National Parks Traveler is the world's top-rated, editorially independent, nonprofit media organization dedicated to covering national parks and protected areas on a daily basis. Traveler offers readers and listeners a unique multimedia blend of news, feature content, debate, and discussion all tied to national parks and protected areas.
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Join Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways Magazine's Editor-in-Chief Robert Stieve as they interview experts about exploring Arizona's natural beauty, and give listeners a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the beloved publication Arizona Highways Magazine.
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Grand Canyon boatman Brian Dierker sits down to chat with fellow guides, scientists, politicians and oddballs about adventure, conservation, and all things outside.
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | The Aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene
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Who could have predicted that Hurricane Helene would carry her fury from the Gulf of Mexico and the coast of Florida hundreds of miles north into Appalachia? While there were forecasts calling for the hurricane to be downgraded to a tropical storm and drop quite a bit of rain in the region, the extent of damage in western North Carolina has been br…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Rodanthe Beach Cleanup
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The coastal town of Rodanthe, North Carolina is just a small spot on the map, but it’s a big place in the hearts of the people who live, own property, and vacation there. Located along Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Rodanthe has been in the national spotlight because of a succession of houses that have fallen into the Atlantic Ocean due to beach …
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In the ninth episode of the all-new Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with wildlife photographer David Swanson, one of the winners in the 2024 Arizona Highways Photo Contest.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | POWDR in Zion
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Concessions are the backbone of the National Park System. True, the National Park Service manages the parks and the wildlife and the visitors, but the concessionaires provide you with a bed, or campsite, to sleep in, restaurants to dine in, and gift shops to browse in. Xanterra Parks and Resorts is one of the key players in the national park conces…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Voyageurs Wolf Project
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The National Park System is an incredible reservoir of wildlife, from charismatic animals such as grizzly bears, bison and wolves, to animals such as moose, and pronghorn and sea turtles that, while not usually labeled as charismatic, are indeed just that. Wolves certainly fall under the charismatic megafauna classification. They're majestic and my…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Campaign for the Parks
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It was back in 1967 when the Congress chartered the National Park Foundation to serve as the official charity of the National Park Service, and over the decades it has raised millions of dollars for the parks. The Foundation is in the midst of its Campaign for National Parks, a billion-dollar campaign that has already raised $815 million. A big chu…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Miserable Mammoth Cave
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Have you ever been to Mammoth Cave National Park? It’s really not that impressive, is it. Sure, it’s more than 425 miles long, but only about 10 miles are open to the public. Mammoth Cave is indeed a big, dark hole in the ground. And apparently there are a fair number of visitors to the national park in Kentucky who are not impressed with the cave …
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Climate Change Impacts on Acadia
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From Maine to Florida, coastal units of the National Park System are being impacted in various ways by the changing climate. Some of the impacts affect wildlife, some natural resources, and some the human populations who either live in or come to visit these beautiful areas. At the National Parks Traveler. We’ve been working on a series of stories …
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In the eighth episode of the all-new Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with legendary photographer Jack Dykinga about shooting the aurora borealis for the magazine’s August cover, photographing owls for National Geographic and the preservation of his legacy at the Center for Creative Photo…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Lassen Peak's Volcanics
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When you hear the word volcano, where in the world do you think of? Mount Vesuvious in Italy? Mount Fuji in Japan? Maybe Cotopaxi in Ecuador? Do you ever think of Lassen Peak? The National Park System is full of volcanoes. Some active, some dormant, some extinct. They all have fascinating stories to tell. There was a series of eruptions of Lassen P…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Great American Outdoors Act Reauthorization
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It’s hard to believe, but it’s been four years since Congress passed the Great American Outdoors Act and President Trump signed it into law. Under that legislation, the National Park Service has been receiving $1.3 billion a year to pay for tackling the National Park System’s maintenance backlog. When the Great American Outdoors Act was passed, it …
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Save the Manatee
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Manatees are some of the most unusual looking wildlife creatures that you’ll find in coastal units of the National Park System, places like Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park and Cumberland Island National Seashore. They are huge – the largest on record reportedly tipped the scales at 3500 pounds and was 13 feet long – and rather bulb…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Grizzly Confidential
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What is it about grizzly bears that intrigues us, or scares us? They are magnificent apex predators that long have been vilified by some while admired by others. Enter the National Park System and you often will find yourself in a landscape with bears. In the East you’ll find black bears in Great Smoky Mountains, Shenandoah, and Acadia national par…
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In the seventh episode of the all-new Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with photographer Sean Parker about the rewards and the challenges that come with making images after dark.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Investigating Recreation.gov
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One of the most troublesome aspects of heading out into national parks, national forests, and other federal lands for camping, paddling, or climbing – as well as many other recreational pursuits – is the rising tide of fees to do so. There are reservation fees, cancellation fees, fees to change the date of your trip, even fees to gain a priority po…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Coastal Climate Change Impacts
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Along 1,600 miles of the Eastern Seaboard, from Maine to Florida, sea level rise, subsidence, and more potent storms are challenging the National Park Service to figure out how best to protect wildlife and their habitats, as well as historic structures, archaeological sites, modern infrastructure, landscapes, and, of course, visitors. In the coming…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Reporting from Cape Hatteras
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There is never a shortage of stories to follow across the National Park System, whether you’re in the West at Olympic National Park, the Northeast at Acadia National Park, or the Southwest at Grand Canyon National Park. This week, Contributing Editor Kim O’Connell is down in North Carolina to spend a few days at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, whi…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Alaska's Stained Rivers
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In the remote wilderness of the Brooks Mountain Range in Alaska, where untamed rivers wind through vast expanses of tundra and towering mountains, a peculiar and alarming phenomenon is taking place. Since 2017 at least 75 pristine waterways, which once shimmered with crystalline clarity, have taken on a haunting hue of orange and now contain very c…
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In the sixth episode of the all-new Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk about hiking safety with Meghan Smith, the Preventive Search & Rescue Supervisor at Grand Canyon National Park. Listen in, there are some things you need to know.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | State of Grand Teton National Park
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Have you ever wanted to scratch beneath the surface of a national park and gain a better understanding of the issues the National Park Service is challenged with? Or to see what research is being conducted, or understand what goals are being chased? The staff at Grand Teton National Park just released their 2024 Grand Glimpse of the Park and the ma…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Managing Yellowstone Bison
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As the National Mammal and a symbol closely tied to the National Park Service and the national parks, bison are highly revered in the United States. But that doesn’t mean they’re free of controversy. Recently the staff at Yellowstone National Park released the Final Environmental Impact Statement on a bison management plan for the park. The preferr…
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Brian calls Breck O'Neill the "Forrest Gump" of the river community. They chat about Breck's adventure through the river running world, with some skiing and Hollywood sprinkled in. Enjoy Breck O'Neill!Big Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big AdventuresEntertainment LLC.By Breck O'Neill, Brian Dierker, Margaret Knight, Bill Gloeckler, Gavin Boughner
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Letters from the Smokies
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There is so much rich history across the National Park System, from chapters of the Revolutionary War held in parks in the eastern half of the country to stories from the gold rush that stampeded through Alaska during the late 1890s. This is Kurt Repanshek, your host at The National Parks Traveler. I’ve always been fascinated with history. And when…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Parks as Founts of Wildlife
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Recently I read “The Wolverine Way”, by Douglas Chadwick. It’s a book from 2012 that really dives into the lives of wolverines, a small mammal with a cantankerous reputation that the US Fish and Wildlife Service late last year announced would be a threatened species. The book is a fascinating biography, if you will, of wolverines. Chadwick has an e…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Underwater Photography with the Submerged Resources Center
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Did you know that there are some five and a half million acres of our National Parks that are underwater? There are sunken ships and aircraft. There are remnants of industry and mining. There are coral reefs and underwater caverns. The Submerged Resources Center of the National Park Service is where these water resources are explored and documented…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Traveler's Summer Outlook
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Summer is almost here. The upcoming Memorial Day weekend is the official kickoff to the summer travel season, and I’m happy to say that the National Parks Traveler will be continuing to bring you news about the parks and how you can enjoy them. As much as Editor-in-Chief Kurt Repanshek was looking forward to retiring, listener and reader support ha…
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In the fifth episode of the all-new Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with Tamara Russo, a member of an organization called HawkWatch International, which sets up shop every fall on the South Rim to count the nearly 20 raptor species that migrate through the area.…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | NPS Budgetary Blues
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With the summer vacation season not too far off, no doubt many National Park Service Superintendents are trying to figure out how to manage the crowds and avoid impacts to natural resources in the park system. With Memorial Day weekend just two weeks away, and Congress in its usual battles over how to fund the federal government, we wanted to take …
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Smokies Life
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Smokies Life, which most of you who closely follow Great Smoky Mountains National Park know was previously known as the Great Smoky Mountains Association, produces educational and informational materials for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This week we’re joined by Laurel Rematore, the chief executive officer of Smokies Life, to discuss the na…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Fossilized Parks
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Have you ever closely inspected the landscape when you’re touring the National Park System, particularly in the West? You never know what you might find. Back in 2010 a 7-year-old attending a Junior Ranger program at Badlands National Park spied a partially exposed fossil that turned out to be the skull of a 32-million-year-old saber-toothed cat. I…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Wolverine Recovery in Colorado
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Wolverines, the largest land-dwelling members of the weasel family, once roamed across the northern tier of the United States, and as far south as New Mexico in the Rockies and southern California in the Sierra Nevada range. But after more than a century of trapping and habitat loss, wolverines in the lower 48 today exist only as small, fragmented …
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Cultural Resource Challenge
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Spur a discussion about traveling to a national park for a vacation and odds are that it will revolve around getting out into nature, looking for wildlife, perhaps honing your photography skills, or marveling at incredible vistas. Will the discussion include destinations that portray aspects of the country’s history, or cultural melting pot? Equati…
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In the fourth episode of the all-new Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with Suzanne Moody, a longtime ranger at Chiricahua National Monument. Listen in as Suzanne gives a behind-the-scenes look at the many wonders of this national park.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Total Solar Eclipse of the Parks
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Tens of millions of people in the United States will be able to witness a Total Solar Eclipse on Monday as the rare astronomical event cuts a path from Texas to Maine, up to 122 miles wide in some spots. This is a great opportunity to see the exact moment when the moon fully blocks the sun, creating a blazing corona visible to those observing from …
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Richard Bangs is back! He joins Brian to share stories of first descents of rivers around the world and promote his new book, The Art of Living Dangerously. Enjoy Richard Bangs!Big Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big AdventuresEntertainment LLC.By Gavin Boughner, Margaret Knight, Bill Gloeckler, Richard Bangs, Brian Dierker
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Music Inspired by the Parks
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With March madness down to the Sweet 16, and Opening Day of Major League Baseball having arrived, we’re going to take a break this week and dive into our podcast archives for this week’s show. This is Kurt Repanshek, your host at the National Parks Traveler. My NCAA bracket was busted the very first day, and while the Yankees won their opening day …
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Padre Island's Sea Turtles
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One of the most popular public events in the National Park System was the release of sea turtle hatchlings, shuffling off into the Gulf of Mexico at Padre Island National Seashore. I say was, because the number of those public events has been drastically scaled back in recent years. The programs featuring the release of Kemp’s ridley sea turtle hat…
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In the third episode of the all-new Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with photographer Claire Curran, who offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to find and photograph beautiful desert wildflowers.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network
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Kelsey Pfendler is about to row a boat from California to Hawaii. She sits down with Brian to talk about the race, her team, and the incredible amount of prep work for such an adventure. Enjoy Kelsey Pfendler!Big Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big AdventuresEntertainment LLC.By Kelsey Pfendler, Brian Dierker, Gavin Boughner, Bill Gloeckler, Margaret Knight
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Polluting the Parks
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Air pollution and climate change impacts can have outsized effects on the National Park System, as well as lesser noticed but just as concerning effects. But are those impacts spread across the entire park system, or clustered around a few? Back in 2019 the National Parks Conservation Association looked at how air pollution and climate change were …
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | State of the Parks 2024
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While most visitors to the National Park System view the parks as incredibly beautiful places, or places rich in culture and history, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes within the parks, and with the National Parks Service. Traveler editor Kurt Repanshek has closely followed the parks and the Park Service for more than 18 years. Over that…
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Laurie Dyer can't get enough of the Grand Canyon. She sits down with Brian to chat about how she came to work for the National Park Service, the state of the park, and her ultramarathon hobby. Enjoy Laurie Dyer!Big Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big AdventuresEntertainment LLC.…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | National Park Guidebooks
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With nearly 430 units in the National Park System, of which 63 are National Parks, we all probably could use a little help in planning our adventures into the park system. But do you simply visit a park’s website to plan your trip? Find an online guidebook? Buy a hardcover guidebook? Or simply wing it when you reach your destination? This is Kurt R…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Staying Safe At Hawai'i Volcanoes
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Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is such a unique destination in the National Park System. Located on the Big Island, it’s surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, it has rainforests, and it boasts two active volcanoes in Mauna Loa and Kilauea. A visit to Hawai’i Volcanoes comes with a number of options. Do you simply hope to catch an eruption of Kilauea an…
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In our second episode of the all-new Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with contributor Dawn Kish, who took the camera of a legendary photographer into Glen Canyon when Lake Powell was at its lowest level in decades.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Vanishing Treasures
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From the Rocky Mountains to the West Coast and up to Alaska, there are thousands of historic structures and archaeological sites on National Park System landscapes. They range in variety from homesteader cabins to pre-historic cave dwellings. Taking care of these buildings and archaeological sites is a valuable job for the National Park Service, as…
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Coming to the Aid of Giant Sequoias
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Stand before a giant sequoia tree in Sequoia or Kings Canyon national parks or nearby Yosemite National Park and you’re overwhelmed by their size, and assume they’re impervious to anything that might be thrown at them. But as we learned from wildfires in 2020 and 2021 in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, that’s not the case. The Castle Fire …
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | California Mountain Lions
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Mountain lions are an incredibly charismatic animal on landscapes within, and adjacent to, the National Park System. But they’re seldom seen because of their nocturnal tendencies. There recently was a new report that focused on a comprehensive estimate of mountain lions in California, and the number is much smaller than many had thought it was. To …
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | Manassas Battlefield Threats
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Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia protects one of the defining battlefields of the Civil War. It was there that the first battle of the war was waged, in 1861, it was the scene of a second battle a year later, and it was where Confederate General Thomas Jonathan Jackson got his Stonewall nickname. Despite the significance of Manassas, …
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National Parks Traveler Podcast | National Park Reservation Systems
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Mount Rainier National Park is the most recent unit of the National Park System to announce that you’ll need a reservation to enter the most popular areas of the park during the busy summer months. At the same time, Shenandoah National Park has announced that a pilot program it’s been running for two years for access to Old Rag will be permanent go…
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