The Wild Idea

Latest Episodes:

The Wild Line: Trump Puts Wetlands and Wildlife at Risk, Congress Takes Step to Stymie Environmental Review Nov 21, 2025

Show notes

This week’s Wild Line covers two House votes aimed at rolling back major protections in Alaska, key hearings in both chambers of Congress, and new bipartisan action on wildlife migration. We also follow leadership changes inside federal agencies, the newest member joining the House Natural Resources Committee, and a significant wetlands rollback announced by the Trump Administration.

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

American Prairie, Part Two - A Wilder Future Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

In this second half of our American Prairie series, we sit down with CEO Alison Fox and Director of Rewilding Danny Kinka to look at what the project has become and where it’s headed. Allie talks about how American Prairie has grown into a 600,000-acre public access landscape with a bison herd now twenty years in, a thriving field school for Montana students, and a team focused on everything from habitat restoration to community partnerships. Danny walks us through what rewilding looks like on the ground, from the return of key species to the human work of building social tolerance for wildlife.

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

The Wild Line: Shutdown Ends, Oil Companies Exploit Texas and Alaska, Colorado Prioritizes Protection Nov 14, 2025

Show notes

This week’s Wild Line looks at the end of the shutdown, what the new continuing resolution means for public lands and civil servants, and how Congress is lining up for a busy set of hearings next week. We follow new pressure on the Public Lands Rule, a withdrawn National Park Service nomination, the latest turns in the Colorado River negotiations, and reactions to a federal move that sidelines tribal approval on hydroelectric projects. We also cover Chevron’s major energy plans in West Texas, new proposed activity in the Western Arctic, and a report highlighting key Colorado landscapes ready for lasting protection.

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

American Prairie, Part One - Wild on Purpose Nov 13, 2025

Show notes

In this first of a two-part conversation about American Prairie, we talk with founder Sean Gerrity about what inspired him to take on one of the largest conservation projects in North America. Sean shares how a lifetime spent outdoors and a background in business led him to the idea of rewilding millions of acres of Montana grasslands. He talks about what it’s like to earn trust in ranching country, how he approaches relationships with tribal nations, and why he calls himself a “possibilist” rather than an optimist. For Sean, this work has always been about connection between people, between ecosystems, and between past and future.

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

Malcolm Brooks: The Fallout from Ballot Box Biology Nov 11, 2025

Show notes

Author Malcolm Brooks joins us for a conversation that moves from the landscapes that shaped his fiction to the messy realities of modern wildlife management. We ask how he views landscapes as part of his storytelling, and then move on to the story that he has been tracing since the predatory mountain lion attack on his nephews, and the California wildlife policy shifts that possibly set the stage for it. We wrap by diving into his latest subject - Butte America!

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

The Wild Line: Hirings, Firings and Protected Climbing Access Nov 07, 2025

Show notes

This week’s Wild Line highlights the impacts of the ongoing shutdown on public lands and civil servants. We share the latest on uncertainty over backpay and high-profile firings and hirings in the conservation world, federal progress on wetlands protection, and concerning efforts to roll back protections in Chaco Canyon and allow chainsaws in wilderness areas. We look at the latest nomination to run the Bureau of Land Management, and close with a win for climbing access in North Carolina.

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

Frank Uekötter: Red Lines in Green Politics | Moral Lessons in Conservation History Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

Environmental historian Frank Uekötter joins Bill and Anders for a thought-provoking conversation about how good intentions and bad systems can collide, and what history can teach us about the moral boundaries of environmental action. Uekötter’s work, including The Vortex and The Green and the Brown, explores how modern environmentalism took shape in the twentieth century and how ideals of nature and progress became entangled with politics, ideology, and power. Together, they step back from today’s headlines to ask what happens when noble causes lose sight of their context, and how well-meaning people can drift into compromise when conviction overrides reflection.

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

The Wild Line: Senators Talk Stewardship, Ranchers Eye Point Reyes, Absaroka-Beartooth Avoids Poison Oct 31, 2025

Show notes

This week’s Wild Line opens with a federal court order that halts layoffs at the Department of the Interior during the shutdown. In Washington, Senators launched a new bipartisan Senate Stewardship Caucus. House Democrats challenged Interior and USDA over shutdown decisions that favor extractive industries even as critical safety work is left to skeleton crews. Federal agencies announced new funding for Western migration corridors, and legal and political pressure reignited the debate over cattle grazing at Point Reyes. The episode also covers the push to rescind the BLM Public Lands Rule, the return of the Albert Pike statue and recent bear attacks in Arkansas, and a series of court rulings and political fights in Montana over trout, timber, grizzlies, bison, and American Prairie’s grazing rights.

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

Barret Baumgart: The Desert is a Haunted House Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

Author and essayist Barret Baumgart joins Bill and Anders for a Halloween special that leans into the stranger side of wild nature. His latest book, Yuck: The Birth and Death of the Weird and Wondrous Joshua Tree, explores how this desert icon went from being despised as grotesque and “demonic” to adored as a backdrop for modern desert dreams. In a conversation that ranges from natural history to horror, they dig into what the Joshua Tree reveals about human nature, the stories we project onto wild places, and the uneasy line between wonder and fear.

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

The Wild Line: Wilderness Bills Advance, Trump Approves Izembek Road, Outdoor Alliance Takes DC Oct 24, 2025

Show notes

This week’s Wild Line opens with new details on the ongoing federal shutdown, including Interior’s plan to cut more than 2,000 jobs across its agencies and furloughs at the Environmental Protection Agency. We look at a busy week on Capitol Hill, where the Senate advanced a package of wilderness bills and a controversial forest management proposal, while the House pressed for restoration of Stonewall National Monument’s LGBTQ+ history. We also cover deregulatory moves inside the White House, a major land acquisition in North Carolina, leadership news from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and the Supreme Court’s decision on corner-crossing. From Alaska, we report on new resolutions from the Alaska Federation of Natives and breaking developments on the Izembek road and Arctic Refuge drilling. Plus, the Outdoor Alliance takes its work to Capitol Hill.

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

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