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Nature is an incredibly powerful and successful teacher. Of course, students need teachers to deliver the lessons. That’s where Residential Environmental Learning Centers come into play in national parks.

Organizations like NatureBridge, the Cuyahoga Valley Institute, the Yellowstone Institute, the Great Smoky Mountains Institute. And the North Cascades Institute. These nonprofit organizations use national parks as their classrooms.

Lynn Riddick talks with Saul Weisberg to understand how the North Cascades Institute teaches children well.

After her conversation, we question why the National Park Service is making substantial funding cuts and programmatic changes to the highly regarded and successful Sea Turtle Science and Recovery program at Padre Island National Seashore.

:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode introduction with Kurt Repanshek
1:24 Vista Verde - Tim Heintz - The Sounds of Peaks, Plateaus and Canyons
2:07 A conversation with North Cascades Institute Executive Director Saul Weisberg
30:04 Wonder Lake - Various Artists - The Spirit of Alaska
30:21 National Parks Traveler promotion
30:34 Friends of Acadia promotion
31:03 Grand Teton National Park Foundation promotion
31:34 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation promotion
32:01 North Cascades Institute interview with Saul Weisberg continues
39:26 Almost Home - Randy Petersen - The Sounds of the Great Smoky Mountains
39:51 Washington’s National Park Fund promotion
40:25 North Cascades Institute promotion
40:51 Commentary: Why reduce funding and programming of the sea turtle science program at Padre Island National Seashore?
44:23 Caribbean Song - Tim Heintz - The Sounds of the Everglades
44:45 Episode Closing
45:38 Orange Tree Productions promotion
46:14 National Parks Traveler 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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