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National Park Service (NPS) fire managers successfully treated 994 acres with prescribed (Rx) fire on the South Rim of Grand Canyon. The Shoshone Rx burn unit, between Yaki and Duck on a Rock points, consisted primarily of ponderosa pine, pinyon pine, and juniper.

Visitors to Grand Canyon National Park over Memorial Day weekend can expect long lines, crowds, and full parking lots. Last year, Grand Canyon's visitation hit an all-time high and the park is already seeing an increase over last year's numbers. The park anticipates a busier-than-normal holiday weekend.

The twenty-sixth annual Grand Canyon Star Party will be held from Saturday, June 4 through Saturday, June 11, 2016 on the South and North rims of Grand Canyon National Park. National parks such as Grand Canyon are protective harbors for some of the last remaining dark skies in this country. This year's Grand Canyon Star Party honors Joe Orr, a Star Party enthusiast and protector of Grand Canyon's skies, who died in 2013. This is one of many special events going on in national parks across the country in this centennial year of the National Park Service.

Like nearly all American national parks, Grand Canyon National Park has a huge maintenance backlog due to years of underfunding by Congress. Yet the park smashed it's visitation record in 2015 with 5.5 million visitors, and is expected to break that record again this year. Between lower gas prices and celebrations around the National Park Service's 100th birthday this year, the number of visits continues on the upward trend:

https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2016/04/04/20323/