Kyle Joly, a National Park Service wildlife biologist who long has studied terrestrial migrations in national park units in Alaska, discusses the longest land migrations in this week's show. Caribou and reindeer at the top of the long-distance travelers, but what about wolves? Contributing writer Kim O’Connell, fresh back from a visit to New Orleans, gives us a preview of her time at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve.

John Garder, the senior director of budget and appropriations for the National Parks Conservation Association, discusses congressional action on legislation to address the roughly $12 billion in backlogged maintenance needs across the National Park System. Becky Lomax, author of Moon USA National Parks, talks about what she's seeing in the parks in terms of that maintenance backlog, and we share thoughts about efforts to build a commercial spaceport just west of Cumberland Island National Seashore.

This week Doug Smith, who heads Yellowstone National Park’s Wolf Project, discusses how successful the wolf recovery program has been. We also visit with the executive director of the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation to discuss the five national park units the foundation works with, and end with a look at fall and winter migrations across the National Park System.

Dr. Alex Deghan, the CEO and co-founder of Conservation X Labs, discusses the challenges to preserve Afghanistan national parks in a war zone. We also outline a Senate resolution to protect a much larger slice of nature in the United States than is currently being done, and highlight a winter’s visit to Virgin Islands National Park.