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We continue our look at residential environmental learning centers in this week's podcast. These nonprofit facilities connect people to nature. But they are tasked with serving a greater good -- to foster the development of better global citizens.

Lynn Riddick speaks with Catey McClary of the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont to better understand this organization whose roots in outdoor learning go back some 50 years. Throughout those years, the institute has always looked for ways to expand to a broader audience through partnerships with the park, the community, schools and colleges.

We leave you this week with a short glimpse of visiting Crater Lake National Park during these days of Covid-19. Traveler’s Becky Latson visited the park this past week, and talks about what she saw … including the comet Neowise.

02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode introduction with Kurt Repanshek
1:24 Amaranth - Bill Mize - The Sounds of the Great Smoky Mountains
2:09 Lynn Riddick interviews the CEO of the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont
31:00 Shenandoah - Randy Petersen - The Sounds of Shenandoah
31:12 National Parks Traveler promotion
31:24 Washington’s National Park Fund promotion
31:59 Friends of Acadia promotion
32:32 The interview with the CEO of Great Smoky Mountains at Tremont continues
40:06 The Offering - Bill Mize - The Sounds of the Great Smoky Mountains
40:25 North Cascades Institute promotion
40:44 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation promotion
41:08 Grand Teton National Park Foundation promotion
41:45 Traveler's Becky Latson discusses her recent visit to Crater Lake National Park
49:48 Escalante - Tim Heintz - The Sounds of Peaks, Plateaus and Canyons
50:02 Episode Closing
50:24 Orange Tree Productions promotion
50:58 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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