Episodes

  • Introducing How Wild
    Aug 1 2024
    Put on your hiking shoes. Pack some water and snacks. We're heading out on trails around the West to explore the meaning of wilderness and how it's changing.

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    3 mins
  • Untrammeled
    Aug 13 2024
    Untrammeled. No, that's not a typo. We don't mean untrampled.
    Wilderness areas are supposed to remain free from human intervention unless absolutely necessary. But in a world where every part of the planet is affected by climate change, how do we decide when to intervene? We're heading off-trail in Sequoia National Park with land managers and environmentalists who are at odds.

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    32 mins
  • Undeveloped
    Aug 20 2024
    What do you mean by "undeveloped" — weren't there people living here?

    We're wading through rivers in the nation's first wilderness in New Mexico's Gila National Forest to learn how the idea of capital "W" Wilderness came to be.

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    29 mins
  • Natural
    Aug 27 2024
    We're tired from hiking and taking a break at an art museum to ponder how nature got framed.

    We're exploring how artists like Ansel Adams and thinkers like John Muir shaped Americans' ideas of what "authentic nature" should look like and who belongs in it."

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    29 mins
  • Solitude
    Sep 3 2024
    Do you have a permit?

    We're going to a popular trail in Colorado's Maroon Bells to talk about the slippery feeling of solitude and what to do about more people on the trail.

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    29 mins
  • Primitive, Unconfined Recreation
    Sep 10 2024
    Do you have all your gear to head into nature? What about your smartphone?

    Technology helps people access wilderness, but it can also get in the way.

    We're hitting the Pacific Crest Trail with hikers and a Search and Rescue team who have mixed feelings about technology in wilderness, and we meet a recreator who wouldn't be able to be here without it.

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    31 mins
  • Other
    Sep 17 2024
    Not everything fits into neat little boxes. Sometimes you have to check "other."

    What are other perspectives on wilderness?

    We visit the country's first tribal wilderness in the Mission Mountains of Montana to hear how it's managed by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe.

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    28 mins
  • Wild Ideas
    Sep 24 2024
    How wild? We don't have the foggiest idea. In this final episode of season one, we go to California's Point Reyes National Seashore on a cloudy day to think about the nebulous feeling of wilderness and its future. "Capital W" wilderness is a useful land management tool, but wilderness as a feeling is different for everybody.

    Photo by Janet Rosen (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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    30 mins