The Parks Podcast

The Parks Podcast
  • 5.0 (32)
  • Places & Travel
  • Updated Biweekly

The Parks Podcast will take listeners on a journey to regional, state and national parks around the United States. We will learn why the parks were created and explore planning your own visit to parks.

  1. 16h ago

    Clean Water, and How to Make Your Own (Episode 88)

    Send us Fan Mail Water is the most boring thing in your pack — right up until it's the biggest problem of your day. Alison Hill runs LifeStraw, but her background isn't gear. It's infectious disease. She came to the company to tackle waterborne illness, not to start a retail brand. In this episode: — Why most Americans assume they have safe water, and why that's a misconception — aging infrastructure, lead contamination, boil advisories, unmonitored wells — Responding to Hurricane Helene in the town she grew up in — How much water to actually carry, and why there's no magic number — What dehydration does to your decision-making, which is the part nobody warns you about — How to choose a filter without standing paralyzed in the aisle: start with the use case, not the product — And why you can trust it: a partnership with The Carter Center that has taken Guinea worm disease from about 3.5 million cases a year to ten worldwide Plus the speed round: Gates of the Arctic, chili pork rinds, lemurs in Madagascar, and the greatest gift the parks give us, in one word. Support the show

    Clean Water, and How to Make Your Own (Episode 88)

  2. Sep 21

    Save Public Lands - Room For All of Us (Episode 87)

    Send us Fan Mail This is the last episode of the Save Public Lands series — and we are four days from National Public Lands Day. Tania Lown Hecht — VP of Communications and Strategy for Outdoor Alliance — joins me to close out the campaign. As we recorded this, 60 people from the Outdoor Alliance coalition were on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers on behalf of the outdoor community. In this episode: — What Outdoor Alliance is: a coalition of 10 national outdoor recreation groups representing climbers, paddlers, surfers, backcountry skiers, mountain bikers, and trail runners — What 60 advocates told lawmakers this week — including the Roadless Rule comment stats (98-99% of public comments in support of keeping it) — Why Save Public Lands was born out of last summer's sell-off fight — and what happened when offices said they'd "never gotten this many messages about any issue ever" — Why the human-powered outdoor community has more in common with hunters and motorized users than with the timber or mining industry — How connection to place is the foundation of the conservation movement — Tania's personal story: cancer as a teenager, a first question about the mountains, and why she's dedicated her life to public lands The petition closes September 26th — National Public Lands Day. savepubliclands.us. Four fields. Thirty seconds. Support the show

    Save Public Lands - Room For All of Us (Episode 87)

  3. Sep 17

    Save Public Lands: Why Small Businesses Are Showing Up (Episode 86)

    Send us Fan Mail You don't have to be a big company to show up for public lands. Joy Seward — co-founder of RecPak and NOLS expedition guide — joins me for episode four of the Save Public Lands series to talk about how small businesses can get involved in advocacy, why The Conservation Alliance makes it easy, and what it looks like when a brand builds its mission into the business from day one. RecPak was literally born on public land. Joy and her co-founder met on a NOLS course — operating on public land — and launched their company together afterward. Before their first sale, they already knew they wanted to give back. In this episode: — What RecPak is: an ultra-lightweight 700-calorie, 42g protein meal for endurance athletes and backpackers — How RecPak was born out of a NOLS course on public land — Why Joy joined The Conservation Alliance before RecPak's first sale — The myth that advocacy is only for big companies — and why Conservation Alliance makes it low barrier for any size brand — What small businesses can actually do: social posts, tabling, directing customers to comment periods — Over a year of Joy's life spent cumulatively in wilderness areas as an expedition guide — What public lands mean to Joy personally — How to sign the Save Public Lands petition in under 30 seconds Campaign runs through National Public Lands Day, September 26th. Support the show

    Save Public Lands: Why Small Businesses Are Showing Up (Episode 86)

  4. Sep 14

    Understanding the Strategy Behind the Chaos (Episode 85)

    Send us Fan Mail It can feel like every week there's a new emergency, a new deadline, a new thing to fight. That's not an accident. Rebecca Gillis — VP of Government Affairs and Advocacy at The Conservation Alliance — joins me to decode what's actually happening to our public lands and why it feels so chaotic. In this episode: — Executive orders: how they drive everything that happens at the agency level — Deregulation vs. what we're actually seeing — and why it goes one step further — The Congressional Review Act: an old tool being used in ways we've never seen, including Boundary Waters and Grand Staircase-Escalante — Budget reconciliation: the simple majority vehicle that's scarier than it sounds — Flood the zone: why the chaos is a strategy, and what that means for advocates — Why shortened comment periods, circumvented processes, and staffing cuts are all connected — Big Bend, Chaco Canyon, Bears Ears, Grand Staircase, Alaska, and Yosemite — quick updates on everything in play — The power of the outdoor industry: economic, reputational, and people power — 77 open comment periods — and how to navigate them without burning out — The doctor's prescription: keep going outside Take action: ONX and Protect Our Parks both track open comment periods. The Conservation Alliance has form letters ready. Five Calls makes calling your representatives easy. And save the date — National Public Lands Day is September 26th. Support the show

    Understanding the Strategy Behind the Chaos (Episode 85)

  5. Sep 10

    Save Public Lands - This Land Belongs to All of Us (Episode 84)

    Send us Fan Mail Public lands don't belong to one party. They belong to all of us. Cal Callaghan — President and CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers — joins me for episode three of our Save Public Lands series to talk about why this campaign matters, why a million signatures is a low bar, and what it means when people who don't look the same, act the same, or vote the same all show up for the same thing. In this episode: — What Backcountry Hunters and Anglers does: 44 chapters, 35,000 members, year-round stewardship across North America — Why conservation is a "guilty pleasure" — and why that's fine — Reject the politics. Focus on the policy. It will affect you no matter where you are on the spectrum. — The Kevlar vest: how every user group — hunters, hikers, skiers, stargazers — is a woven fiber protecting the same special places — Why a million signatures is a low bar: there are more than a million people who buy a duck stamp alone — What public lands mean to Cal personally — from wilderness backpack hunts to throwing sticks with the dogs — And the simplest ask: go to savepubliclands.us. Name, zip code, email. Done. Campaign runs through National Public Lands Day, September 26th. Support the show

    Save Public Lands - This Land Belongs to All of Us (Episode 84)

  6. Sep 3

    Save Public Lands: Proactive Vision and Unity (Episode 83)

    Send us Fan Mail We launched Save Public Lands last week. Now it's time to talk about why this campaign is different. Paul Hendricks — Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance — joins me to make the case for going on offense. After a year and a half of playing defense on public lands, the outdoor community is shifting its posture. One unified message. One million signatures. National Public Lands Day, September 26th. In this episode: — Why "you can't just play defense forever" — the sports analogy that explains the whole campaign — The $1.3 trillion outdoor economy — and why it's probably way bigger than that number suggests — Who counts as a nature-dependent business (hint: it's a lot more than gear companies) — Why the attacks on public lands aren't landscape-specific — they're hitting forests from Alaska to North Carolina — Conservation easement law changes: the public lands fight happening on private land too — How to avoid advocacy fatigue: why Save Public Lands is designed to be the meta-campaign — What public lands mean to Paul personally — three generations on a backpacking trip Sign the petition: savepubliclands.us — four fields, thirty seconds. Support the show

    Save Public Lands: Proactive Vision and Unity (Episode 83)

  7. Aug 31

    The Roadless Rule - An Update & What It Means For You (Episode 82)

    Send us Fan Mail The Roadless Rule is back — and we are in the middle of a 30-day public comment period that closes September 21st. Katie Johnson — Campaigns and Engagement Manager for The Conservation Alliance — returns to the podcast to break down what's happening and exactly what you can do about it. This is not a West Coast issue. The Roadless Rule protects 60 million acres of national forests in 37 states — and if the full repeal moves forward, 45 of those million acres could be opened to road construction, logging, mining, and industrial development. In this episode: — The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and its three alternatives — including why the "modified" Alternative 3 still takes away 38 million acres — Why opponents call the rule inflexible — and why the rebuttals matter — The existing road maintenance backlog problem: there's no funding to maintain what we already have — Roads as wildlife barriers: migration corridors, breeding, fragmentation — Who gets impacted: gateway communities, tribal nations, thru-hikers, Triple Crowners, breweries, and everyone who drinks water — The Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail, and Pacific Crest Trail: all have sections in inventoried roadless areas — 25,000 miles of trail at risk. 750 miles of whitewater access potentially affected. — How to submit a public comment in two minutes — and why aiming for a million matters The Conservation Alliance has a pre-filled comment form ready. Link in show notes and bio. Deadline: September 21st. Support the show

    The Roadless Rule - An Update & What It Means For You (Episode 82)

  8. Aug 25

    Save Public Lands — One Million Signatures for National Public Lands Day (Episode 81)

    Send us Fan Mail It's time to go on offense. Today I'm joined by Fitz Cahall — host of the Dirtbag Diaries podcast — to launch Save Public Lands, a coalition-backed initiative to gather one million signatures and deliver them to Congress and state houses on National Public Lands Day, September 26th, 2026. Three demands: No sell-offs. No backroom deals. No giveaways to foreign mining companies. Sign it now at savepubliclands.us — it's four fields: first name, last name, zip code, email. Done. Then share it with five friends. In this episode: — Why the outdoor community is going on offense after two years of playing defense — The three demands behind the Save Public Lands initiative — How signatures get used: the plan to physically deliver them to DC and state houses — The Boundary Waters — how community pressure stopped a toxic mine (multiple times) — Why this moment matters: a new Congress, a new election, a new chance to be heard — What public lands mean personally to Fitz — from climbing in Yosemite to building Dirtbag Diaries Take action: → Sign the petition: savepubliclands.us → Share this episode → Tell five friends Five weeks. One million signatures. National Public Lands Day, September 26th. Support the show

    Save Public Lands — One Million Signatures for National Public Lands Day (Episode 81)
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About

The Parks Podcast will take listeners on a journey to regional, state and national parks around the United States. We will learn why the parks were created and explore planning your own visit to parks.

Information

  • Creator
    The Parks Podcast
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    90
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Parks Podcast
  • Show Website
    The Parks Podcast

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