The Wild Idea

Wild Idea Media
  • 4.9 (67)
  • NATURE

The Wild Idea is an exploration of the intersection of wild nature and our own human nature. The hosts, Bill Hodge and Anders Reynolds, through conversations with experts and thought leaders will dive into the ways that humans have both embraced and impact the function and vitality of our remaining wild places.

  1. 1D AGO

    Autumn Gillard & Steve Bloch: Tribal Voices and the Fight to Save Grand Staircase - Escalante

    In this episode, Bill and Anders are joined by Autumn Gillard, coordinator for the Grand Staircase Intertribal Coalition, and Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), for a wide-ranging conversation about one of the most contested and celebrated landscapes in the American West: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Autumn brings a Southern Paiute perspective to the work, rooted in personal connection to ancestral land and galvanized by witnessing the vandalism of irreplaceable cultural sites. Steve brings 30 years of legal and conservation advocacy, including direct involvement in the monument's establishment in 1996 and the subsequent legal battles that followed. The conversation traces the full arc of the monument's history, from early twentieth-century preservation visions to the coal mining threat that catalyzed the 1996 designation, through the Trump administration's 2017 reduction of the monument boundaries and the Biden administration's 2021 restoration. Steve and Autumn explain how the collaborative management planning process that followed the restoration became an opportunity to elevate tribal voices in unprecedented ways, with coalition members sitting alongside elders without smartphones to hand-transcribe their knowledge into formal public comments. That process produced a management plan that now faces a new and potentially permanent threat: weaponized use of the Congressional Review Act by Representative Celeste Maloy and Senator Mike Lee. What emerges from this conversation is not despair but resolve. Autumn speaks with quiet power about carrying the weight of ancestral obligation and drawing strength from the land itself, preparing not for today's outcome but for seven generations forward. Steve lays out the legal landscape with clarity and urgency, while both guests leave listeners with a simple, actionable message: your voice matters, and raising it, whether by calling Congress or simply visiting the monument, is its own form of advocacy. Learn more about today's episode and find the links and resources mentioned at our website, thewildidea.com.

    50 min
  2. The Wild Line: Trump Pulls NPS Nominee, Appalachian Groups Sue Over Corridor H, and the Forest Service Embraces Glyphosate

    5D AGO

    The Wild Line: Trump Pulls NPS Nominee, Appalachian Groups Sue Over Corridor H, and the Forest Service Embraces Glyphosate

    This week on The Wild Line, we're tracking the withdrawal of the Trump administration's National Park Service nominee, a Forest Service plan to spray glyphosate across 10,000 acres of public land, a federal lawsuit to stop a controversial West Virginia highway, a proposed blast mine threatening the San Joaquin River, new University of Montana survey data on public lands attitudes, a coalition framework rejecting public land sell-offs as a housing fix, and the opening of a new trail at Red Rock Canyon. From farm bill stalemates to the gap between what Montana voters say and how their delegation votes, these stories cut to the heart of who controls — and who protects — America's public lands. Find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com.

    13 min

  3. APR 28

    Dalton George: The Hellbender, The High Country, and the Fight to Keep Appalachia Wild

    Dalton George is the mayor of Boone, North Carolina and the national organizing director for the Endangered Species Coalition. He came up through community organizing, founded a tenant rights organization, led the campaign to make Boone the first carbon-neutral municipality in North Carolina, and got himself elected to town council before becoming the youngest mayor in the state.  The thread connecting Dalton's work across housing justice, voting rights, and wildlife advocacy is a conviction that displacement is displacement, whether it happens to people or species. He draws a direct line between luxury development pressuring working families out of Appalachian communities and the same pressures pushing the Eastern hellbender salamander toward extinction. Both stories, he argues, are about powerful outside forces reshaping a place and its character, often without the people who live there having much say.  The episode was recorded while Dalton was in Washington, DC lobbying against the ESA Amendments Act, a bill that would have significantly weakened the Endangered Species Act. The morning they recorded, that bill was pulled from the floor after opposition mounted and its sponsors realized they did not have the votes. It was a rare and meaningful win, and Dalton's reflections on what made it possible, ordinary people from across the country showing up to tell their stories in congressional offices, cut to the heart of what he believes about organizing, advocacy, and the kind of power that's still available to regular people when they decide to use it. Learn more about today's conversation and find the links and resources mentioned at our website, thewildidea.com.

    33 min
  4. The Wild Line: Advocates Notch a Win for Endangered Species, the Forest Service Considers Chainsaws and Mining in Wilderness

    APR 24

    The Wild Line: Advocates Notch a Win for Endangered Species, the Forest Service Considers Chainsaws and Mining in Wilderness

    This week on The Wild Line, we’re tracking a major Endangered Species Act victory on Capitol Hill, proposed Forest Service rule changes that would open wilderness areas to chainsaws and fast-track mining exploration on national forest land, Interior and Agriculture secretaries facing congressional budget scrutiny, and a landmark master plan approved for California’s Great Redwood Trail. From federal wilderness policy to tribal treaty rights, these stories reveal the high stakes of public lands management in 2026. Learn more and find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com.

    14 min

  5. APR 21

    Jessica Howell-Edwards & Dani Purvis: Fighting for the Wild Soul of Cumberland Island

    Cumberland Island National Seashore is one of the most ecologically rich and historically layered landscapes on the American East Coast, and it faces a pivotal moment. In this episode, Bill and Anders sit down with Jessica Howell-Edwards and Dani Purvis, the volunteer advocates behind Wild Cumberland, to explore what makes this Georgia barrier island so extraordinary and what forces are working to reshape it. Jessica and Dani walk listeners through Cumberland's layered past: from the Timucua people who first called it home, to the plantation economy built on enslaved labor, to the Carnegie family's sweeping land acquisitions in the late 1800s, and ultimately to the island's designation as a National Seashore in 1972. That history, they explain, is not just background. It's the foundation for understanding why the Park Service's current proposals, including a Visitor Use Management Plan that would more than double the daily visitor cap and a proposed land exchange with private inholders, deserve intense scrutiny. The conversation also turns to what makes Cumberland ecologically irreplaceable. The island accounts for eighteen miles of Georgia's undeveloped coastline and hosts between twenty-five and thirty-three percent of the state's sea turtle nests each year, in part because of its rare, nearly uninterrupted darkness. With only 4.7 percent of Georgia in public ownership, Cumberland carries an outsized conservation burden, and both guests make clear that protecting it requires not just passion but process, public engagement, and long-term thinking. Find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com.

    45 min
  6. The Wild Line: GOP Approves Mining in the Boundary Waters, USFS Faces Questions on Reorganization, SELC Sues the God Squad

    APR 17

    The Wild Line: GOP Approves Mining in the Boundary Waters, USFS Faces Questions on Reorganization, SELC Sues the God Squad

    This week on The Wild Line, we're tracking the Senate's passage of a Congressional Review Act resolution to enable mining in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the Forest Service's proposed headquarters relocation to Salt Lake City, the Conservation Reserve Program's final deadline for 2026 offers, evidence of Trump administration coordination with Sen. Mike Lee's federal land sell-off proposal, the Confluence of States' 2025 Outdoor Report highlighting the $1.3 trillion economic value of outdoor recreation, a Gallup survey showing widespread concern about environmental protection, and a lawsuit challenging the administration's use of the "God Squad" to grant broad exemptions from the Endangered Species Act for Gulf oil and gas leasing. From federal public lands management to conservation policy, these stories highlight the accelerating pace of regulatory rollbacks and their implications for American wilderness and wildlife. For more details about the links and resources mentioned today, visit our website at thewildidea.com.

    12 min

  7. APR 14

    Dr. Erica Smithwick: Fire, Climate, and Forest Resilience in the East

    Dr. Erica Smithwick, a distinguished professor of geography at Penn State University and director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, joins us to explore the rapidly changing fire landscape in the eastern United States.  For decades, fire was largely considered a western phenomenon, but shifting climate conditions and changing forest composition are transforming fire regimes across eastern ecosystems in ways that don't match historical patterns. In this conversation, we examine why eastern forests are burning in new and unexpected ways, what the Eastern Fire Network is doing to address these challenges, and how communities can work together to manage fire in an era of climate change. Dr. Smithwick brings both scientific expertise and personal conviction to the discussion, sharing her perspective as both a researcher watching these changes unfold in real time and a parent concerned about what we're leaving future generations. Learn more and find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com.

    48 min
  8. The Wild Line: Trump Budget Targets Parks, USDA Consolidates NEPA Rules, and Three Key Public Lands Votes Loom in Congress

    APR 10

    The Wild Line: Trump Budget Targets Parks, USDA Consolidates NEPA Rules, and Three Key Public Lands Votes Loom in Congress

    This week on The Wild Line, we're tracking the Trump Administration's proposed budget cuts to the National Park Service, the controversial Forest Service reorganization plan, a new consolidated NEPA rule at the USDA, and legislative calls to action in Congress. From federal land management challenges to endangered species protections, these stories highlight the stakes for public lands policy and the staff who steward America's natural resources. Learn more and find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com.

    17 min
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Trailer

4.9
out of 5
67 Ratings

About

The Wild Idea is an exploration of the intersection of wild nature and our own human nature. The hosts, Bill Hodge and Anders Reynolds, through conversations with experts and thought leaders will dive into the ways that humans have both embraced and impact the function and vitality of our remaining wild places.

Information

  • Creator
    Wild Idea Media
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    116
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Wild Idea Media
  • Show Website
    The Wild Idea

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