National Parks Traveler Podcast

National Parks Traveler Podcast

Author: Kurt Repanshek Language: English Episodes: 383
There's a world of stories waiting beyond the park entrance sign, and the National Parks Traveler Podcast is your audio guide to them. Led by Kurt Repanshek, this series goes deeper than trail maps and visitor statistics. It connects the natural wonder you experience firsthand with the crucial, often unseen work happening behind the scenes-the science informing conservation, the cultural histories embedded in the landscape, and the policy decisions that will shape these places for future generations. As the audio companion to the editorially independent nonprofit media organization, this podcast delivers a thoughtful blend of on-the-ground reports, interviews with researchers and park staff, and nuanced discussions about the challenges and triumphs in managing protected areas. You'll hear the sounds of the parks and the voices of the people dedicated to them. Each episode is an invitation to better understand the complex tapestry of ecology, history, and society that makes every national park far more than a scenic destination. Tune in for a regular dose of insight that will deepen your appreciation and perhaps even shape your next journey into America's most treasured public lands.
Episodes
National Parks Traveler: Exploring Padre Island National Seashore [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:04
Some 615,000 visitors a year flock to the hard-packed gray sands of Padre Island National Seashore along the Gulf Coast of Texas. This undeveloped national seashore boasts an abundance of natural wonders in its tidal fla…
National Parks Traveler: Saving Everglades' Cape Sable [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:27
Near the very tip of Everglades National Park, the interior wetlands of Cape Sable have long been viewed as one of the most ecologically productive environments left in Florida. It could become even more so thanks to an…
National Parks Traveler: In Search Of A National Biodiversity Strategy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:04
Nearly 200 countries have developed various forms of biodiversity strategies, but the United States is not one of them. What exactly would a "national biodiversity strategy" look like? What would it entail? To explore th…
National Parks Traveler: Cape Hatteras' Crowds And Collapsing Houses [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:16
From coast to coast, national parks, national forests, and state parks are being crowded, if not overrun at times, by visitors. One part of the country that has seen record-breaking visitation has been the Outer Banks of…
National Parks Traveler: Seeking Official Wilderness In Big Bend [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:17
Across the roughly 85-million-acre National Park System there are, in theory at least, some 70 million acres envisioned as official wilderness. Forty-four million acres have received Congressional blessing as such, while…
National Parks Traveler: Fleeing National Park Crowds [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:46
How many are too many? That's the question to mull in the wake of news from the National Park Service that nearly 300 million visited the National Park System last year. What is the perfect number for annual visitation t…
National Parks Traveler: America's Bison [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:19
Should Yellowstone National Park have more bison, should it have less? Just recently the park embarked on an environmental impact statement to examine that question. Dr. James Derr, a professor of veterinary genetics at…