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National Parks Traveler Podcast

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 323 | Walt Dabney and Public Lands

People rafting down a river in Dinosaur National Monument, Utah. Photo by Kurt Repanshek.

It’s fair to say that the nation’s public lands, those managed by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and other federal land-management agencies are at risk under the Trump administration.

There’s no hyperbole in that statement if you pay attention to what the administration already has done in terms of downsizing those agencies’ workforces, and when you listen to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum say he wants to open more public lands to energy development and mining.

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 322 | Congressman Jared Huffman

Sunset in Joshua Tree National Park. Photo: Kurt Moses, NPS file.

The first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term might be the most tumultuous first 100 days of any president. He certainly came in prepared to move his agenda forward, no matter what barriers to it existed.

We don’t usually discuss presidential politics, but President Trump has released a blizzard of executive orders and directives touching all corners of the federal government, including the National Park Service.

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 321 | National Park Science At Risk

A condor soaring over a river at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Photo by Patrick Cone.

There has been much upheaval in the National Park Service this year, with firings, then rehires, and staff deciding to retire now rather than risk sticking around and being fired. There have been fears that more Park Service personnel are about to be let go through a reduction in force.

While Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has ordered the Park Service to ensure that parks are properly to support the operating hours and needs of each park unit,” that message said nothing about protecting park resources.

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 318 | Covering the Parks

Jamestowne 10-2-2024. Flooding in units, amplified high tides and heavy rains. Photo from the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation.

There are more stories to be found in the National Park System than one could write in a lifetime. Or several lifetimes.

Sometimes those stories can be hard to spot. How many were aware of the factoid from Great Smoky Mountains National Park that Jennifer Bain dug up, that if you stacked up all of the park’s salamanders against its roughly 1,900 black bears, the salamanders would weigh more?

Talk about national park trivia.

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