Our Public Lands

In this episode, I interview John Gaedeke, who was raised around a remote wilderness lodge near Inuk Lake in the Brooks Range, Alaska, and now helps lead Defend the Brooks Range. Our conversation centers on threats from proposed infrastructure and expanded mineral development, including the Ambler Road and changes to protections along the Dalton Highway corridor, which John says could enable heavy ore trucking, intensify industrialization, and increase risks to rivers, salmon, and caribou while exporting raw copper overseas with limited benefits to Alaskans.

01:39 Land Transfers and Oak Flat

03:08 Meet John

03:22 Life in the Brooks Range

04:16 Winter Travel and Lodge Logistics

06:29 Building a Remote Wilderness Lodge

08:28 From Hunting to Ecotourism

10:15 Why Protections Matter

11:40 Extraction Economics and Dividends

14:31 Defend the Brooks Range Origins

15:33 Brooks Range Extremes and Fragility

17:48 Wildlife Encounters Up North

20:21 Fishing Inuk Lake

22:37 Recreation Changes and Elite Wilderness

24:49 Brooks Range Humility

25:19 Dalton Corridor Rules

27:39 Mining Meets Pipelines

28:48 Ore Economics Explained

30:42 Roads Change Wilderness

32:57 Ambler Road Risks

34:59 Litigation And Unknowns

38:01 Biggest Red Flags

41:51 How To Push Back

46:32 Public Lands Giveaway

In this episode, I interview Gerry James, deputy director of the Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All Campaign. Gerry describes his upbringing as a military brat that fostered a love of the outdoors and environmental protection, and discusses challenges he has faced as a Black man recreating outdoors. He outlines efforts to close the nature equity gap through youth programs, transit access to nature, and partnerships that train students as Sierra Club outings leaders, connecting outings to advocacy. Much of the conversation focuses on the Trump administration’s “Restoring Truth and Sanity” executive order and resulting attempts to remove or sanitize historical and climate-related interpretation on public lands, such as Philadelphia’s President’s House slavery exhibit and its restoration after a city lawsuit. Gerry details Sierra Club organizing, public records requests, coalition-building with historians, and planned actions to protect inclusive public history.

Outdoors for All Campaign

Save Our Signs Campaign

LANDSCAPES OF EXCLUSION: State Parks and Jim Crow in the American South

02:31 Military Brat Roots

04:10 Learning Black History

05:13 Racism Outdoors

07:51 Outdoor Equity Renaissance

09:06 HBCUs Outside Partnership

11:19 Outings To Advocacy

14:38 Skiing And Youth Trips

16:51 Outdoors For All Campaign

18:51 Fighting History Whitewashing

21:50 Organizing And Records Requests

24:31 Philly Rally And Win

31:02 Resistance Rangers Network

32:04 Whitewashing Civil Rights

33:52 Tribal History Under Fire

34:46 Lawsuit And Truth Debate

36:59 Interpreting History

39:09 Climate Science Attacks

41:25 Sustainability And Comments

43:27 Coalitions And Day Of Action

47:20 Save Our Signs And Juneteenth

52:44 Black State Parks Legacy

A live conversation with Dr. Chad Hanson about the deceptively named "Save Our Sequoias Act," wildfire, our new film, and public lands logging

In this episode, I interview Roderick Frazier Nash, author of Wilderness and the American Mind, retired UC Santa Barbara professor and founder of its interdisciplinary Environmental Studies program, who discusses his background as a historian, longtime Grand Canyon commercial river guide, and reflects on his influential book Wilderness in the American Mind, which grew from his University of Wisconsin PhD work during the rising public interest in environmental protections back in the 1960s. He argues wilderness appreciation and preservation largely emerged from urban culture, citing figures like Theodore Roosevelt and Bob Marshall. Nash explains the historical shift around 1890 from wilderness as enemy to asset, and connects wildness to the human psyche. He recounts early work recovering Aldo Leopold’s legacy and promotes environmental ethics around The Rights of Nature, warns about “gardening” wilderness, and outlines his “Island Civilization” vision of shrinking human footprint to leave more of Earth wild.

Wilderness and the American Mind

Wilderness, Indigenous land zones and regionality in North American forests

06:52 Meet Roderick Nash

09:00 Writing Wilderness and the American Mind

10:59 Urban Roots of Wilderness Appreciation

12:41 Bob Marshall Story

16:23 Nash Leaving Manhattan

21:42 Nash’s First Wild Moments

27:02 Frontier Ends 1890

29:43 Defining Wilderness

36:34 Wilderness Act Origins

38:17 Wilderness Shapes America

40:54 Scarcity Makes It Valuable

44:51 Wildness Within Us

47:05 Aldo Leopold Land Ethic

51:45 Future Threats And Restraint

59:34 Rights Of Nature Law

01:02:48 Island Civilization Vision

In this episode, I interview Amy Cordalis, Yurok Tribal member, attorney and environmental activist about the historic decommissioning and removal of the four lower Klamath dams — the largest U.S. dam removal project in history. Amy shares the Yurok creation story about living in balance with a living river and the tribe’s responsibility to steward salmon and water. She discusses the history of U.S. violence and dispossession of the Yurok and other California tribes, including unratified treaties, reservation reductions, and the allotment era. The conversation centers on the 2002 Klamath fish kill—about 70,000 adult salmon perished—linked to drought-year water diversions ordered over scientific objections by then vice president Dick Cheney, which propelled Amy to law school and helped spark the movement that led to removal of four Klamath dams in 2024 through grassroots organizing and FERC relicensing. She discusses the Yurok rights of nature ordinance granting the river personhood under tribal law, early signs of ecological recovery after dam removal, ongoing upper-basin water quality challenges (including groundwater connections, grazing impacts, and the endangered sucker fish), and how Indigenous and non-Indigenous environmentalists can better work together.

Purchase Amy’s Book - The Water Remembers

Ridges to Riffles

04:07 Meet Amy Cordalis

05:39 Why Yurok Country Hasn’t Changed Much

08:12 The Yurok Creation Story

15:01 Living Connection to Place

26:17 2002 Klamath Fish Kill: Drought, Diversions, and Politics

31:38 “It’s Your Turn”: Off to Law School

35:36 From Grief to Movement: Grassroots Organizing and the FERC Relicensing Path

41:03 Rights of Nature for the Klamath: Personhood Under Yurok Law

44:03 Why Ecosystems Need Standing: Limits of U.S. Environmental Law

46:37 Behind-the-Scenes Dam Removal Lesson: Fight for All Four Dams

51:10 After the Dams Came Out: Salmon Return, Cleaner Water, River Reborn

59:13 Upper Basin Challenges: Sucker Fish, Groundwater, Grazing & Public Lands

01:02:41 Working Together For a Better Future

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Wanda Culp, a Tlingit elder living in the Tongass Rainforest in Southeast Alaska, about how clearcut logging and other extraction have impacted Southeast Alaska communities and subsistence resources. She argues the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which created for-profit Native corporations, concentrates power and profits while many shareholders remain poor and landless. Our conversation focuses on Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s Alaska Native Landless Equity Act, which would amend the Settlement Act, and transfer about 115,000 acres from the Tongass National Forest (80,000 acres are ancient old growth forests and Roadless) to five Native corporations for clearcut logging and mining, Wanda calls the bill a misuse of “equity” language that advances privatization and extraction. She urges tribes and corporations to reunite decision-making with the people and calls for louder public opposition amid the climate crisis.

02:56 Meet Wanda Culp: background, climate whiplash, and path to activism

06:10 Clearcut shock: how ANCSA corporation logging hit village hunting & fishing grounds

09:12 Tlingit history & why the Tongass is sacred

10:47 Subsistence lifeways and a personal connection to Glacier Bay

12:35 Vanishing herring and salmon

13:24 From logging to mining: the next extraction wave in Southeast Alaska

14:22 What ANCSA created: for-profit corporations and poverty

18:42 Reform vision: return authority to tribes and grassroots voices

20:30 Murkowski’s S.2504 explained: ‘Landless Equity’ and Tongass land transfers

23:24 Conservation groups back the bill? Wanda’s reaction and call to oppose it

In this episode, I interview Boone Kauffman, retired professor from Oregon State University and lead scientist of Illahee Sciences International, and Erik Molvar, Executive Director of the Western Watersheds Project to discuss the decline of the greater sage grouse and their habitat. Boone and Erik examine the impacts of livestock grazing and land use on sage grouse, the political stonewalling behind listing the bird as an endangered species, and the integrity of scientific research around the bird, specifically naming the livestock industry and their influence on university and agency research. Our conversation highlights the need for political will and effective science-backed conservation strategies to restore sage grouse populations and the Sagebrush Sea.

http://www.westernwatersheds.org/

02:13 Introducing Erik Molvar and Boone Kauffman

05:42 Understanding the Greater Sage Grouse

09:09 Impact of Livestock Grazing on Sage Grouse

13:55 Sage Grouse Conservation Plans and Challenges

23:51 Scientific Integrity and Livestock Industry Influence

35:59 The Role of Research and Public Policy

59:19 Concluding Thoughts and Call to Action

In this episode, I speak with Amaroq Weiss, Senior Wolf Advocate, and Samantha Miller, Senior Carnivore Campaigner, with the Center for Biological Diversity, where we explore the ongoing challenges of wolf recovery and conservation across the United States, while dispelling myths along the way. Our conversation delves into the political pressures causing cyclical removal and reinstatement of wolf protections under the Endangered Species Act and the implications of state management, emphasizing public advocacy’s impact. Cultural differences in wolf management between the U.S. and Europe are examined, dispelling myths about ‘Canadian super wolves’ and the role that hunters play in the culture wars and conservation efforts. Ethical dilemmas in trophy hunting, the impact of politicized hunting organizations, and the specific case of the Cody Roberts incident in Wyoming are discussed. We end the episode with updates on Colorado’s wolf reintroduction efforts, focusing on the resilience of the Copper Creek wolf family.

02:05 Challenges and Myths in Wolf Conservation

07:00 Political Pressures and Wolf Protections

16:51 The Role of the Endangered Species Act

29:25 Cultural Perspectives on Wolves

42:09 The Hunting Community and Carnivore Conservation

47:14 The Changing Dynamics of Wolf Reintroduction

47:54 Ethical Hunting and Public Perception

50:32 The Controversy of Wolf Hunting

54:00 The Cody Roberts Incident

56:15 Legal and Social Implications of Wolf Hunting

01:03:01 Debunking the Myth of the Canadian Super Wolf

01:11:48 Wolf Reintroduction Efforts in Colorado

01:21:50 Concluding Thoughts and Future Discussions

Right now, the Boundary Waters is facing one of its most serious conservation threats in decades as efforts are underway to reverse a longstanding federal mining ban and open up lands in the Superior National Forest to copper-nickel sulfide mining. In January 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to overturn a 20-year moratorium that had protected the headwaters flowing into the Boundary Waters from sulfide-ore mining—now headed to the Senate and potentially the President’s desk.

Proponents argue mining would supply critical minerals like copper, nickel, and cobalt and create jobs, but environmental groups like Save the Boundary Waters warn that sulfide mining has a long track record of acid mine drainage and heavy-metal pollution that could irreversibly contaminate the region’s pristine lakes, rivers, and groundwater, devastating wildlife, recreation, and local economies built on clean water and wilderness tourism.

In this episode, I speak with Ingrid Lyons, Executive Director of Save the Boundary Waters, about the historical, ecological, and economic significance of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota. We explore the history of the Boundary Waters, the ecosystem and wildlife, the importance of outdoor recreation to the regional economy, and the ongoing battle against proposed copper mining operations. She shares insights into the impact of potential mining on this incredible ecosystem and the broader implications for public lands nationwide.

https://www.savetheboundarywaters.org/call-senate-now

The main Capitol switchboard number to reach the United States Congress is (202) 224-3121. This operator can connect you directly with any Senate or House office.

02:10 Current Threats to the Boundary Waters

05:04 History and Significance of the Boundary Waters

08:04 Ingrid’s Personal Connection to the Boundary Waters

13:35 Unique Features and Wildlife of the Boundary Waters

19:34 The Mining Threat: History and Impact

26:40 Economic Importance of the Boundary Waters

29:22 Economic Impact of Proposed Mining Project

30:53 History and Legal Background of Mining Claims

31:18 Mineral Withdrawal Process and Challenges

36:05 Congressional Actions and Implications

41:21 Potential Consequences and Public Response

49:57 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

In this episode, I interview Allison Jones, a seasoned conservation biologist with extensive experience in arid ecosystems—specifically the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin. We discuss a range of topics including juniper treatments, sage-grouse, pygmy rabbits, and the unique ecology of the Great Basin. Allison details her educational background, professional experiences, and contributions to wildlife and land management policy through roles in organizations like the Sageland Collaborative, the Wild Utah Project and here current employer, Conservation Science Partners. Our discussion covers the impacts of mechanical vegetation treatments on pinyon juniper ecosystems, the impacts from livestock grazing post treatments, and the challenges posed by invasive species like cheatgrass, post treatments. We also delve into controversial practices, effects on water resources, and the impacts to wildlife species.

Do Mechanical Vegetation Treatments of Pinyon-Juniper and Sagebrush Communities Work? A Review of the Literature

The Pygmy Rabbit

03:02 Allison’s Background and Career Journey

08:04 The Great Basin: A Unique Ecosystem

12:21 Pinyon and Juniper Forests: Ecology and Management

16:29 Controversial Practices and Wildlife Impact

27:24 Cheatgrass Dominance in Treatment Areas

28:48 Impact of Grazing on Cheatgrass Spread

29:55 Water Flow and Juniper Removal

33:56 Phases of Juniper Encroachment

37:10 Sage-Grouse Habitat and Treatment Effectiveness

41:54 The Pygmy Rabbit: Habitat and Conservation

45:25 Fire Cycles and Livestock Grazing Impact