Parkography

Legends of Denali

In 1896, the highest summit in America was named by a gold prospector in support for then-presidential candidate William McKinley, who became president the following year. Of course, for centuries before, it had gone by a different name.
On this week's episode of America's National Parks, Denali, the 20,310 Alaskan summit, and the six million acres of land that surround it in Denali National Park.
Show notes, music credits, and more info at nationalparkpodcast.com/legendsofdenali.

Lady Liberty

The Statue of Liberty stands out in New York Harbor, bearing her torch, welcoming tourists and immigrants with the American spirit of Liberty. Her story is complicated, and many apocryphal tales abound of her sitting disassembled for years while Americans tried to figure out how to assemble it. The truth is much more interesting.
Today on America's National Parks, The Statue of Liberty and the history of Liberty Island.
Show notes, music credits, and more info at nationalparkpodcast.com/ladyliberty.

Delicate Arch, and the Strange 1950s Schemes to Reinforce It

There's one natural rock arch that's known better than all others in the US, in fact, it's on the state of Utah's license plate. It had its own postage stamp, and the 2002 Winter Olympics torch relay passed through it. On this episode of America's National Parks, Delicate Arch, and the strange history of attempts to protect it at Arches National Park.
Show notes and more info at nationalparkpodcast.com.

Muir, Roosevelt, and Yosemite: A Camping Trip That Changed the World

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt ditched his secret service detail to go camping in the woods of Yosemite with celebrated naturalist John Muir. Through his writings, Muir taught the importance of experiencing and protecting our natural world. That camping trip changed the face of conservation in the United States. Together, sleeping on the forest floor below the sequoias, they laid the foundation for the next century of federal land preservation.
On this episode of America's National Parks, Yosemite, John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt, and a man who was along for the ride, in their own words.
Show notes at nationalparkpodcast.com.

California Condors

How do you save a species of bird with a population of 22 living? A controversial plan hatched nearly three decades ago has condors soaring over Pinnacles National Park again. How they did it, and why there is still trouble ahead, on this episode of America's National Parks.
More info, a full transcript, music credits, and other resources are available at nationalparkpodcast.com/condors-pinnacles-national-park.

An Island Prison

If you only know the name Geronimo from the call that paratroopers in old war movies and Bugs Bunny cartoons shout, it's a nickname bestowed upon a Native American hero by Mexican soldiers. During repeated conflicts, The Apache warrior attacked them with nothing but a knife, surviving each time despite being continually shot at. The soldiers would plead to Saint Jerome as they faced him. Geronimo is Spanish for “Jerome.”
On this episode of America’s National Parks, Geronimo, and his imprisonment at Fort Pickens, now a part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore in Pensacola, Florida.
Show notes and more info is available at http://nationalparkpodcast.com/island-prison-geronimo-gulf-islands-national-seashore/

The Voyageurs

On the northern shores of Minnesota lies a remote waterscape steeped in history, nature, and tradition. Named for the wild men who paddled its waterways in the Canadian fur trade, Voyageurs National Park is home to nesting bald eagles, moose, grey wolves, black bear, loons, owls, otter, and beaver.
Most of its hidden waterways are untouched, pristine boreal forest, where on a cloudless pre-dawn morning under the northern lights, you can almost hear the songs of fur traders traveling in their massive canoes.
On this episode of America's National Parks, the Voyageurs, the legendary wild and hearty men who traversed the waterways of the great north for two hundred years.
Show notes and more info on Voyageurs National Park and Grand Portage National Monument at www.nationalparkpodcast.com/voyageurs

Pirates and Parks

Piracy, the act of seizing a ship or its cargo from its lawful owners, has been a plague since people first set sail on the high seas. By the Elizabethan Era, English piracy entered a Golden Age, as pirates plundered its coastal waters unchallenged. As Spain gradually increased its wealth through its own savagery in the New World, English pirates feasted on Spanish ships, eventually spreading piracy to the Carribean Sea.
On this episode of America's National Parks, Pirates, and their role in the creation of America, immortalized at National Park Service units up and down the East Coast.
In fact, there are so many stories of piracy and privateering in today's National Parks, that choosing just one was difficult, so we settled on two centered around Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site - with many more to touch on in a future episode.
Show notes and more info at http://nationalparkpodcast.com/pirates-and-parks