TahoeLand

Lake Tahoe is perhaps the most popular lake in the West. It sits at around 7,000 feet and attracts some 29 million visitors a year — more than three times Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks combined. What people don’t know is that the lake’s blue hue is also a barometer of how climate change is impacting our world.  

Lake Tahoe is a jewel in the Sierra Nevada that attracts more visitors annually than Disneyland. But climate change threatens to transform the region by the century’s end.

In Capital Public Radio’s TahoeLand podcast, host Ezra David Romero takes us into the mountains to explore how Tahoe is a unique petri dish for climate-science research — and how it holds lessons that will help us confront the global climate crisis. Episodes coming August 8.

Like many major U.S. tourist destinations, Yosemite is dealing with a housing-affordability problem and the arrival of short-term rentals like Airbnb. Many people are turning their homes into vacation rentals. It’s good for tourism. But some neighbors aren’t happy, and area residents say it's often difficult to find a place to rent. Potential employees aren’t taking jobs in the park, and many existing employees face long commutes. In this episode, Ezra speaks with residents who are dealing with the housing issue in the Yosemite area.

We won’t have an episode on Labor Day, but we want to hear from you! Why? For our final episode, which will drop in a couple weeks. Is there a issue we neglected to discuss? Or did you want to hear more about a particular topic? Any creative ideas about how to remedy an issue like traffic or overcrowding? If so, shoot Ezra a voice memo or a note at [email protected].

We’ve explored Yosemite Valley a lot — for good reason. It’s an outdoor wonderland where people raft, hike and climb cliffs. In this episode, Ezra tours Yosemite Valley on a "green dragon" — an open-air tour bus — and also learns about rock falls and why historic places in the park have been renamed. He also visits what people call Yosemite Valley’s "twin sister." It’s a place that John Muir fought to preserve — but he lost that battle.

Hey everyone, Episode 6 will be out Tuesday. In the meantime, here's a taste.

For more than four decades, the Ahwahneechee people — the Native Americans with ties to Yosemite Valley — had no place to call home. Now, one of their villages is being resurrected.

In this episode, Ezra meets with elders who say park service workers burned down their homes. They also discuss how they hope to preserve their heritage for future generations. During his reporting, Ezra realizes Yosemite is more than a cool hiking destination: It’s a very spiritual place.

Hey listeners, we’re still hustling away on Episode 5. In the meantime, check out this teaser.

It's peak tourist season, but the most popular spot in Yosemite is eerily quiet. There are no hikers on trails or climbers on cliffs in the Valley. For the first time in nearly 30 years, a wildfire has closed major portions of the park due to heavy smoke. Yosemite Valley will remain shut indefinitely.

In this episode, Ezra looks at the future of fire in Yosemite. He hikes with a scientist studying how climate change could drastically transform its landscape, talks with the park's first female fire chief, and learns about life growing up in a fire zone.