The WildeBeat

Fri, Feb 15, 2008

Update for "Forest Admission?"

Posted at 12:55

/blog/wild_places [link ]

Jim Bedwell from the National Forest Service in Washington, D.C contacted us to update a detail in yesterday's show:

A factual correction (and I should have mentioned it as it was posted the day we did the interview) is that we have extended the comment period to March 20, 2008. That will make the comment period a total of 150 days, hardly a "stealth tactic".

You can read the official notice of the extension of the comment period here: Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period

We'd also like to clarify that it wasn't our intent to assert that the Forest Service was trying to implement these rule changes without public scrutiny. Rather, our comment in the story describing the proposed rule changes as a semi-secret document was meant to be a comment on the relative lack of mainstream media coverage this issue has attracted.

Wed, Nov 21, 2007

Discussion about Ticket to Half Dome

Posted at 16:08

/blog/wild_places [link ]

The National Parks Traveler web magazine has been hosting an interesting discussion thread about the topic of this week's edition of our show, Ticket to Half Dome.

The discussion ranges from calls for drastic changes in park management, to expressions of satisfaction with the status quo.

We encourage you to provide us audio comments about our shows. Just pick up your phone and record your thoughts by calling our toll-free comment line at 866-590-7373. We'll post any comments you provide on our companion podcast, Vox WildeBeat.

Fri, Sep 28, 2007

More on Ranger Laurel Boyers

Posted at 10:55

/blog/wild_places [link ]

Among the ways in which Yosemite Ranger Laurel Boyers has been an inspiration to people, she's the role model for the protagonist in a series of spy novels. This week's edition of our show is a tribute to Ranger Boyers.

We asked our friend Tom Mangan, newspaper hiking columnist and author of the Two Heel Drive hiking blog, to look into any interesting history about Ranger Boyers' career.

Thanks Tom!

Fri, Jun 08, 2007

Tom Mangan's Hiking Column

Posted at 11:55

/blog/wild_places [link ]

Tom Mangan is another San Jose local who's given us a lot of recognition and behind-the-scenes moral support. Tom created and writes the Two Heel Drive blog about all things hiking.

We want to offer our belated congratulations to Tom for his new job as a hiking columnist for the San Jose Mercury News. You can see the archive of his hiking columns here: www.mercurynews.com/tommangan.

Best of luck on this endeavor, Tom, and happy trails!

Tue, Mar 20, 2007

The Best Wilderness At Night

Posted at 15:25

/blog/wild_places [link ]

In our editions 13 & 14, titled The Wilderness at Night, we talked about the value of dark skies, and the detrimental effects that artificial night lighting can have on natural ecosystems. We interviewed Chad Moore, a physical scientist with the National Park Service, and Program Manager of their Night Sky Research Program. In that interview, Chad Moore said that the darkest skies in the National Park System are at Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah.

According to our friend Jeremy Sullivan, editor of the Park Remark site:

Natural Bridges National Monument, in the southeast corner of Utah, has been named the world's first ever International Dark-Sky Park, as designated by the International Dark-Sky Association.

You can read the rest of Natural Bridges is World's First Dark-Sky Park at Park Remark.

We'd like to congratulate Chad Moore and the rest of the NPS Night Sky Research Team for this well deserved recognition of their work.

Tue, Dec 26, 2006

Bonus material for Park Pass Pique

Posted at 15:45

/blog/wild_places [link ]

Scott Silver of Wild Wilderness has done considerable research on the origins of usage fees on federal recreation lands. In particular, he has evidence which supports a theory that the new America The Beautiful National Parks and Federal Lands Interagency Recreation Pass (ATB pass) has been the goal of some political groups for more than 20 years. We discussed this pass in our most recent edition, #70, titled Park Pass Pique.

Below is a bonus segment of our interview with Scott, which gives his view on the history of the ATB pass, fees for public recreation lands in general, and his vision of how these lands should be managed. Scott argues that the intent behind the ATB pass may not be to improve our wilderness experiences.

• Bonus Interview Segment, Scott Silver of Wild Wilderness [MP3 format; length 12:16; 1,472,389 bytes]

Mon, Dec 11, 2006

National Park Pass Price Increase

Posted at 13:30

/blog/wild_places [link ]

If you expect to visit a national park more than twice in the coming year, you may want to buy a National Park Pass before the end of this month. The cost of an annual pass, which has been $50 for the past few years, will go up to $80 with the introduction of a new kind recreation pass called the America The Beautiful pass. The new pass will also be available for free if you're willing to volunteer 500 hours of labor valued at $0.16 per hour.

We'd love to hear your comments on this new pass. Please call our toll-free comment line: 866-590-7373.

Thanks to Kurt at National Parks Traveler, and Scott at Wild Wilderness for tipping us off about this.

Fri, Mar 31, 2006

Science News article about the Wilderness at Night

Posted at 12:15

/blog/wild_places [link ]

The March 18th issue of Science News Magazine included a story titled Night Light. This article includes interviews with Chad Moore of the National Park Service's Night Sky Team, and Dr. Travis Longcore of USC and the Urban Wildlands Group. The article also includes pictures taken by Chad Moore of the distant sky glow from cities, as seen from some of our most remote national parks.

We interviewed Chad Moore and Dr. Travis Longcore last September for two of our earlier editions:

• The Wilderness at Night, part 1 (program number 13)
• The Wilderness at Night, part 2 (program number 14)

We also posted our complete interview [MP3 format; length 31:14; 3,749,849 bytes] with Dr. Longcore, discussing the contents of his book The Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting.

Sat, Mar 11, 2006

Experiences with Dogs in the Wilderness?

Posted at 12:45

/blog/wild_places [link ]

For a future story we're working on, we'd like to hear about your experiences with dogs in the wilderness:

• Do you take your dog camping with you? How about a trip report?
• Have you had a particularly positive or negative experience doing so?
• Have you had a significant experience with someone else's dogs on your wilderness trips?
• Do you agree or disagree with park and forest policies regarding dogs?

If you have an experience to share, please call our comment line at 866-590-7373.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. (Details)