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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 203 Image

When unprecedented flooding roars through a national park, shredding major roads that access that park, it rightfully could be pointed to as the top story in the National Park System. And while Yellowstone National Park was that park, not only the flooding, but the lack of human casualties and rapid recovery, rank that story as arguably the top one in the park system in 2022. But that wasn’t the only major story that came out of the parks this year. 

Today we’re looking back at some of the top stories across the park system in 2022. To help us identify them, we’ve asked Kristen Brengel, the National Parks Conservation Association's senior vice president for government affairs, and Mike Murray, chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, to join us.

:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode Intro with Kurt Repanshek
:48 Otter Point - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
1:05 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
1:26 Interior Federal Credit Union
1:49 Washington’s National Park Fund
2:24 A discussion of top stories in the National Park System in 2022 with Kristen Brengel and Mike Murray.
17:57 The Road Scholar - Bill Mize - The Spirit of South Dakota
18:14 Traveler Promo
18:27 The Everglades Foundation
18:38 Yosemite Conservancy
19:01 Great Smoky Mountains Association
19:22 The year in review with Kristen and Mike continues
31:25 Shee Beg Shee Mor - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
31:43 Friends of Acadia
32:08 Grand Teton National Park Foundation
32:37 Potrero Group
33:07 The year in review with Kristen and Mike continues.
59:11 Vista Verde - Tim Heintz - The Sounds of Peaks, Plateaus and Canyons
59:32 Episode Closing
1:00:27 Orange Tree Productions
1:01:00 Splitbeard Productions
1:01:10 National Parks Traveler footer

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

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 321 | National Park Science At Risk

There has been much upheaval in the National Park Service this year, with firings, then rehires, and staff deciding to retire now rather than risk sticking around and being fired. There have been fears that more Park Service personnel are about to be let go through a reduction in force.

While Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has ordered the Park Service to ensure that parks are properly to support the operating hours and needs of each park unit,” that message said nothing about protecting park resources.

April 20th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 320 | George Wright Society

George Melendez Wright was a brilliant young scientist with the National Park Service back in the 1920s and 1930s. You could say he was ahead of his time, in that he wanted the Park Service to take a holistic role in how wildlife in the parks was managed.

April 6th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 319 | Kilauea's Unrest

One of the greatest shows on Earth has been going on now for several months in Hawaii, where the Kīlauea volcano at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park has been erupting since late December. The Kīlauea volcano is the most active volcano on Earth.

March 30th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 318 | Covering the Parks

There are more stories to be found in the National Park System than one could write in a lifetime. Or several lifetimes.

Sometimes those stories can be hard to spot. How many were aware of the factoid from Great Smoky Mountains National Park that Jennifer Bain dug up, that if you stacked up all of the park’s salamanders against its roughly 1,900 black bears, the salamanders would weigh more?

Talk about national park trivia.

March 23rd, 2025 Read More

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