Dan Puskar: DC's Own National Park

Dan Puskar, executive director of the Rock Creek Conservancy, introduces listeners to Rock Creek Park, the 1,754-acre national park running through the heart of Washington, DC, created by Congress the same week as Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. Puskar explains what it takes to steward an urban national park that draws more than two million visits a year but has seen no real increase in its federal budget in two decades, from a 4,000-volunteer stewardship program to a new DC Water tunnel project aimed at cleaning up the creek itself. He also talks about where the park is investing first as it works to make Rock Creek feel open to every neighborhood it touches, and previews this week's reopening of the Carter Barron Amphitheater, a historic stage dark for a decade, for three nights of live music. Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com.