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National Parks Traveler podcast

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 this week. 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.

:02 Welcome to National Parks Traveler
:12 Show introduction with Kurt Repanshek
2:32 Introduction to discussing how to improve the National Park Service's fiscal conditon with Professor Linda Bilmes
3:41 Professor Linda Bilmes interview
16:33 National Parks Traveler promotion
16:50 Friends of Acadia promotion
17:20 Grand Teton National Park Foundation promotion
17:57 Linda Bilmes interview continues
28:55 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation promotion
29:20 North Cascades Institute promotion
29:44 Camden Spaceport and Cumberland Island National Seashore
41:46 Yankee Freedom promotion
42:22 Washington's National Park Fund promotion
42:59 Death Valley National Park in winter
52:29 Orange Tree Productions

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

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

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.

April 20th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 320 | George Wright Society

George Melendez Wright was a brilliant young scientist with the National Park Service back in the 1920s and 1930s. You could say he was ahead of his time, in that he wanted the Park Service to take a holistic role in how wildlife in the parks was managed.

April 6th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 319 | Kilauea's Unrest

One of the greatest shows on Earth has been going on now for several months in Hawaii, where the Kīlauea volcano at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park has been erupting since late December. The Kīlauea volcano is the most active volcano on Earth.

March 30th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 318 | Covering the Parks

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.

March 23rd, 2025 Read More

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