National Parks Traveler Podcast

Kurt Repanshek

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National Parks Traveler Podcast 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.

2 DAYS AGO

National Parks Traveler Podcast | POWDR in Zion

Concessions are the backbone of the National Park System. True, the National Park Service manages the parks and the wildlife and the visitors, but the concessionaires provide you with a bed, or campsite, to sleep in, restaurants to dine in, and gift shops to browse in. Xanterra Parks and Resorts is one of the key players in the national park concessions industry. They operate lodges in Yellowstone, Crater Lake, Death Valley, Glacier, Grand Canyon and, until the end of this year, Zion National Park. A newcomer on the park concessions scene is POWDR Corp., a self-branded adventure company most tied to snow sports. This past January, however, POWDR took over the concessions at Stovepipe Wells Village in Death Valley National Park, and this coming January it’ll be operating concessions at Zion National Park. To learn more about POWDR and why it’s seeking opportunities in the National Park System, we’ve invited Justin Sibley, the company’s CEO, to discuss the transition. We’ll be back in a minute with Justin.

44 min
15 SEPT

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Voyageurs Wolf Project

The National Park System is an incredible reservoir of wildlife, from charismatic animals such as grizzly bears, bison and wolves, to animals such as moose, and pronghorn and sea turtles that, while not usually labeled as charismatic, are indeed just that. Wolves certainly fall under the charismatic megafauna classification. They're majestic and mystifying, and perhaps even lend some romanticism to your backcountry adventures if you are lucky enough to hear a pack howling in chorus after sundown. While it’s well-known that Yellowstone National Park and Isle Royale National Park have wolf populations, you might not know that Voyageurs National Park also has a resident population of the predators. To learn more about the wolves at Voyageurs National Park and their behavior, we’re joined today by Dr. Thomas Gable, the project lead for the Voyageurs Wolf Project.

48 min
8 SEPT

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Campaign for the Parks

It was back in 1967 when the Congress chartered the National Park Foundation to serve as the official charity of the National Park Service, and over the decades it has raised millions of dollars for the parks. The Foundation is in the midst of its Campaign for National Parks, a billion-dollar campaign that has already raised $815 million. A big chunk of that total came from a recent $100 million grant that greatly moved the foundation closer to its billion-dollar goal. To discuss the campaign, how the money is raised and where it’s being spent, we’re joined today by Will Shafroth, the president and CEO of the National Park Foundation.

50 min
1 SEPT

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Miserable Mammoth Cave

Have you ever been to Mammoth Cave National Park? It’s really not that impressive, is it. Sure, it’s more than 425 miles long, but only about 10 miles are open to the public. Mammoth Cave is indeed a big, dark hole in the ground. And apparently there are a fair number of visitors to the national park in Kentucky who are not impressed with the cave and its underground artworks created by dripstones, stalactites, and stalagmites. In fact, a recent survey ranked Mammoth Cave as the third-most disappointing destination in America. Really? To get the park’s response, we’re joined today by Molly Schroer, the park’s management analyst. We’ll be back in a minute with Molly.

51 min
25 AUG

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Climate Change Impacts on Acadia

From Maine to Florida, coastal units of the National Park System are being impacted in various ways by the changing climate. Some of the impacts affect wildlife, some natural resources, and some the human populations who either live in or come to visit these beautiful areas. At the National Parks Traveler. We’ve been working on a series of stories looking at these changes that are showing up. In recent shows we’ve discussed impacts to manatees that live in the waters of Everglades and Biscayne national parks as well as Cumberland Island National Seashore, and how sea level rise is impacting salt marshes that are vital for wildlife and which serve as buffers to hurricanes and tropical storms. At Acadia National Park in Maine, the impacts are materializing in various ways. Rainstorms are becoming heavier and more damaging, invasive species such as the Asian shore crab are showing up in the waters of Frenchman Bay, and the number of bird species that winter on Mount Desert Island have decreased. To take a closer look at these changes, we’re joined by Nick Fisichelli, the president and CEO of the Schoodic Institute, a nonprofit science center based on the national park’s Schoodic Peninsula to discuss some of the impacts that have arrived and the research being done to better understand them.

41 min
18 AUG

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Lassen Peak's Volcanics

When you hear the word volcano, where in the world do you think of? Mount Vesuvious in Italy? Mount Fuji in Japan? Maybe Cotopaxi in Ecuador? Do you ever think of Lassen Peak? The National Park System is full of volcanoes. Some active, some dormant, some extinct. They all have fascinating stories to tell. There was a series of eruptions of Lassen Peak in Northern California between 1914 and 1917, with the 1915 eruption largely playing a role in the establishment of Lassen Volcanic National Park. Today we’re going to be discussing Lassen Peak and its volcanism along with Andy Calvert, the scientist-in-charge of the California Volcano Observatory, and Jessica Ball, the observatory’s volcano hazards and communication specialist.

54 min
11 AUG

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Great American Outdoors Act Reauthorization

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been four years since Congress passed the Great American Outdoors Act and President Trump signed it into law. Under that legislation, the National Park Service has been receiving $1.3 billion a year to pay for tackling the National Park System’s maintenance backlog. When the Great American Outdoors Act was passed, it was given a five-year life. That means it will have to be reauthorized next year to keep the program going. It’s had wide-ranging impacts, paying for things like roadwork on the Blue Ridge Parkway, new bridges at Yellowstone National Park, improved campgrounds in the park system, and new interpretation. But will the GAOA get renewed, and what’s the process to get there? To examine the benefits of the legislation, and talk about the steps being taken to reauthorize the legislation, we’re joined today by Eric Stiles, president and CEO of Friends of Acadia, Kristen Brengel, the senior vice president for government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, and Phil Francis, chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.

52 min
4 AUG

National Parks Traveler Podcast | Save the Manatee

Manatees are some of the most unusual looking wildlife creatures that you’ll find in coastal units of the National Park System, places like Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park and Cumberland Island National Seashore. They are huge – the largest on record reportedly tipped the scales at 3500 pounds and was 13 feet long – and rather bulbous looking. But manatees are also an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. There are many threats to manatees along the Southeastern coastline of the United States, from power boaters to shrinking shorelines, and even climate change impacts. To learn more about these interesting mammals and the struggles they face to build their populations, we’re joined today by Tiare Fridlich, a manatee biologist with the Save the Manatee Club.

46 min

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.

Creator

Kurt Repanshek
Years Active

2019 - 2024
Episodes

308
Rating

Clean
Copyright

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National Parks Traveler Podcast