In this week’s show, we question whether national parks can serve as a barrier to slow the sixth mass extinction.
Certainly, the large landscape parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite and Grand Canyon offer the habitat many species require. But parks are slowly being hemmed in by development, making it harder and harder for species to follow their natural paths across the landscape.
So can they slow the sixth mass extinction? We’re going to be taking a look at that in the coming weeks and months, and today we’ll lay out that proposal in an essay.
But first, what can turn a five-day trip to Yosemite National Park into a one-day trip to Assateague Island National Seashore? Covid can. In this lighthearted and informative story of their trip to the beach, the Traveler’s Lynn Riddick and her friend Michele Hogan demonstrate that it’s all about flexibility when trying to find some outdoor space in the age of a global pandemic.