First Family's National Parks Vacation Highlights Obama's Environmental Push

It's not just a vacation as the first family heads out for a long weekend at Carlsbad Caverns and Yosemite National Park. President Barack Obama is hoping to lead by example as the White House tries to encourage families to explore national parks and announces another step to make visiting easier. The visit comes at a time when the century-old National Park Service faces two very series issues: climate change and budget cuts. "Climate change is the single biggest threat to parks and resources," Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, told reporters on a conference call Thursday. conic sites like Ellis Island and the Statute of Liberty could be at risk if sea levels rise and it could cost $40 billion dollars over the next century to deal. Warmer winters are increasing bark beetle infestations at Yellowstone and are killing trees and could eventually destroy forests. Plus, the National Forest Service is also using up 52 percent of its $5,073,246,000 budget to fight forest fires which, some studies show, are exacerbated by climate change...more