The Wild Idea

This week’s Wild Line begins with the President’s decision to greenlight construction of the Ambler Road through the heart of northwestern Alaska, a move that’s drawn fierce opposition from tribal and conservation groups. We also cover new developments in Congress affecting millions of acres of BLM lands in Montana and North Dakota, and legislation that would expand border patrol operations inside...

Faith, land, and stewardship come together in this episode with Joel Gill, Executive Director of Ferncliff, a 1,200-acre camp and conference center outside Little Rock, Arkansas. Joel joins Bill and Anders for a thoughtful conversation about creation care, a faith-based approach to conservation that blends theology, ecology, and the everyday choices we make to care for the land and for one another...

This week’s we dig into the government shutdown, which left thousands of federal workers in limbo and forced Interior to furlough half its staff, straining National Parks, gateway communities, and local economies. We report on the agency and Congressional actions impacting wild places, and share some good news from Oregon, Alaska, and South Carolina. We also highlight the winner of Fat Bear Week. ...

Journalist Chris Keyes , former Editor in Chief at Outside magazine and now the founder of RE:PUBLIC , a nonprofit newsroom focused entirely on public lands, joins Bill and Anders for this episode of The Wild Idea . Chris talks about what pushed him to start something new, why independent reporting matters, and how RE:PUBLIC is stepping in to tell the stories that often get overlooked about the 60...

This week Bill and Anders cover a range of land news, from Congress using the 'nuclear option' to approve Trump nominees for Interior to Climate Week updates from New York City. We are offered a preview of a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing scheduled for next week from friend of the pod, Susan Jane Brown, and we check in on the Forest Service Roadless Rule Recission process. A...

This special episode marks our first live recording, in partnership with the National Wilderness Coalition during National Wilderness Week in Washington, DC. Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota joined us to talk about the Boundary Waters, a place she calls one of her favorites on earth. She shares how the wilderness shaped her family’s story, why it’s a national treasure, and how being there offers re...

This week’s Wild Line comes to you from Washington, DC, where wilderness advocates, recreation leaders, and conservationists gathered for the National Wilderness Coalition’s annual advocacy week. While citizens called for stronger protections, lawmakers pushed new mining bills, a permitting reform framework, and record-setting oil and gas leasing. We also cover the administration’s latest moves on...

In this episode Bill and Anders talk with alpinist and conservation champion Conrad Anker about how his time in the mountains has brought him into the world of activism for people and place. We talk about seeing climate change in real time and how Conrad has worked to support the communities in Nepal. Yes - we talk a bit about mountain climbing and George Mallory too. Learn more our guest, Conrad...

This week on the Wild Line we cover testimony from the Chief of the Forest Service, where he attampts to link the popular Roadless Rule to wildfire risk. The Bureau of Land Management announces plans to rescind the Public Lands Rule which has given equal footing for conservation efforts to those held by industry, there were a number of hearings in DC on public land issues, and we celebrate an unsu...

This week on The Wild Idea , Bill and Anders sit down with Rashid Poulson and Bella Ciabattoni, the horticulture leaders at Brooklyn Bridge Park , to talk about one of New York City’s most surprising wild spaces. What was once a stretch of abandoned shipping piers has become 85 acres of thriving wetlands, meadows, and woodlands along the East River, offering both locals and visitors a chance to re...

This week on The Wild Line we cover congressional action to scrap resource management plans in three states, authorize the controversial Ambler Road project in Alaska, and to remove protections for the Mexican Gray Wolf. Over at EPA the agency fires employees critical of the Trump administration and the Department of Energy is taken to task by leading climate scientists. We also have Border Patrol...

In this episode Bill and Anders talk with Chris Hill, the CEO of the Conservation Lands Foundation. Chris highlights CLF's commitment to the National Conservation Lands System and the communities that adjoin these special areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management. They talk about the 25th anniversary of the Conservation Lands System, grass-roots cultivation and how to never forget why you got...

This Labor Day, we’re turning the spotlight on the people behind our public lands. In this bonus episode, Bill and Anders sit down with three former federal employees who thought they had found their dream jobs in service to the land and the public, only to have those jobs abruptly taken away. Learn more and find the resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week on The Wild Line, we dig into major developments for America’s public lands. The USDA has extended the comment period on its controversial Forest Service reorganization plan. At the same time, Secretary Rollins has opened public comment on a move to rescind the Roadless Rule, threatening 45 million acres of backcountry lands. In Texas, plans to expand Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge ha...

How do we turn the scars of environmental injustice into real innovation for a healthier future? For the fourth part of our Southern Currents series, Bill talks with Josephus Allmond, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, about environmental justice and the push for fair energy solutions in Virginia. Learn more and find the resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.co...

In this episode, Bill and Anders sit down with Theodore Roosevelt IV, who they call Ted, to talk about Alaska, public lands, and what it means to carry forward a legacy of stewardship. From the North Slope to the Tongass, the conversation reveals a personal history in our 49th state with some critical policy and legislation data in the dialogue as well. Find the resources and links mentioned in to...

In this Southern Currents episode, Bill traveled back to Southern Appalachia early in the spring, just months after Hurricane Helene, to trace the impacts of a storm that has reshaped the region’s communities and forests hundreds of miles inland. We sit down with longtime conservation allies, Josh Kelly of MountainTrue, Ben Prater of Defenders of Wildlife, Sam Evans of the Southern Environmental L...

In this episode Bill and Anders head deep into the Okefenokee with guest Kim Bednarek, the executive director of the Okefenokee Swamp Park. Kim shares the story of how a local community created the park in the 1940s as a way to connect people with the swamp, and how today that mission has expanded into conservation education and community-led advocacy. We also cover the World Heritage Site nominat...

Today on the Wild Line we bring you some numbers of hope for Red Wolf recovery, a temporary restraining order on more development at the Everglades detention facility and win for the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. There is also a new map out there that shows the public lands at risk of disposal. These stories and more on this week's Wild Line. Find the resources and links menti...

In this second Southern Currents bonus episode of The Wild Idea , Bill chats with Stewart Noland, Tommie Kelly, and Martha Morris from the Ozark Society, the group that came together in 1962 to keep the Buffalo River from being dammed and went on to make it America’s first National River in 1972. They swap stories from that fight, like riding the Jubilee Bus to Washington, D.C. and floating the ri...

Environmental justice scholar Joe Whitson joins Bill and Anders to talk about how our stories about nature shape the land itself. Joe explains his concept of “wildernessing,” the process of making a place look and feel “untouched” through policy decisions, land management, and marketing, even though these landscapes have deep human histories. The conversation moves from history to the present, exp...

Today we report on the rollback of protections in Alaska’s North Slope, revival of a mining project near the Boundary Waters, and threats to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. We offer some good news with proposed Wild and Scenic River designations in Montana, and some bad news with Louisiana’s cancellation of a landmark coastal restoration project, plus public comments open on a controversial...

In this first installment of our special Southern Currents series, Bill travels the Gulf Coast (sadly, without Anders) to explore the crisis of coastal land loss and the role of citizen science in protecting the region's future. We begin in Louisiana with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Bob Marshall , who has spent decades covering the collapse of his home state's coastal wetlands, before shifti...

Join us as we climb aboard the BOB, a 50-foot Catalina sailboat, with Blain and Monique Anderson—a husband-and-wife team navigating the remote waters of Southeast Alaska. As the owners of Sound Sailing, they’ve turned their love of sailing and wild places into a platform for sharing the raw beauty and singular experience found only in Alaska’s coastal wilderness. Today's episode is part travelogue...

Today we zoom in on layoffs, restructuring, and reorganizations across multiple departments, and cover wins and losses for wildlife and parks. We also inventory what happened on the hill this week.  Find out more about the news mentioned today and links and resources from today's episode at our website, thewildidea.com.