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PODCAST

National Parks Traveler Podcast

National Parks Traveler is the world"s top-rated, editorially independent, nonprofit media organization dedicated to covering national parks and protected areas on a daily basis. Traveler offers readers and listeners a unique multimedia blend of news, feature content, debate, and discussion all tied to national parks and protected areas.

society & culture places & travel

All Episodes

45:28

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Disappearing Black...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/09/21

This past week unspecified interpretive materials related to slavery were either removed or tagged for removal from Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia. It also was reported that a troubling photo known as the “Scourged Back” that depicted the scar-riddled back of an enslaved man was taken down from Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia. The National Park System has been pulled into the current-day battles of wokeism of sorts through the removal of those, and likely other,

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48:14

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Historic Preservation

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/09/14

We can’t escape history. We’re born into a world full of it, and we’re making it as we go from day to day. But how are we at preserving history? There’s been a lot of concern this year that the administration of President Donald Trump is altering, if not entirely trying to erase, history. But can that actually be done? The National Park Service, often called the nation’s storyteller, has been interpreting history for more than a century, and some of that interpretation revolves around sites that

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44:37

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Government Shutdown...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/09/07

We’ve made it past Labor Day. Which means fall colors in some parts of the country aren’t too far off, seasonal wildlife migrations are getting under way, and summertime crowds in the national park system have thinned out. Fall is a glorious time to be out in the park system. The question right now, though, is how will the park system be functioning come October? That’s a very pertinent question, because the federal government is facing a shutdown on September 30 if Congress can’t come to terms on a

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46:43

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Bison Benefits

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/08/31

Once upon a time, there were tens of millions of bison on the North American continent. Today, there are somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000. Most are in commercial herds, with a relative few in private herds and on public lands. Should there be more bison on the continent? There potentially is space for them on places like the 550,000-acre Thunder Basin National Grassland in Wyoming, the nearly 600,000-acre Buffalo Gap National Grassland in South Dakota, and the roughly 440,000-acre Comanche

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48:11

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Rare Phenomena in...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/08/24

It’s been said that the night skies are the other half of the National Park System. And it only makes sense, for when you’re in a park and the sun goes down you tend to look into the night sky to spot constellations or, if you’re lucky enough and in the right place, a comet overhead. Keeping that other half of the park system in mind, today’s podcast will be a somewhat dark one. Our guest is Jeff Pfaller, a fine arts photographer who spent five years capturing night skies over national parks and

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42:18

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Keeping Glacier...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/08/17

Vessel-whale collisions are a significant concern in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, where nutrient-rich waters support a seasonal influx of humpback whales and other marine mammals. As one of the most visited marine parks in Alaska, Glacier Bay sees a high volume of vessel traffic, including cruise ships, tour boats, and private craft. This summer an adult humpback whale was seen with a fresh, one-foot gash behind its dorsal fin which appeared to be from contact with a boat propeller. This

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55:26

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Nature is Nonpartisan

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/08/10

Is nature nonpartisan? Earlier this year we had an interview with Dr. Caleb Scoville from Tufts University, who received an Andrew Carnegie fellowship to explore whether environmental issues are highly partisan. It can certainly seem that here in America just about everything is partisan these days, but is nature partisan? As another of our guests pointed out, those who enjoy going out into nature come in all political flavors. That said, our guest today is Benji Backer, the driver behind the

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01:01:43

National Parks Traveler Podcast | El Camino Real de...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/08/03

El Camino Real de Los Tejas is a network of trails that connected Spanish missions, settlements, and military outposts from Mexico through Texas and into Louisiana. Now a national historic trail, this road played a crucial role in the Spanish colonization of the region in the late 1600s. It served as a vital route for communication, trade, and military movement. Over time, that trail facilitated cultural exchange and interaction between Spanish settlers, indigenous peoples, and later,

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45:13

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Theresa Pierno

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/07/27

The National Parks Conservation Association is almost as old as the National Park Service. The Service, as you probably know, was established in 1916, and NPCA came along three years later. Through the 106-year history of NPCA, there has been only one woman who held the title of president and Chief Executive Officer. That woman is Theresa Pierno, who has worked for the park advocacy group for more than two decades, and as NPCA’s CEO and president for the past ten years. At the end of this year

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44:10

National Parks Traveler Podcast | The Future of...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/07/20

Grizzly bears. They define charismatic megafauna. Huge animals that draw both human admiration and fear. Once they roamed the entire country, though that was a long time ago. Today there are pockets of grizzly bear populations in the Rocky Mountains from Yellowstone to Glacier National Parks. Among the questions that revolve around grizzly bears is how many are too many, are they a threat to humans, should they be removed from the landscape, or protected? To explore those issues our guests today are

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50:44

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Appalachian Trail...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/07/13

Running nearly 2,200 miles along the spine of the Appalachian Range from Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail arguably is the world's most famous long-distance trail. Some think it's also one that can be very crowded in spots. Morgan Sommerville, the director of visitor use management for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, joins us today to discuss the trail in general and whether it's too crowded.

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41:04

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Intrepid Travel

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/07/06

Heading into the National Park System this summer? Going it alone, or have you booked a tour company? What do you think about how the Trump Administration and Congress are treating the National Parks and the National Park Service? Have you reported any park signs to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that disparage Americans, dead or alive? As you can tell there’s a lot going on in the parks. Some good, some not so good, and some downright bad. It’s a lot to digest, and a lot to discuss. To help us

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51:16

National Parks Traveler Podcast | ATC at 100

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/06/29

Anniversaries and birthdays give us time to reflect on individuals, accomplishments, and moments in history. They often refresh our memories and can serve as motivators to do something. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which was established in 1925, just two years after the first sections of the Appalachian Trail opened. To discuss the trail, some of its history, and the challenges it faces today, our guests are Sandi Marra, CEO of the Conservancy, and

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45:09

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Federal Lands Fire...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/06/22

There are some in Congress who think we should have a fire sale on public lands. Places across national forests and the Bureau of Land Management that politicians think should be offered for sale, either to try to adopt President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill that would continue to offer the biggest tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and corporations or simply because they don’t believe there should be public lands. This legislation, sponsored by U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, could be the most

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36:07

National Parks Traveler Podcast | How Wild

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/06/08

Today our guest is Marissa Ortega-Welch, a San Francisco-based freelance journalist who focuses on environmental issues. Last year she generated a series of podcasts surrounding the topic of official wilderness – the history of official wilderness and the idea of wilderness. It’s an interesting series that you can find by searching for How Wild wherever you download your podcasts.

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55:45

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Plight of the Parks

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/06/01

So much is happening so quickly to the National Park Service. There have been staff reductions, hiring freezes, spending freezes, orders from the Interior Secretary to make sure that visitors find national parks welcoming, no matter what it takes. Every week seems to bring something new, and quite frankly dire to the National Park Service. Most recently we’ve heard about the loss of about 60 employees from the agency’s Alaska regional office, and there are concerns the Trump administration is going

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48:42

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Environmental...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/05/25

Is green a red and blue construct? Put another way, is there a political partisan divide over the environment? That’s a particularly interesting question, no doubt more so in recent years as the country seems to have drifted farther and farther apart because of our political beliefs. To that point, a reader reached out the other day to say our stories shouldn’t be negative on the Trump Administration because the national parks are going to need the help of all of us - Democrats, Republicans,

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40:53

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Public Employees...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/05/18

News around public lands these days seems to revolve entirely around the Trump administration. In the case of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, many of the steps the administration is taking with the operational efficiencies of the National Park Service and other land management agencies certainly are keeping PEER busy. But what exactly is PEER, and what is their mission? For as long as the National Parks Traveler has been in existence, going back 20 years, stories recounting PEER

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53:54

National Parks Traveler Podcast | North American Bird...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/05/11

True birders are some of the most determined and persistent hobbyists out there. If you want to call bird watching a hobby. For many, it’s more like a passion. Many look forward to “Big Day” competitions, where individuals and teams strive to see how many different bird species they can spot in a 24-hour period. Many birders log their sightings and identifications in eBird, a smartphone application created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. The good news is that

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56:35

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Walt Dabney and...

National Parks Traveler Podcast ·

2025/05/04

It’s fair to say that the nation’s public lands, those managed by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and other federal land-management agencies are at risk under the Trump administration. There’s no hyperbole in that statement if you pay attention to what the administration already has done in terms of downsizing those agencies’ workforces, and when you listen to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum say he wants to open more public lands to energy development

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79 results

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