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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 203 Image

When unprecedented flooding roars through a national park, shredding major roads that access that park, it rightfully could be pointed to as the top story in the National Park System. And while Yellowstone National Park was that park, not only the flooding, but the lack of human casualties and rapid recovery, rank that story as arguably the top one in the park system in 2022. But that wasn’t the only major story that came out of the parks this year. 

Today we’re looking back at some of the top stories across the park system in 2022. To help us identify them, we’ve asked Kristen Brengel, the National Parks Conservation Association's senior vice president for government affairs, and Mike Murray, chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, to join us.

:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode Intro with Kurt Repanshek
:48 Otter Point - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
1:05 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
1:26 Interior Federal Credit Union
1:49 Washington’s National Park Fund
2:24 A discussion of top stories in the National Park System in 2022 with Kristen Brengel and Mike Murray.
17:57 The Road Scholar - Bill Mize - The Spirit of South Dakota
18:14 Traveler Promo
18:27 The Everglades Foundation
18:38 Yosemite Conservancy
19:01 Great Smoky Mountains Association
19:22 The year in review with Kristen and Mike continues
31:25 Shee Beg Shee Mor - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
31:43 Friends of Acadia
32:08 Grand Teton National Park Foundation
32:37 Potrero Group
33:07 The year in review with Kristen and Mike continues.
59:11 Vista Verde - Tim Heintz - The Sounds of Peaks, Plateaus and Canyons
59:32 Episode Closing
1:00:27 Orange Tree Productions
1:01:00 Splitbeard Productions
1:01:10 National Parks Traveler footer

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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 326 | Environmental Partisanship

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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.

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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.
 

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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.

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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.

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