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National Parks Traveler Podcast

National Parks Traveler Episode 73: Teaching Children Well In National Parks

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Residential environmental learning centers provide a unique approach to teaching about the world of nature.  With magnificent settings in the national parks, these nonprofit organizations provide the expertise and take the time to guide students to a deeper understanding and appreciation conservation, ecosystems and the larger natural world beyond the borders of the national parks. 

National Parks Traveler Episode 70: The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory

Yellowstone Volcano Observatory

There's always a lot of shaking, rattling, and occasional rolling going on in Yellowstone National Park. Keeping track of it is the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, one of five such observatories under the purview of the U.S. Geological Survey. It keeps real-time tabs on volcanic, hydrothermal and earthquake activity in the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field.  

National Parks Traveler Episode 69: A Conversation With Photographer Clyde Butcher

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In this week’s show, we’re going to delve into landscape photography in the National Park System. “Good photography is about creating a feeling of things, rather than a picture of things.” That’s the philosophy of our guest, Clyde Butcher, acclaimed photographer and environmentalist. You might be familiar with his iconic black and white large format landscape photos that often are part of larger efforts to protect fragile ecosystems that he knows so well. And as Lynn Riddick found out in her conversation with Butcher from his home in Venice, Florida, he doesn’t mind wading chest-deep through a cypress swamp or facing off against a hoofed animal to show why a place is worth protecting.

National Parks Traveler Episode 68: Monthly News Roundup, Black-footed Ferrets In Danger

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This week we sit down with Becky Lomax, author of Moon’s USA National Parks, to discuss news stories that arose around the National Park System during May. And we bring you an interesting story about efforts to recover populations of endangered black-footed ferrets in the West. Two places where they’re working on that are Wind Cave and Badlands national parks in South Dakota.

National Parks Traveler Episode 66: Camping's Popularity, And The Dark Side Of National Parks

In this week’s show, we talk with Toby O’Rourke, the president and CEO of Kampgrounds of America, about a study KOA commissioned to gauge Americans’ interests in returning to campgrounds on and near public lands as the fight with the coronavirus pandemic continues. The findings are quite interesting and point to renewed interest in camping as a recreational pursuit. After that conversation, we tempt you to explore the dark side of the National Park System.

National Parks Traveler Episode 65: Sea Level Rise And National Parks, Great Sea Kayaking Park Destinations

The potential cost of sea level rise to national parks, and sea kayaking destinations.
This week we talk with Robert Young, director of Western Carolina University’s Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines about a project to more accurately determine the cost sea level rise could inflict on coastal units of the National Park System. We also take a look ahead to summer in the National Park System, the watery side of the system specifically, with a look at some of the prime sea kayaking destinations awaiting paddlers in the National Park System.

National Parks Traveler Episode 64: Artistic Interpretation And Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation

National Parks Traveler Episode 64: Artistic Interpretation and Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
Who makes those colorful interpretive panels found in the National Park System? One person is Steve Patricia. He’s an independent artist and content specialist who provides illustrations and diagrams for waysides, exhibits and murals at national parks, monuments, and historic sites all over the country. He explains his work to Lynn Riddick in this week's podcast.

National Parks Traveler Episode 63: National Park Nostalgia, Friends Of Acadia Update

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This week we pick up with the musings of Doug Leen. As a young park ranger in the 1970s, Leen stumbled upon a poster promoting a meet-the-ranger event at the Grand Teton National Park. It turned out to be one of 14 long-forgotten silk-screened posters made under the Works Progress Administration to promote tourism to the national parks.

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