America’s National Parks Podcast

The Carriage Roads & Bridges of Acadia National Park

Winding through Acadia’s forests and mountains are 45 miles of historic roadways that are only for pedestrians, bicyclists, horseback riders, and carriages. These roads were carefully designed to follow the contours of the landscape and reach scenic vistas. Though enormously popular for recreation today, until recently it was not well-known who had the most prominent role in the development of these roads: John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

National Park News | Record Crowds, Biden's Budget, a Grim Anniversary

Yellowstone and Grand Teton shatter April attendance records, Zion sees a four-hour wait for its most popular hike, Biden’s 2022 budget sees the largest appropriation for the National Park Service ever, an Instagramer apologizes, and so much more.
It’s time for this month’s news round-up episode of the America’s National Parks podcast. 

Buffalo Bird Woman

In the middle of North Dakota, one of the least visited states in the nation, sits one of the smallest and least visited National Park Service Sites. It’s the place where Earthlodge people, the Hidatsa and Mandan, who lived along the Missouri River and it’s tributaries, hunted bison and other game. The site was a major Native American trade center for hundreds of years prior to becoming an important marketplace for fur traders after 1750. 
 
Today on America’s National Parks, the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, and the story of Buffalo-Bird Woman, one of the last Hidatsas born in the Knife River villages, in her own words, as portrayed by Grace Henry in the park film.

Synchronous Fireflies in the Smokies

In 1680, one of the earliest Western accounts of coordinated fireflies flashing was recorded by a Dutch physician while traveling down the Meinam River in what is now Thailand. He wrote, “A whole swarm of these insects, having taken possession of one Tree, and spread themselves over its branches, sometimes hide their Light all at once, and a moment after make it appear again with the utmost regularity and exactness.” 
More than 300 years later and the synchronized flashing of fireflies is still a mystery.

Spring Migration in the Parks

Point Reyes National Seashore has recorded more than 450 species of birds, including 38 that are threatened or endangered. There are multiple factors that make it such a popular and birdy destination. For one, it has many unique habitats that provide food and shelter, such as coastline, forest, wetland, and open fields. The park’s peninsula also juts out into the ocean, scooping migrants into the park as they travel along the coast. Due to these special features, the National Audubon Society has also named it an Important Bird Area.

Restore Hetch Hetchy

It might not be common knowledge that the Yosemite Valley one of the crown jewels of the American landscape, known for towering natural splendor in its pristine condition, has a sister valley, within the National Park, that was flooded to create a water reservoir for the city of San Fransisco. 
For over 100 years, Hetch Hetchy canyon, named with an indigenous word for a type of wild grass, has been called Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. And while turning back is a real possibility one day, Hetch Hetchy is still an amazing place to visit. Or it would be if it were a little easier. 
Restore Hetch Hetchy is an organization with a plan to do just that, and Executive Director Spreck Rosekrans is our guest today on the America's National Parks Podcast.

Driverless Shuttles, Murder in Hot Springs, Pike Trail | National Park News

Driverless National Park Shuttles are being tested, a new national trail is proposed, a homicide at Hot Springs, and more.  It’s time for this month’s news round-up episode of the America’s National Parks podcast.
 

Kalaupapa

In the late 1800s, Hansen’s disease (also known as leprosy) was reaching epidemic proportions in the Hawaiian islands. Bacteria cause nerve damage in patients and can lead to crippling of the hands and feet, paralysis, and blindness. At the time, there was no cure and no known effective treatment, and health officials had no idea how the disease was spreading. This frightened officials in Hawaii, and in a desperate act to save their native populations, isolation seemed to be the only answer.
On this episode of the America's National Parks Podcast - Kalaupapa National Historical Park.