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National Parks podcast, National Parks Traveler

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.

:12 Episode introduction with Kurt Repanshek
1:36 Introduction to John Garder's discussion of the Restore Our Parks Act
2:50 Interview with John Garder
11:00 National Parks Traveler promotion
11:17 Washington's National Park Fund promotion
11:55 Friends of Acadia promotion
12:28 Interview with John Garder continues
20:29 Grand Teton National Park Foundation promotion
21:05 Yankee Freedom promotion
21:45 Interview with Becky Lomax, author of Mooon USA National Parks
49:47 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation promotion
50:15 North Cascades Institute promotion
50:41 Commentary: Secrecy surrounding Camden Spaceport
53:45 Orange Tree Productions

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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