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Visiting Big Bend National Park and exploring the landscape.

Last week the National Parks Traveler took you to Big Bend National Park in far west Texas. Lynn Riddick sat down with the park’s Chief of Interpretation Tom Vandenberg to learn about the park’s history and its geological and botanical treasures. This week, in part two, Lynn gives us a first-hand, more personal glimpse into this vast remote park with her companion Mary Muenster as they clock nearly 1,100 miles to the park, through the park, and back home again. 

Following Lynn and Mary’s great adventure, Traveler Editor Kurt Repanshek shares a short conversation he had with Charles Sams, the new director of the National Park Service.

 

:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode Introduction with Kurt Repanshek
:37 Escalante - Tim Heintz - The Sounds of Peaks Plateaus and Canyons
:57 Nova Scotia Tourism
1:26 Yosemite Conservancy
1:47 Washington’s National Park Fund
2:21 Friends of Acadia
2:51 Lynn Riddick continues her exploration of Big Bend National Park with traveling companion Mary Muenster.
28:20 The Road Scholar - Bill Mize - The Spirit of South Dakota
28:30 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
28:51 Interior Federal Credit Union
29:27 Grand Teton National Park Foundation
29:54 Wild Tribute
30:24 Potrero Group
30:52 Traveler Editor Kurt Repanshek shares a conversation he had with National Park Service Director Charles Sams.
34:37 No’Easter - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
34:51 Episode Closing
35:44 Orange Tree Productions
36:17 Splitbeard Productions
36:29 National Parks Traveler footer

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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