Brian Finke

Heavy machinery seen operating in famous Santa Elena Canyon amid outcry over new wall infrastructure in beloved Texas park

Bulldozers have begun plowing up ground at the mouth of Big Bend national park’s famed Santa Elena Canyon as part of the Trump administration’s multibillion-dollar “smart wall” expansion on the US-Mexico border, according to new footage taken by activists who have been monitoring the site.

Tensions have run high since the Trump administration announced plans to erect new border security infrastructure in the roughly 500-mile Big Bend region of south-west Texas, which includes the Lone Star State’s largest and most-visited national park.

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© Photograph: Hannah Gentiles

© Photograph: Hannah Gentiles

© Photograph: Hannah Gentiles

Authorities in California said he died in a climbing accident. He set a record in 2024 for climbing El Capitan’s Lurking Fear route in under three hours.

© Loren Elliott for The New York Times