Lillian climbs the dunes for a view of a park imprinted with ancient human history and the beginnings of the Atomic Age. In doing so, she tries to understand why America’s deserts have been both safeguarded and sacrificed.

White Sands National Park

The Washington Post’s Lillian Cunningham journeys through the messy past and uncertain future of America’s national parks. In trips through five iconic landscapes, she ventures off the marked trail and beyond the parks’ borders to better understand the most urgent stories playing out in these places today. Along the way, she meets the people fighting to help these parks evolve – and survive.

Society & Culture

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History

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Nature

Grenada’s revolutionary leader was executed in a coup in 1983, with seven others. The whereabouts of their remains are unknown. Now, The Washington Post’s Martine Powers uncovers new answers about how the U.S. fits into this 40-year-old Caribbean mystery.

Introducing “The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop”

Lillian journeys above the Arctic Circle to one of the most remote and least visited National Parks. In our series finale, she confronts the question facing its future: whether a portion of this untouched wilderness will soon include a path for industry.

Gates of the Arctic National Park

Lillian slogs through the marsh and steps back in time to explore how past mistakes devastated the “River of Grass.” What will it take to restore this unique landscape of water and sky? Along the way, the park’s wildlife has a thing or two to say.

Everglades National Park

Lillian experiences the rush of Glacier’s Going-to-the-Sun Road, but her most illuminating stops happen on the Blackfeet reservation. As Native people push for a greater hand in managing national park lands, Lillian asks whether that could ever happen.

White Sands National Park

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