The Wild Idea

This week on The Wild Line, we’re tracking three major stories shaping the future of public lands and the communities that depend on them, including a new executive order aimed at “commonsense” wildfire prevention and response. 

Learn more and find the links and resources from today's episode at our website, thewildidea.com.

Tracy Stone-Manning has spent her career at the heart of public lands policy—from field offices and statehouses to the director’s chair at the Bureau of Land Management. Now, as president of The Wilderness Society, she’s carrying that fight forward with a deep belief in collaboration, connection, and the promise our public lands represent.

In this episode, she joins Bill and Anders for a wide-ranging conversation about what’s really happening inside our land management agencies, what the public lands rule was meant to protect, and why the stakes feel higher than ever.

Learn mo...

This week on The Wild Line, we dive into the latest updates from the Department of Justice, look at Senate drafts impacting public lands and forests, and talk about youth efforts on behalf of Bigfoot, as well as a handful of other important topics. It's been a big week for wilderness spaces—here's what you may have missed.

Find out more about today's episode and links we mentioned on the show at our website, thewildidea.com.

Randy Newberg is one of the most trusted and strategic voices in the sportsman conservation world, and he’s got stories to prove it. In this episode, Randy joins Bill and Anders for a wide-ranging, funny, and deeply personal conversation that moves from his childhood hunting on public lands in northern Minnesota to testifying before Congress and building a media platform to fight for the places that fed and shaped him.

Learn more about Randy and find links to the resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com.

This week on The Wild Line, Senators Lee and Daines revive dangerous land sell-off efforts, the DOI axes key science protections, and Alaska faces a new wave of oil and gas drilling, because apparently, recess doesn’t mean rest for public lands.

Learn more and find the links and resources from today's episode at our website, thewildidea.com.

What do frozen frogs, machine learning, roadkill, and wilderness ethics have in common? According to evolutionary ecologist Dr. Andis Arietta…everything.

In this wide-ranging and mind-expanding conversation, Andis joins us to explore the deep connections between ecology, evolution, climate change, and how (and whether) we manage wild places.

Find the links and resources mentioned in today's conversation and learn more about Andis by visiting our website, thewildidea.com

This week on The Wild Line, despite Congress being on recess, the hits keep coming for public lands, tribal sovereignty, and environmental protections.

Find the links and resources mentioned in today's episode on our website, thewildidea.com

In this bonus episode of The Wild Idea, we sit down with Jon Jarvis, the 18th Director of the National Park Service, for a wide-ranging and urgent conversation about the future of America’s public lands. Drawing on his 40-year career in the Park Service—from backcountry Alaska to the corridors of D.C.—Jarvis offers a sobering look at current threats, including budget slashing, forced retirements, and what he calls a calculated push to privatize the parks.

Learn more and find the links and resources mentioned in this episode at our website, thewildidea.com.

What does it take to protect one of the most visited, and most threatened, wilderness areas in America? Executive Director of Save the Boundary Waters, Ingrid Lyons, joins us to talk about the fight to defend Minnesota’s beloved Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from dangerous copper mining proposals and the broader movement to reinvigorate wilderness advocacy nationwide.

Learn more about the topics discussed in today's episode and connect with Ingrid on our website, thewildidea.com

This week on The Wild Line, Anders and Bill break down a big development in the ongoing budget reconciliation battle, and what it means for public lands. We dive into the House Reconciliation Bill, the Trump administration’s $5 billion cut to the Department of the Interior’s budget, and more.

Find the links and resources mentioned in today's episode on our website, thewildidea.com

It’s not every day a sitting U.S. Senator joins us to talk about the places that shaped him. In this special bonus episode, Senator Tim Kaine reflects on his journey across Virginia—on foot, by bike, and by kayak—and how that experience shapes his approach to conservation, policy, and legacy.

See the notes from today's episode and learn more by visiting our website, thewildidea.com

What happens when you try to bring back a mythic, misunderstood, cold-loving carnivore that most people don't even know is real? You get one of the most fascinating conservation stories in the American West. In this episode, Kaitie Schneider of Defenders of Wildlife joins us to talk about the long-awaited reintroduction of Gulo gulo, the wolverine, to Colorado.

Learn more and connect with Kaitie by visiting our website, thewildidea.com

Welcome to the very first edition of The Wild Line, a new weekly series from The Wild Idea podcast. This show is for all of you who’ve asked to stay informed about what’s happening with our public lands, from Washington, D.C. to your own backyard. Each Friday, we’ll bring you the big stories shaping the future of our wild places, with sharp commentary, context, and some fire. 

This week, we’re starting with some catch-up after a whirlwind month on the public lands front. We cover promising legislation in Virginia and Arkansas, the wildfire...

In this episode of The Wild Idea, we speak with José González, founder of Latino Outdoors and co-founder of The Outdoorist Oath, about identity, community, and redefining what it means to belong in wild spaces.

José shares his personal journey from rural Mexico to national conservation leadership, and why the question isn’t just how to get more people outside, but why it matters who gets to belong there.

Learn more and connect with José by visiting our website, thewildidea.com

Today we are in conversation with David Gessner, the bestselling author of multiple books including his most recent release, The Book of Flaco. We talk about his exploration of the American West both on the page and through his own travels, along with the lasting legacy of Theodore Roosevelt and the paradox of land management in the United States.

Connect with David and learn more about this conversation at our website, thewildidea.com

Today we're so excited to welcome Grizzly Bear Management Specialist (retired) Tim Manley to The Wild Idea podcast!

In our conversation today, we talk about Tim's pioneering work capturing Grizzly behavior in the wild, the evolution of the Grizzly - Human relationship and interactions, and how human behavior is impacting Grizzly habitat and vice versa.

Learn more about Tim and find the links and resources mentioned in today's episode on our website.

Today we are excited to be in conversation with J. Drew Lanham, an ecologist, poet, and professor.

We dive into questions of wilderness, who determines the authenticity of an outdoor experience, how Black and Brown people are showing up outside, what the evolving government actions could mean for our common access to wild spaces, and so much more.

Connect with Drew and see the links and resources mentioned in today's episode on our website.

Today we're welcoming forest ecologist Greg Aplet as we dive into one of the most common points of interest when it comes to the wilderness today: forest fires and how they impact spaces both wild and human. 

We talk with Greg about legislation and governmental actions, the costs and benefits of allowing fires to burn, the after-effects of the Smoky the Bear campaign, and how we can further the conversation between everyone impacted by logging, forest fires, and the ecology of the wilderness.

Connect with Greg and see the links and resources mentioned in t...

In the midst of the current administration's efforts to target public lands for privatization, we invited Susan Jane Brown—who we'll call SJ throughout today's show—to talk about what's happening right now and what it means for all of us, in this bonus episode where we're diving deep into the current threats facing the U.S. Forest Service.

After setting the stage with a framing of the government institutions that protect and caretake our public lands, we get into conversation with SJ about the entire picture of the timber industry and its intersection with public lands, from...

Today we’re joined by wildlife scientist Corina Newsome, as we explore the roots of her passion for birds before diving into how her career has brought her into spaces of seeking environmental justice and equity and helping climate-threatened species survive in a changing world.

Connect with Corina and see the links and resources mentioned in today's episode on our website.

We're excited to welcome journalist Nate Schweber to the show! Today our conversation delves into how journalism has told the story of our public lands across the years, and Nate shares more about his recent book This America of Ours and other crucial writings about our public spaces.

Connect with Nate and see the links and resources mentioned in today's episode on our website.

In today’s episode, we’re talking with the award-winner author, conservationist, and forester Hal Herring. You’l hear about how he balances his work as a planter, a sawyer, and writer; his journey and experiences from his youth in the American South to his career in the forests of the American West, his experiences with conservation and public lands across his career, and why he considers public lands to be the soul of the American Dream.

Connect with Hal and see the links and resources mentioned in today's episode on our website.

Welcome to Episode One of The Wild Idea Podcast!

As you'll hear in today's conversation with co-hosts Bill Hodge and Anders Reynolds, this podcast is a project years in a making. The idea for this show emerged during conversations on a prairie in Montana, and we are excited to finally be delivering a series of incredible, important, and hopefully interesting conversations to your listening ears.

Today, Bill and Anders set the framework and talk about why we’re creating this podcast, answer some questions to help you get to know each of them a bit be...