In this month's National Park News Round-Up, we're sharing the story of how Yellowstone rangers stopped a plot for an independence day mass shooting, a string of heat-related and drowning deaths in parks around the country, a piece of Theodore Roosevelt history is returned after a theft in the 70's, and more.

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On a hot Texas day, the splash of water from an irrigation gate is a welcome sound to those who rely on it this water to grow corn, peppers, squash and other foods. Water is the lifeblood of the farming communities of the San Antonio missions.

But how do you irrigate arid landscapes without modern plumbing? You build acequias. Brought by 18th-century Spanish missionaries, these gravity-based canal systems are ingenious ways to share water. Acequias helped establish the city of San Antonio and feed people along the San Antonio River for 300 years.

On this episode of America’s National Parks: the Acequias of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.

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Just about 40 miles outside of Chicago and nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan, Indiana Dunes National Park, combined with the neighboring state park of the same name, protects over 17,000 acres of sand dunes, ecological wonders, and diverse habitats. Amongst them sits a swell dedicated to the life and legacy of one of the earliest advocates of the park. To those of her time, she was known as the “mysterious nymph of the dunes,” but today she is better known as “Diana.”

For nearly a decade, Alice Mabel Gray lived amidst the sand. Escaping from the never-ceasing pace of Chicago during the second industrial revolution and leaving behind a life of higher education, her days were spent much like those of the modern park visitor: swimming in the lake, pacing long stretches of beautiful shoreline, and trekking through quiet woodlands. Like many others, she was in search of solitude, but as Alice came to find companionship in the dunes, her story would baffle the nation and lead to legends based on both truth and rumor.

This week on America’s National Parks, Indiana Dunes National Park and Diana of the Dunes.

Written by Lizzie Tesch

Hosted by Jason Epperson

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