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The Wilderness Land Trust's work on public lands

In this week’s show, we look at a nonprofit organization whose sole existence is to acquire, from willing sellers, private lands surrounded by official, or proposed, wilderness in national parks, national forests, and other publicly owned lands. Once those lands are acquired and transferred to the federal land managers, The Wilderness Land Trust will put itself out of business. But that’s not going to happen overnight, as the Trust’s executive director, Brad Borst, explains during our conversation.

Back in 2018 this organization, working with the National Park Trust and the Rocky Mountain Conservation, was able to acquire a 33-acre inholding at Rocky Mountain National Park and see the land transferred to the National Park Service. But first it had to dismantle a house on the property.

02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode introduction with Kurt Repanshek
:53 Sieur de Monts - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
1:24 Wild Tribute promotion
1:54 Grand Teton National Park Foundation promotion
2:27 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation promotion
2:51 The Work Of The Wilderness Land Trust, a discussion with Executive Director Brad Borst
14:52 Torch - Bill Mize - The Sounds of the Everglades
15:14 National Parks Traveler promotion
15:28 North Cascades Institute promotion
15:46 Friends of Acadia promotion
16:14 Washington’s National Park Fund promotion
16:52 Our discussion with Wilderness Land Trust Executive Director Brad Borst continues
33:29 Blue Mist - Randy Petersen - The Sounds of Shenandoah
33:44 Episode Closing
34:19 Orange Tree Productions promotion
34:55 Splitbeard Productions
35:08 National Parks Traveler footer 

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 328 | How Wild

Today our guest is Marissa Ortega-Welch, a San Francisco-based freelance journalist who focuses on environmental issues. Last year she generated a series of podcasts surrounding the topic of official wilderness – the history of official wilderness and the idea of wilderness. It’s an interesting series that you can find by searching for How Wild wherever you download your podcasts.

June 8th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 327 | Plight of the Parks

So much is happening so quickly to the National Park Service. There have been staff reductions, hiring freezes, spending freezes, orders from the Interior Secretary to make sure that visitors find national parks welcoming, no matter what it takes.

June 1st, 2025 Read More

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

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