Wild animals eating human food was an issue at Mount Rainier National Park last season. Park staff is hoping to keep it from becoming an issue this year.

Related to the issue, the park will be conducting a study this summer on the effect that humans are having on birds, such as jays and crows.

Chuck Young, the park’s chief ranger, said a student will do the study. The park is trying to identify whether more people leads to an increase in such birds, which then push out other bird species, he said.

“People are leaving behind food or the birds are getting into garbage, and that’s attracting the birds,” Young said.

Also, on July 25, the park is planning to hold its first Keep Wildlife Wild volunteer weekend beginning at 9 a.m. at the Education Center in Tahoma Woods. Participants will hear from wildlife biologists on the dangers to wildlife and from interpretive rangers on how to communicate with park visitors. Volunteers will then be stationed at locations around the park to address the issue with visitors.

 • It was an above average snow season at Mount Rainier National Park. As of Tuesday, the end of the measuring year, the park had received 713 inches of snow. In an average year, counted from July 1 to June 30, the park gets 682 inches. Also as of Tuesday, there were 40 inches of snow on the ground at Paradise.

 • The National Park Service has launched a new Web site, www.nps.gov/getaways. The site will feature one of the almost 400 national parks each week this summer to help families find places to go this summer.

The News Tribune