National Parks Traveler Podcast

This week Doug Smith, who heads Yellowstone National Park's Wolf Project, discusses how successful the park's wolf recovery program has been. We also visit with the executive director of the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation to discuss the five national park units the foundation works with, and end with a look at fall and winter migrations across the National Park System.

Erika Zambello and Dr. Alex Deghan, the CEO and co-founder of Conservation X Labs, an organization working to end human-induced extinction, discuss the first national parks in Afghanistan and the challenges to preserve them in a war zone. We also outline a Senate resolution to protect a much larger slice of nature in the United States than is currently being done, and highlight a winter's visit to Virgin Islands National Park.

Two professors, one from Harvard, the other from Colorado State University, studied the National Park Service's fiscal condition, and came up with some suggestions for improving it. Professor Linda Bilmes discusses those opportunities with Traveler. We also look at possible impacts to Cumberland Island National Seashore from a proposed spaceport, and end this week's podcast with thoughts of visiting Death Valley National Park this winter.

Filmmakers Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone discuss their documentary, The Elephant Queen, which follows the matriarch of an elephant herd as she leads them from the "kingdom," a lush landscape during the rainy season, to "the refuge," where a reliable water hole slakes their thirst, came together. National Parks Traveler is honored by the Western National Parks Association, and we close with a look at a winter visit to Bryce Canyon National Park.

How did the infusion of Texas puma genes into the small population of Florida panthers in Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve benefit the panthers? Alexander Ochoa, a postdoctoral researcher at The Ohio State University, explains in this week's show. We also look at Big Bend National Park as a winter destination, and question a proposal to let for-profit businesses take over more national park campgrounds.

Erika Zambello talks with Houston Cypress of the "Love the Everglades Movement" about priorities for the tribes that have connections to the Everglades and using art to connect people to the River of Grass and Big Cypress. Professor John Freemuth, who holds the Cecil D. Andrus Endowed Chair for Environment and Public Lands at Boise State University, discusses some of the seemingly unprecedented actions and decisions being taken by the Interior Department and National Park Service.

Laurie Ward, executive director of Washington's National Park Fund, discusses how her organization manages to support not just one, but three national parks. Ken Brower, son of the late David Brower, offers his take on whether ranching should be allowed at Point Reyes National Seashore, and we point out where in the National Park System you can find wildlife this fall.

Hurricane Dorian literally sliced up Cape Lookout National Seashore, creating more than 50 breaches in the park's barrier islands. At Western Carolina University, Professor Rob Young says the hurricane's damage was astonishing. How that damage will impact recreation on the seashore remains to be seen. Traveler also discusses this summer's uproar over glacial predictions at Glacier National Park, and invites a winter visit to Voyageurs National Park.

How is climate change affecting fall colors? Stephanie Spera, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Richmond and a 2019 Second Century Stewardship fellow at the Schoodic Institute at Acadia, is using citizen science to help answer that question. Erika Zambello wonders how Hurricane Dorian affected the Abaco parrot (aka the Bahama parrot) and its habitat, and we get a quick update on legislation to cut deeply into the roughly $12 billion maintenance backlog across the National Park System.

"Hiker Trash," a new book that examines hiker life along the Appalachian Trail through the sketches of a graphic artist, is the topic of our interview with author Sarah Kaizar. We also look at the fisheries of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and comment on the long-running vacancy of a permanent director of the National Park Service.