National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 217 | Pruning the Parks

By Jess Repanshek - April 9th, 2023

Over the years there have been more than a few units of the national park system that have been head-scratchers. Why were they added? What redeeming value did they bring to the park system?
James Ridenour who was Director of the National Park Service from 1989 through 1993, was well familiar with these units. As he once put it, “I’m in complete agreement that the National Park Service has units that are unworthy of National Park Service status. That was my motive for coining the term ‘thinning of the blood’.” Members of Congress trade votes to get their local favorite on the NPS teat, usually to attract tourists. Then they don’t add money to the budget to run these units. So you have two things - you thin the quality of the system, and you thin the ability of the National Park Service to run the system.
We’re going to explore some of these units, at least some of the ones that were pushed out of the National Park System with none-other than Traveler professor emeritus Dr. Robert Janiskee. Bob was the one who quite some years ago started the “Pruning the Parks” series on the Traveler, and we’ve momentarily pried him out of his retirement to discuss some of these parks with us.

:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode Intro with Kurt Repanshek
1:25 Beyond the Reef - Tim Heintz & Grant Geissman - Seascapes: A Musical Journey
1:33 Interior Federal Credit Union
1:56 Washington’s National Park Fund
2:30 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
2:58 Pruning the Parks with Dr. Janiskee
16:35 Amaranth - Bill Mize - The Sounds of the Great Smoky Mountains
16:59 Traveler Promo
17:10 Yosemite Conservancy
17:32 Friends of Acadia
17:58 Great Smoky Mountains Association
18:22 Pruning the Parks with Dr. Janiskee Continues
30:25 Wabanaki - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
30:47 Potrero Group
31:13 The Everglades Foundation
31:24 Grand Teton National Park Foundation
32:00 Pruning the Parks with Dr. Janiskee Continues
46:12 Sieur De Monts - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
46:25 Episode Closing
47:00 Orange Tree Productions
47:33 Splitbeard Productions
47:43 National Parks Traveler footer

Mackinac National Park

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