Meryl Harrell & Lisa Ronald: The future of stewarding our shared wild spaces

Wilderness visitation surged 75% during the pandemic and hasn't come back down. Federal staffing hasn't kept pace. Meryl Harrell of Friends of the Forest Service and Lisa Ronald of American Rivers joined The Wild Idea at the National Wilderness Skills Institute to talk honestly about what that gap looks like on the ground, and where the stewardship community is actually filling it.They cover the federal capacity crunch, American Rivers' 2025 National Protected Rivers Assessment (which found that over 80% of U.S. rivers lack adequate protection), the management pressure building on the Flathead Wild and Scenic River, and the technology reshaping how visitors move through wild places. They also bring specific examples of partnership models working right now: a single advocate driving a Wild and Scenic designation for Florida's Myakka River, and the Flathead Rivers Alliance building community river patrols in Montana. And they're direct about what "showing up" actually requires, beyond the trail.Before diving into that conversation, we kick off the episode with host Ashley Arnold previewing Raising Wild, Wild Idea Media's new podcast about raising kids in nature.Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com.