Our Public Lands

In this episode, I interview Carla Chung Mattix, a former National Park Service attorney, about her new book National Parks and the Supreme Court: Groundbreaking Legal Battles (University of Nevada Press, published August 11). Carla began her book project about four years ago to address a knowledge gap about how park laws work, explaining the Organic Act as the core mandate along with other federa...

In this episode, I interview Josh Schlossberg, representing Protect Colorado’s Land, Communities and Tax Dollars in opposition to Colorado Prop 137. Josh argues Colorado has become a proving ground for “wildfire pretense logging,” enabled by fear-based messaging, supportive media coverage, and corporate-aligned NGOs. He says fuel-reduction projects in Colorado commonly involve industrial logging,...

In this episode, I interview Ryan Callaghan, former hunting and fly-fishing guide who worked in PR & media at First Lite, led conservation efforts across MeatEater brands, and is now six months in as president and CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA), a 501(c)(3) advocating for public lands, waters, and wildlife. We discuss current threats including monument reductions, wilderness and WSA...

Roadless Areas contain some of my favorite places on our National Forest lands. Some of your favorites spots are probably in Roadless Areas as well. Unlike wilderness areas, there are no wooden signs you pass or lines crossed on the map. These invisible boundaries are often traversed without us knowing. Please read on for some useful links and information. And how you can submit your comments to U...

In this episode, I interview Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project to talk about cheatgrass, an annual invasive grass taking over large areas of the America West. Cheatgrass is an invasive Eurasian annual that arrived in contaminated crop seed and spread through the West via rail corridors and especially through cattle and sheep, whose fur carries its spiny seeds. Erik argu...

In this episode, I interview George Nickas, the outgoing executive director of Wilderness Watch. George discusses ending his 30-year tenure at Wilderness Watch as the group transitions to new executive leadership under Dana Johnson. George recounts Wilderness Watch’s origins in 1989 in response to illegal outfitter caches and proposed lodges in the River of No Return country, then describes early...

In this episode, I interview Tim Ingalsbee, co-founder and executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE). Tim and I discuss his critiques of the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service, arguing consolidation is framed as efficiency but functions as defunding, job shedding, and a suppression-first “Fire Force” detached from land stewardship, able to override local land ma...

In this episode, I speak with Defenders of Wildlife’s Kelly Cox and Christian Hunt about the Wildlife Corridors Act and why it’s needed to counter habitat fragmentation and improve wildlife movement across landscapes that don’t match jurisdictional boundaries. They explain the bill’s goal of creating a national wildlife corridors system focused primarily on federal lands, requiring agencies to coo...

I this episode, I interview Dave Stalling, writer and wildlife advocate based in Missoula, Montana. Dave recounts his time serving in Marine Corps Force Recon, struggling for years with self-acceptance, and finding his footing by spending long periods alone in remote Montana wildlands, influenced by Doug Peacock’s Grizzly Years and writers like Edward Abbey and Jack Turner. Dave explains his deep...

In this episode, I interview Alex Kelloff, a first-time candidate running in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. Alex launched his campaign after Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection, citing concerns about January 6, public-lands selloffs and leasing for oil and gas, federal land-agency staffing cuts, and opposition to Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd and Project 2025-style policies. We discuss top voter co...

In this episode, I interview Paul Lynn, a Walla Walla, Washington-based mycology educator, business owner and public-lands advocate, about fungal ecology, mycelium networks, and how logging disrupts soils’ “sponge” function that stores and releases water. Paul links fungi to forest hydrology, climate processes, and a precautionary approach given how little is known about fungal communities. Our co...

In this episode, I interview Sam Forstag, a former Missoula-based Forest Service smokejumper and union local vice president now running for Congress in Montana’s 1st District, motivated by DOGE-related cuts that fired many of his co-workers and by frustration with Rep. Ryan Zinke’s lack of response. Forstag shares his upbringing, education at the University of Montana, and eight years in firefight...

In this episode, I interview Alison Fox, executive director of American Prairie, about the organization’s 25-year effort to build a 3.2-million-acre grassland reserve anchored by the 1.1-million-acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. Ali describes on-the-ground restoration including a bison herd grown from 16 animals to nearly 1,000, fence modification/removal, stream work, junk removal...

Do you value this program? I am a one-man operation and could use your support! Thank you In this episode, I am joined by Wanda Culp and Joshua Wright to discuss their new film, Land Less , and the “Landless Bill” (S.2554 / H.R.41), that would transfer 115,000 acres of Southeast Alaska public lands on the Tongass National Forest—about 60,000 currently protected by the Roadless Rule—to new Native c...

In this episode, I speak with long-time wilderness advocate Gary MacFarlane. Gary discusses moving from Idaho to France, still active with Wilderness Watch and Friends of the Clearwater, he explains his long connection to the Northern Rockies and why the Clearwater Basin is so special to him, with diverse habitats and notable wildlife history including wolves, grizzly sightings, and the decline of...

In this episode, I speak with Ryan Busse, Democratic congressional candidate running in MT-01. He is currently projected to win the upcoming primary election in early June. On public lands issues in Congress, Ryan argues calls and letters aren’t enough without electoral change, citing the example of the recent vote on the Boundary Waters, and lays out his case as to why he’ll be a strong fighter f...

Please consider “upgrading” your subscription to support my work U.S. Senate passed H.J. Res. 140 (50–49) to overturn a 20-year mineral withdrawal protecting 225,504 acres in the Boundary Waters’ Rainy River headwaters, sending the resolution to President Trump. Ingrid explains the Quetico-Superior ecosystem’s vulnerability to sulfide copper mining, the history of canceled Twin Metals leases and t...

In this episode, I interview Diane Boyd, wolf biologist and author. Diane describes learning wolf trapping and collaring during her early years in Minnesota, then moving to Montana in 1979 during early natural wolf recolonization before the 1995–96 Yellowstone/Idaho introductions. She explains why biologists trap wolves, what radio-collars reveal about pack behavior, reproduction, territories, die...

In this episode, I interview Bob Krumenaker, retired Big Bend National Park superintendent, about the recently proposed Big Bend border wall and its implications. Bob describes Big Bend’s desert, Chisos Mountains, and the Rio Grande riparian corridor, emphasizing biodiversity, cross-border wildlife movement, and the park’s international protected-area status. He argues Big Bend has the lowest ille...

In this episode, I interview Harold Wood, writer and historian, who specializes in the life and work of John Muir, one of the nation’s most influential and now, controversial, wilderness advocates. Harold discusses his lifelong interest in Muir and explains why his blend of scientific observation and poetic writing remains influential today. He outlines Muir’s role in the wilderness movement and t...

In this episode, I welcome back Kevin Proescholdt of Wilderness Watch to discuss wilderness policy debates, focusing on large prescribed-burning proposals like the Forest Service plan to burn all 289,000 acres of Illinois’s Shawnee National Forest, including about 40,000 acres of designated wilderness, and a Boundary Waters project proposal to burn roughly 87,000 of Wilderness. Kevin and I dispute...

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 heav...

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, an...

A live conversation with Dr. Chad Hanson about the deceptively named "Save Our Sequoias Act," wildfire, our new film, and public lands logging Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

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 Wiscon...