(from msnbc) ‘At National Parks, where are all the young people?’

AN EXCERPT:   At Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, rangers are seeing more than green this spring. They’re also noticing a little more gray.  The average visitor to national parks is getting older.  Cyclist John O’Malley, 61, of Summit County, Colo., has enjoyed the trails for almost half a century.

“You do get close to nature,” Malley said.

But apparently, not everyone shares that fondness anymore…Back in 1996, at Death Valley National Park, almost a third of visitors were in their 20s. But in the last few years, that number has dropped to just 11 percent at Yosemite and six percent at Yellowstone, according to a University of Idaho analysis of Park Service attendance figures.

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