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 Serv…

In the newest episode of the Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with Jeff Kida, the longtime photo editor of the magazine. Among other things, they discuss the evolution of photography in the magazine over the past 10 decades.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network

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. While Wright tragically left the world too young when he was killed in a car crash in 1936, hi…

Joseph Day has quite a story to tell. He and Brian sit down to chat about his meandering life and how he ended up living and running a store on the Hopi reservation. Enjoy Joe Day! If you like our show and would like to sponser us, please reach out! [email protected] Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big Adventure…

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. It’s also a relatively safe volcano in that it spends most of its time simmering and bubbling without any …

In the newest episode of the Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with Sunny Stroeer, an extreme athlete who traded her MBA from Harvard and a successful career for a Chevy Astro van — “I have a strong desire for uncertainty, discovery and exploration,” she says.…

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 bl…

Peter Weiss is a skydiver, river runner, and adventurer. He and Brian sit down to chat about the Colorado River at high water, skydiving in Arizona, and much more! Enjoy Peter Weiss!Big Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big AdventuresEntertainment LLC.By Peter Weiss, Gavin Boughner, Margaret Knight, Brian Dierker

In this week’s podcast we thought we’d take a break from the unsettling news happening in and around our national parks and federal lands regarding park staff reductions and threats of reducing park boundaries to make way for mining. Instead, the Traveler’s Lynn Riddick catches up with a former scientist who’s now a comedian to hear about his exper…

There is, across the country, some upheaval going on as the Trump administration works to reduce the size of the federal government. Whether you support that effort or oppose it, you can’t deny there’s not upheaval going on. That upheaval has hit all federal government agencies. At the National Park Service, seasonal ranger job offers were rescinde…

Across the United States there are hundreds of millions of acres of public lands. Indeed, there are more than 500 million acres of federal lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service, just to name the three largest land managers in federal government. A majority of those lands, the 245…

In the newest episode of the Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with Stephen Hummel — the astronomer-in-residence at Grand Canyon National Park — about the importance of dark skies and why Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network

It was just over a week ago, on Valentine’s Day, that the Trump administration wiped 1,000 employees off the National Park Service staff without any apparent strategy other than that they were dispensable staff still on probation and so lacking any real protection for being fired without cause. Those cuts swept across the 433 units of the National …

The Trump administration’s determination to reduce the size of government regardless of the cost is having a hard impact on the National Park Service. Last month the agency was forced to rescind job offers to seasonal workers, saw a hold placed on millions of dollars distributed through the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act to address …

Harlan Taney is a kayaker, adventurer, and filmmaker. He and Brian chat about everything from boating the Grand Canyon to chasing waterfalls. Enjoy Harlan Taney!Big Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big AdventuresEntertainment LLC.By Harlan Taney, Brian Dierker, Gavin Boughner, Bill Gloeckler

National parks are home to many iconic trees. Bristlecones pines, Whitebark pines, Sequoias, even mangroves. And, of course, redwoods. These trees hold many stories. The size alone of redwoods and sequoias are enough to hold your attention. But there are backstories, as well. In the case of redwoods along the Northern California coast, the backstor…

Rising sea levels, stronger storms, eroding shorelines, and sinking terrain are taking a toll on the fragile ecosystems and historic resources at Cape Lookout National Seashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. A new study by the U.S. Geological Survey takes a close look at these threats and predicts how they will impact the national seashore o…

In the newest episode of the Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with Tom Myers, the South Rim doctor who saves lives, blazes trails and writes about death in the Grand Canyon.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network

Mike Boyle is a former river guide and all around adventurer. He joins Brian in the studio to chat about his exploratory trips in South America, New Guinea, and other river trips around the world. Enjoy Mike Boyle!Big Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big AdventuresEntertainment LLC.…

Here we are, a week into the second administration of President Donald Trump. It’s certainly a time of change, some of which is expected, and some perhaps not. Do we really need to rename North America’s tallest mountain, Denali in Denali National Park and Preserve? There is much going on in the federal government, and not all is good. Hiring freez…

Ben Perry is a flight nurse and skiier, and happens to be Brian's nephew. He and Brian sit down to chat about growing up in Flagstaff, raising family there, and his career working out of helicopters. Enjoy Ben Perry!Big Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big AdventuresEntertainment LLC.…

There are sounds that wake you up out of a deep sleep, only to be dismissed as you fall back to sleep. And then there are sounds that rivet you, make you sit bolt upright. That was the type of sound that woke us while we were deep in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park. Sunrise hadn’t yet come, yet we were wide awake, listening to one of t…

We’re five days into 2025, and already there’s a lot of news concerning national parks and the National Park Service. Traveler Editor-in-Chief Kurt Repanshek is joined today by Contributing Editor Kim O’Connell to discuss the Traveler’s 4th Annual Threatened and Endangered Park Series and other recent park-related news.…

Many of us like to take a walk in our favorite national park, whether it’s a short stroll down one of the boardwalks at Yellowstone National Park, the hike to the top of Old Rag at Shenandoah National Park, or up the Mist Trail at Yosemite National Park, we like to get out and experience parks up close. As you might imagine, there are walks in the …

There are across the country more than 430 units of the National Park System. And no doubt, most of us are only familiar with the so-called name brand parks. Places like Shenandoah, Acadia, Everglades, Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon… But just because you’re not already familiar with a park unit doesn’t mean you should write it off your to-…

In the 12th episode of the Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with photographer Suzanne Mathia about the excitement and challenges of photographing the Arizona landscape when the snow falls.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network

Elephant seals are not your small, cuddly marine mammals. They are behemoths. Males, known as bulls, can reach 5,000 pounds, while females, known as cows, routinely clock in at around 1,000 pounds or so. If you’re a wildlife watcher, now is the time to check elephant seals off your life list. Between December and March, they come en masse to Point …

Most, if not all of us, have bucket lists. Places we want to visit…but don’t always get the opportunity. This is Kurt Repanshek, your host at the National Parks Traveler. One of the destinations on my bucket list is Gates of Arctic National Park and Preserve and the Noatak River that runs through it. A week or two floating the river sounds pretty i…

Della Yurcik is a retired (and celebrated) Park Ranger. She and Brian talk about the state of the Grand Canyon, how she got started with the Park Service, and much more! Enjoy Della Yurcik!Big Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big AdventuresEntertainment LLC.By Bill Gloeckler, Brian Dierker, Margaret Knight, Gavin Boughner

Change happens…and sometimes it doesn’t. Change certainly is underway in Washington, where the incoming Trump administration is putting its players in position with promises of changing, or maybe upsetting, the status quo. Against that, the National Park Service continues to face long-standing problems with not enough staff or funding, compounded b…

In the 11th episode of the Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with Matt Pool of Matt’s Big Breakfast about the importance of “shopping local” this holiday season and beyond. They also discuss the magazine’s new coffee table book, which features the best photographs in the history of the mag…

As the calendar runs down on the current session of Congress, there are a number of pieces of legislation that would involve or possibly impact the National Park System if they find their way into an omnibus lands bill that gains passage before the session adjourns. While we haven’t seen exactly what might find their way into an omnibus lands bill,…

Brian and Frank Donald go way, way back. They sit down this week to chat about life in Kayenta, they're time growing up in Flagstaff, and more. Enjoy Frank Donald!Big Adventures with Brian Dierker is produced with joy by Big AdventuresEntertainment LLC.By Frank Donald, Brian Dierker, Bill Gloeckler, Margaret Knight, Gavin Boughner

The vulnerable red-cockaded woodpecker is known to be found in national park units throughout the southeast. Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park in Florida, Cumberland Island National Seashore in Georgia, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee are just a few of the parks that either are, or once were, home to th…

Humans like to play, right? We play cards, we play baseball and basketball, we go fishing or take a hike into the mountains. It’s our play time, time to recharge, refocus, relax. Did you know animals like to play, too? And many times, our playgrounds infringe on wildlife habitat. But how does that affect their behavior? Does it affect their behavio…

Whether this is your first listen of our weekly podcast or number 299, welcome and thank you for listening. We hope you find these episodes interesting and present information or a side to the parks that you previously didn’t know about. Frankly, that’s the approach that we try to take at the Traveler. Not only to provide newsworthy information, su…

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a scenic byway that rolls 440 miles through Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. A unit of the National Park Service, the trace winds its way through lush landscapes, diverse ecosystems and interesting historical sites. Originally the trace was a foot path for Native Americans and later used by early pioneers and traders…

In the 10th episode of the Arizona Highways podcast, host Steve Goldstein and Arizona Highways editor Robert Stieve talk with Dee Dee O’Connell, an avid hiker and adventurer from London who flies to Arizona every chance she gets — she’s explored more of our state than most Arizonans.By Arizona Highways Podcast Network

The National Trail System in the United States spans many thousands of miles of foot trail. The crown jewels of that system, of course, are the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail. While the adventurous might look at those long trails and set their sights on hiking one end from end, not all m…

Crime happens, even in national parks, national forests, and other public lands. There are murders, thefts, robberies and all sorts of crime that we’d hope to escape by heading into the kingdom of public lands. It can be hard to accept that national parks are not immune from criminals and crimes. Just this past Fourth of July there was a horrific i…

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…

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 …

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

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…

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…

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…

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 …

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 …

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…

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…