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National Parks Traveler Episode 12: The National Parks Girl

Who is "thenationalparksgirl.com"? In this week's Traveler podcast, Erika Zambello tracks down Sonja Saxe to discuss her national park explorations. Erika and her husband also visit Gulf Islands National Seashore to catch dinner. They didn't go in search of just any fish, but specifically for pompeno. We conclude with a question of whether Dinosaur National Monument should be renamed "Dinosaur National Park"?

:02 Welcome to National Parks Traveler

:06 Weekly introduction by Kurt Repanshek

1:26 Erika Zambello talks with Sonja Sax about her parks avocation.

8:13 National Parks Traveler promo

8:29 Vapur--the Anti-Bottle promo

9:05 Grand Teton National Park Foundation promo

9:46 Sonja Sax interview continued

16:28 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation promo

16:55 Friends of Acadia promo

17:29 North Cascades Institute

17:51 Erika Zambello and her husband go fishing at Gulf Islands National Seashore

20:42 Yankee Freedom promo

21:19 Washington's National Park Fund promo

22:01 Yosemite Conservancy promo

22:47 Dinosaur National Monument…Should it be a "national park"?

27:28 Episode closing

27:39 Orange Tree Productions promo

28:17 Footer

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 326 | Environmental Partisanship

Is green a red and blue construct? Put another way, is there a political partisan divide over the environment?

That’s a particularly interesting question, no doubt more so in recent years as the country seems to have drifted farther and farther apart because of our political beliefs. To that point, a reader reached out the other day to say our stories shouldn’t be negative on the Trump Administration because the national parks are going to need the help of all of us - Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and everything in-between - to survive.

May 25th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 325 | Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

News around public lands these days seems to revolve entirely around the Trump administration. In the case of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, many of the steps the administration is taking with the operational efficiencies of the National Park Service and other land management agencies certainly are keeping PEER busy.
 

May 18th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 324 | North American Bird Declines

True birders are some of the most determined and persistent hobbyists out there. If you want to call bird watching a hobby. For many, it’s more like a passion. Many look forward to “Big Day” competitions, where individuals and teams strive to see how many different bird species they can spot in a 24-hour period.

May 11th, 2025 Read More

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

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.

May 4th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 322 | Congressman Jared Huffman

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.

April 27th, 2025 Read More

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