National Parks Traveler Podcast

How is life on Cape Hatteras National Seashore these days? We sat down with Superintendent Dave Hallac for a wide-ranging conversation about the national seashore, touching on topics ranging from beach access to wildlife and even pirates.

At Capitol Reef National Park, you’ll find 100 acres of orchards and pastures, most of which were established more than 100 years ago by Mormon settlers and where present-day park visitors are still invited to pick and eat the fruit.   Over the years, about 1,000 trees have been lost to poor soils, disease, and old age. The Traveler’s Lynn Riddick reached out to two park officials to get some historic perspective on the orchards…and the details of the substantial rehabilitation project. 

Just off the coast of Maine lies anchored the oldest national park east of the Mississippi, a park with an artistic flair and blue blood in its founding. Though Acadia National Park is small, coming in around 35,000 acres, it plays much bigger, as they might say in golf. You can explore more than 40 miles of bucolic carriage roads, hike to the top of Cadillac Mountain, search tide pools for marine life at low tide, or kayak the waters surrounding Mount Desert Island. Kurt Repanshek sits down with Acadia Superintendent Kevin Schneider to talk about his park, the challenges it faces, and how they’re preparing for your visit this summer.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an ideal place to see bear, elk and other mammals, large and small. But too often the place these wild animals are seen most is dead along the side of Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge, victims of a fragmented habitat combined with an increasing number of motor vehicles. A collaborative effort to study wildlife mortality from motor vehicle collisions and find solutions for wildlife to safely cross this winding highway along the Pigeon River outside the national park is fully underway with nearly 100 stakeholders in North Carolina and Tennessee.    The Traveler’s Lynn Riddick reached out to Jeff Hunter, facilitator of the project, to learn how it will come to fruition and the greater benefits to us all when we create safe places for animals to cross roadways

Contributing editor Kim O’Connell joins me to discuss some of the stories from across the country that we’re working on at the Traveler and will be rolling out on the Traveler in the weeks and months ahead. And Lynn Riddick has a short story about a unique fundraiser that’s giving Wind Cave National Park new tools to manage and learn about the genetically pure bison herd there. 

Coral is a foundation species, one that creates the habitats that support biodiversity and provides essential shoreline protection. The waters of Dry Tortugas National Park are home to some 30 species of coral.  One type –- Elkhorn Coral -- rises above the rest, literally and figuratively, for its importance in the region. It also happens to be the most threatened.   A team from the U.S. Geological Survey looked into whether Elkhorn Coral grown in nursery conditions could be transplanted in Dry Tortugas National Park and other areas of the Florida Keys.

This week we our conversation with Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly on the state of his park. We discuss efforts to greatly reduce the number of invasive lake trout in Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone’s infrastructure needs, and some of the conservation projects park staff is working on. And we also voice Traveler’s position that the National Park Service needs to conduct an environmental impact statement, not a less rigorous environmental assessment, on plans to drill for oil in Big Cypress National Preserve.  

As Covid-19 swept across the country last year, it created challenges for the National Park Service. Once parks opened, people flocked to them. But many parks were short of staff. Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly discusses the challenges his staff faced with Covid. Plus, Alison Kelly from the Natural Resources Defense Council brings us up to speed on a proposal to drill for oil in Big Cypress National Preserve.

What’s the state of national park philanthropy? The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic a year ago impacted nonprofit organizations that work to support national parks. Many organizations that rely on retail sales for revenues had to close their outlets and layoff staff. How are things today?

The country’s largest tribal national park has been authorized and is now in the early stages of development.  The Ioway Tribal National park will sit on 564 acres along the Missouri River on the border of Nebraska and Kansas.  The Traveler’s Lynn Riddick spoke with a tribe member who is on the front lines in the development of the park. He shared his thoughts about the park, how it will help the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska… and the history it will honor.