Kurt Repanshek
386 episodes listed below
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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.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Kurt Repencheck connects national park landscapes to the policy decisions, scientific work, and historical interpretation shaping how people encounter them.
National Parks Traveler Podcast starts with the visible landscape, then follows the policy and research shaping it. Kurt Repencheck leads focused interviews that connect changes at Mount Rainier to careful field measurements, and proposed visitor rules at Cumberland Island to…
Kurt Repencheck asks how Mount Rainier lost height; your postcard left out the ice cap.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A calm, park-level look at what a proposed wall could mean for Big Bend.
Big Bend is the focus, with the episode asking whether a wall could be built along part or all of the 118 miles the park shares with Mexico, and what that would mean for a place shaped by remoteness and rough terrain.
A plainspoken shutdown conversation about park protection, staffing strain, and the communities around the parks.
National Parks Traveler opens with a shutdown in which most national parks are still open, then keeps its focus on what that means for park protection and resources.
A careful look at Yellowstone's north entrance and the tradeoffs behind every possible reroute.
Yellowstone's north entrance comes into focus here, with the discussion following the damage from the June 13, 2022 flood and the temporary use of the old Gardner Road to keep traffic moving between Gardner and Mammoth Hot Springs.
A steady conservation story about a bird family running out of room.
The piece treats the honeycreeper story as a real conservation emergency, not a distant abstract one. It keeps the focus on Hawaii, on the 17 surviving species, and on how closely tied the birds are to Haleakala National Park and the work needed to keep them from slipping…
A grounded look at Appalachian Trail recovery after storm damage.
National Parks Traveler turns to the Appalachian Trail after Hurricane Helene, and the damage remains sobering: 431 miles were shut down, bridges and crossovers were gone, treadway was torn away, and trees were snapped and piled across the route.
A year-end park briefing that turns staffing, history, water, and deferred maintenance into one steady, specific conversation.
National Parks Traveler treats 2025 as a hard, changing year for the National Park Service. Kurt Repencheck and Kristen Brengel move from workforce losses and efforts to whitewash history in some parks to the loss of a grand lodge to wildfire, then narrow to the concrete…
A sober look at how park history can disappear in plain sight.
The episode treats national parks less as scenery and more as a fight over who gets to decide what stays visible. Kurt Repencheck starts with reports that slavery-related material at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and a photo at Fort Pulaski National Monument were…
A careful argument about what Cumberland Island should permit and preserve.
National Parks Traveler frames Cumberland Island as a stewardship problem before it is a scenic one, using the visitor use management plan to show the pressure on official and potential wilderness.
Nilay Patel presses tech and media CEOs on how they actually run their companies.
Physician Shoshana Ungerleider pairs TED talks with interviews on aging, drug prices, and menopause.
Food52 hosts break down recipes and food-business origin stories, from sourdough to Salty Pimp cones.
Dan Pashman revisits food science with Kenji López-Alt and rotating live comedy guests.
The episode focuses on Cumberland Island National Seashore and the visitor-use management debate around it.
National Parks Traveler uses this episode to explain how Kurt Rebenschack and Kim O'Connell gather daily coverage on national parks, from a fatality in Zion National Park to shuttle-service reporting at Acadia and Zion.
National Parks Traveler visits two Kansas sites: Nicodemus National Historic Site and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
National Parks Traveler frames the Endangered Species Act as a law that once passed Congress almost unanimously in 1973 but now faces attacks over cost, delay, and politics.
National Parks Traveler revisits the Endangered Species Act with Jake Lee of Defenders of Wildlife and Stephanie Adams of the National Parks Conservation Association.
National Parks Traveler’s Congaree episode centers on South Carolina’s Congaree National Park, which the host describes as the largest expanse of bottomland floodplain forest in the United States and a place with 250,000 annual visitors.
Yellowstone's north entrance is still dealing with the June 13, 2022 flood.
National Parks Traveler focuses on bats in the national park system, with host Kurt Repencheck and contributing editor Kim O'Connell talking through white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has killed upwards of 99 percent of some bat populations.
Kurt Repencheck talks with Monica Rhodes, who directed the HOPE Crew program for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and now runs the Rhodes Heritage Group.
Kurt Repencheck opens with the Battle of Saratoga and its place in the Revolutionary War.
National Parks Traveler’s Kurt Repincheck speaks with Beth Fershaw of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums about the Florida Reef Track Rescue Project, which moved corals from a 350-mile reef stretching from Biscayne National Park to Dry Tortugas National Park.
National Parks Traveler’s “Endemic Haleakalā” focuses on Haleakalā National Park’s threatened silver sword plants and endemic honeycreeper birds, with Kurt Repencheck and Rita Beamish describing the park as home to more than 300 endemic plant species.
National Parks Traveler focuses on historic preservation in the National Park System, where Kurt Repencheck and Pam Bolling discuss the Oregon Caves Chateau, the David Wills House at Gettysburg, and the First Baptist Church at Nicodemus.
National Parks Traveler’s Kurt Repencheck talks with Dr.
National Parks Traveler turns to Mount Rainier and asks whether the summit has changed.
Kurt Repencheck opens with pointed questions about how national parks build their interpretive materials, who shapes those choices, and whether the National Park Service tells history straight.
Kurt Repencheck opens on national park interpretation.
National Parks Traveler opens by asking what a government shutdown means when most parks remain open.
The episode opens on the record-setting shutdown and the furloughs that followed.
This episode of National Parks Traveler focuses on Capitol Reef National Park in Utah, discussing its record visitation and the National Park Service's efforts to manage growth through a visitor use plan, with insights from former superintendent Sue Fritzke.
The show opens in Hawaii.
Hurricane Helene left the Appalachian Trail badly damaged.
Big Bend National Park is the focus.
The episode opens by asking a practical question about crowded parks.
National Parks Traveler turns to the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle.
Kurt Repencheck opens on reports that slavery-related interpretive materials at national parks have been removed or flagged for removal.
The National Parks Traveler Podcast looks back on 2025 as a turning point for the National Park Service.
Host Kurt Repencheck interviews Kristen Brengel from the National Parks Conservation Association about the potential government shutdown's impact on national parks, ongoing staffing crises, and budget challenges.
This episode features an interview with Professor William Hamilton about a new study on bison grazing benefits in Yellowstone.
National Parks Traveler Podcast talks with John Garter, Senior Director of Budget and Appropriations at the National Parks Conservation Association, about staffing and funding pressure across the National Park Service.
Kurt Repencheck visits two Kansas park sites before a government shutdown: Nicodemus National Historic Site and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
An exploration of light pollution's impact on national parks and efforts to preserve dark skies.
Host Kurt Repencheck interviews photographer Jeff Fowler about his five-year project capturing night skies over national parks, discussing his new book featuring images of synchronous fireflies, Horsetail Fall, and the Milky Way.
An interview with biologist Chris Gabriel about whale collisions in Glacier Bay National Park and strategies to reduce them.
An interview with Benji Backer about the Nature is Nonpartisan campaign to depoliticize environmental issues.
This episode explores the history and significance of El Camino Rio de los Tejas, a National Historic Trail that connected Spanish missions and settlements, highlighting its role in colonization and cultural exchange.
An interview with Teresa Pirno, outgoing CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association, discussing her tenure and current threats to national parks.
This episode examines how climate change, sea level rise, and stronger storms are affecting national parks along the eastern seaboard, featuring interviews with scientists from the Nature Conservancy.
Host Kurt Rapincheck previews an interview with contributing editor Kim O'Connell about her reporting on Cape Hatteras National Seashore, including sea turtle nesting, lighthouse restoration, and coastal erosion.
Researchers investigate why pristine Alaskan waterways are turning orange due to permafrost thaw, impacting ecosystems and local communities.
Host Kurt Repencheck interviews Grand Teton Superintendent Chip Jenkins about the park's 2024 Grand Glimpse report covering challenges and issues.