The Wild Idea

Latest Episodes:

Christopher Preston: Tenacious Beasts Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

Award-winning author, environmental philosopher, and clean energy enthusiast Christopher Preston joins Bill and Anders to discuss his book Tenacious Beasts: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think About Animals. He shares stories of wolves, whales, and beavers making remarkable comebacks, offering a hopeful look at what can happen when we give nature room to recover and thrive.

Together they explore ideas of rewilding, animal agency, and the ethics of when and how humans should intervene, or simply step back and watch the wild world flourish. The conversation weaves in lessons from Europe’s rewilding movement, Indigenous perspectives that resonate with modern conservation, and how compassion and curiosity can guide better care for the natural world.

Find out more and access the links and resources mentioned in today's episode at our website, thewildidea.com.

The Wild Line: Shutdown Chaos, Arctic Flooding, Pigeon River Restoration Oct 17, 2025

Show notes

This week’s Wild Line opens with a look at the 17-day-old federal shutdown and its ripple effects across the public lands workforce, from widespread layoffs to the potential loss of recreation-driven economies. We share highlights from the Rocky Mountain Wilderness Gathering in Colorado, explore the latest developments in energy and climate policy, and report from Alaska where two Arctic villages have suffered devastating flood damage. We also cover new Congressional Review Act rollbacks, a rejected coal lease bid in the Powder River Basin, renewed litigation to save Columbia River salmon, forest recovery in the wake of Hurricane Helene, and a public lands storytelling project preserving the signs of our shared history.

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

Rachel Franchina: The People Powering Public Lands Oct 14, 2025

Show notes

Rachel Franchina, Executive Director of the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals, joins Bill and Anders for a conversation about leadership, resilience, and the people behind America’s favorite wild places. Together they look at what it means to build a healthy and sustainable recreation workforce in a time of shrinking budgets, early retirements, and record visitation. The conversation also explores how climate change is reshaping recreation design, how career pathways can evolve to attract and retain new generations, and how joy, community, and shared purpose keep people in the work even when resources are scarce. It’s a grounded, hopeful look at the future of the profession that keeps us all outdoors.

Learn more and access the links and resourced mentioned in today's episode at our website, thewildidea.com.

The Wild Line: Ambler Road Approved, Resource Plans Nixed and Shutdown Fallout Deepens Oct 10, 2025

Show notes

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 wilderness areas. Plus: setbacks in federal wildfire mitigation, the creation of a new Wildland Fire Service, changes to NEPA guidance, major EPA funding cuts, and state and local conservation news from Wyoming, West Virginia, Maine, Florida, and California. Finally, a Nobel Prize story that started deep in Montana’s backcountry.

Learn more and find the links and resources mentioned in today's episode at thewildidea.com

Joel Gill: Creation Care and the Common Good Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

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.

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

The Wild Line: The Government Shuts Down and a New Fat Bear Champion is Crowned Oct 03, 2025

Show notes

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.

Learn more about the resources and news mentioned in today's episode at our website, thewildidea.com.

Chris Keyes: Why Public Lands Need RE:PUBLIC Sep 30, 2025

Show notes

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 600 million acres of land we all share.

Find out more in the show notes at thewildidea.com

The Wild Line: Senate Approves Nominees, NPS Erases History, Blue Ridge Parkway Reopens Sep 26, 2025

Show notes

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. All this and much more in under 15 minutes.

Learn more about the resources and news mentioned in today's episode at our website, thewildidea.com.

Senator Tina Smith: You Can't Underestimate the Power of Place Sep 23, 2025

Show notes

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 restoration and a deeper connection to history and place.

Find more details and links for this episode at thewildidea.com.

The Wild Line: Advocates on the Hill, Last Day for Roadless Comments Sep 19, 2025

Show notes

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 climate reporting, Canada’s pivot toward fossil fuels, and a proposed U.S. Wildland Fire Service.

Learn more and access the resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com.

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