PODCAST · news
The Landscape
by Center for Western Priorities
News, interviews, and history with newsmakers and environmental advocates, focused on parks and public lands across the American West. Produced by the Center for Western Priorities, formerly known as Go West, Young Podcast.
Episodes
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Inside Utah’s bid to become the country’s next nuclear hub
Aaron and Kate talk to Lexi Tuddenham, executive director of HEAL Utah, about Utah’s push to promote nuclear development and how it intersects with public lands. We also cover the Roadless Rule comment period results and a sketchy-sounding proposal to build over 450 nuclear reactors in Utah to...
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Why submitting a public comment still matters—and how to write a good one
Kate and Aaron talk to Nick Holshouser, a data analyst with Wandering Nature, LLC, who is analyzing the public comments coming in on the Trump administration’s proposal to repeal the 2001 roadless rule in real-time at roadless.org, and Blaine Miller-McFeeley, a senior legislative representative…
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LIVE from Tucson: Arizona’s Public Lands and the Border Wall
Recorded live at Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre in Tucson as part of CWP’s Keep Parks Public campaign, Aaron interviews four experts about the current state of Arizona’s public lands: Matthew Nelson with the Arizona Trail Association, Russ McSpadden with the Center for Biological Diversity, Emily...
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Introducing: On Common Ground, a new podcast about the fight to maintain our public lands
Kate and Aaron run through the weekly news, including the Trump administration’s plans to repeal the Roadless Rule and upend the Forest Service’s travel management planning process. Then, we play the first episode of On Common Ground: An American Inheritance, a new podcast from Eleven Dollar Bill...
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Are America’s public lands entering a new Gilded Age?
Kate and Aaron are joined by Professor John Leshy, one of the nation’s top scholars of public lands law, to discuss a new essay of his that argues America’s public lands are entering a new Gilded Age, complete with robber barons, corruption, and deregulation. We also talk about a new exposé...
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LIVE from Santa Fe: Defending New Mexico’s public lands
Recorded live at Nuckolls Brewing in Santa Fe as part of CWP’s Keep Parks Public campaign, Kate interviews four experts about the current stakes for New Mexico’s public lands. Charlotte Overby (Conservation Lands Foundation), Keegan King (Native Land Institute), Andrew Black (National Wildlife...
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Wild women with author Heather Hansman
Kate and Aaron talk to Heather Hansman about her new book, Fierce Country: The Untold Story of Three Women Who Ignited America’s Love for the Wild. Plus, mining companies are staking an unprecedented number of claims in New Mexico. And we’re going on tour! Come see us in Santa Fe and Tucson. News...
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Who is Doug Burgum, really?
Forum of Fargo-Moorhead columnist Mike McFeely joins Aaron and Kate to trace Doug Burgum’s path from software tycoon to “opportunist” politician. McFeely outlines how Burgum abandoned his once-moderate image to become a die-hard Trump loyalist as Interior Secretary, all while chasing his future...
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Tracy Stone-Manning on the future of public lands
Aaron talks with Tracy Stone-Manning, president of The Wilderness Society, former director of the Bureau of Land Management, and three-time guest on The Landscape, about how to rebuild federal land agencies after years of political disruption and why the current moment may be a…
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How Trump and Burgum hijacked the Park Service and America’s birthday party
Kate and Aaron talk to Jayson O’Neill, a longtime public lands watchdog and Montanan who previously led the Western Values Project and now heads up a campaign called Save Our Parks. Jayson explains how the Trump administration is using the National Park Service to funnel money into Trump’s vanity...
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A former Interior department official explains what’s wrong with mining on public land
Kate and Aaron are joined by Dr. Steve Feldgus, an independent consultant who served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Interior Department under President Biden. Dr. Feldgus talks about how to improve mine permitting in the US, a topic he worked on...
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How a private billionaires’ club took over the Crazy Mountains
Floodlight News reporter Evan Simon joins Aaron and Kate to break down a controversial Forest Service land swap in Montana’s Crazy Mountains that quietly gave Yellowstone Club — a private club for billionaires — near-exclusive access to what should be public land, and how Interior Secretary Doug...
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Jennifer Rokala on 11 years fighting for public lands at CWP
In this special episode of The Landscape, the entire Center for Western Priorities team joins us for an interview with Jennifer Rokala, CWP’s outgoing executive director, to celebrate her 11 years leading the organization. Jen reflects on key victories throughout her tenure at CWP, the...
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Borderlands part 2: The fight against a border wall at Big Bend
In the second part of our series on the borderlands, Aaron and Lilly are joined by Bob Krumenaker, former superintendent of Big Bend National Park and current chair of Keep Big Bend Wild. They discuss the proposal for a border wall through one of America’s national treasures, the bipartisan...
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Borderlands part 1: The threats to public lands at the border
In the first installment of a two-part series on the borderlands, Aaron and Lilly are joined by Laiken Jordahl, National Public Lands Advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, to discuss his work protecting public lands along the U.S.-Mexico border. Laiken shares a boots-on-the-ground...
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The dangerous rush to consolidate America’s wildfire response
Producers Lauren Bogard and Lilly Bock-Brownstein are joined by Timothy Ingalsbee of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE). Timothy explains why the Trump administration’s rushed reorganization of federal firefighting is so risky, what it means for the firefighters already...
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What the off-road community stands to lose on public lands
In this week’s episode, Aaron is joined by guest co-host Lauren Bogard for a conversation with Jonathon Klein, editor-in-chief of RideApart, an online news source for the motorized vehicle community. Jonathon makes the case that the OHV and powersports community has more at stake in the public...
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America’s 250th anniversary and why history matters in our parks
Aaron is joined by Alan Spears from the National Parks Conservation Association to discuss his recent testimony before Congress about the Trump administration’s efforts to erase difficult histories from national parks and historic sites. As America approaches its 250th anniversary, Alan makes the...
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Why America’s lesser known national parks matter now more than ever
In this episode, Aaron and Kate are joined by Jesse Chakrin, Executive Director of the Fund for People in Parks. They discuss how his organization supports smaller, overlooked national park sites across the West through philanthropy and partnerships. From multilingual signage to junior ranger...
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2025 was awful for public lands. Is there hope?
Aaron and Kate speak with Jim Pattiz of the More Than Just Parks newsletter about public lands news after the first year of the second Trump administration The post 2025 was awful for public lands. Is there hope? appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.
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Unpacking the 2026 Conservation in the West Poll
In this episode of The Landscape, Aaron welcomes pollsters Lori Weigel from New Bridge Strategy and Miranda Everitt from FM3 to discuss the 16th annual Colorado College Conservation in the West Poll. The bipartisan polling team breaks down voter attitudes across eight Western states on public...
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What gutting the Council on Environmental Quality means for public lands
In this episode, Kate and Aaron are joined by Professor John Ruple, a public lands law expert at the University of Utah and former attorney at the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), to discuss the Trump administration’s dismantling of the CEQ’s authority over NEPA regulations. He breaks down...
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Weaponizing the Congressional Review Act against America’s public lands
In this episode, Kate and Aaron discuss how Congress is using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn public land management plans, creating chaos and uncertainty for federal lands. Steve Bloch from the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance explains that the CRA, originally designed to review...
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Why a New Mexico gun rights leader opposes Trump’s pick to lead the BLM
Aaron and Kate speak with Zachary Fort, president of the New Mexico Shooting Sports Association, about his opposition to Steve Pearce’s nomination to lead the Bureau of Land Management. Fort, a former Republican and gun rights advocate, explains why hunters and shooting sports enthusiasts are...
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Will Maduro’s capture lead to an American oil rift?
Kate and Aaron talk to Kelly Mitchell, executive director of oil industry watchdog FieldNotes, about what Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro’s capture by the US means for oil and gas producers here in the West. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has also been making the rounds on Fox cheering on...
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Burnout and bravery: Fighting fire on America’s public lands
In this episode of The Landscape, Aaron and Lauren ask veteran wildland firefighter Bobbie Scopa about the state of America’s wildfire response. Bobbie, who is a retired firefighter with the organization Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, shares insights from her five-decade career, exploring how...
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Common waters: Inside the fight for stream access in Colorado
In this episode of The Landscape, Aaron and Sterling talk to Cody Perry, a filmmaker and founder of Rig to Flip, and Professor Mark Squillace, an expert in public lands and environmental law at the University of Colorado, about the ongoing battle to change Colorado’s restrictive stream access…
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The dirty truth about oil and gas drilling in New Mexico
On this episode of the Landscape, Kate and Aaron are joined by filmmaker Annie Ersinghaus, rancher Don Schreiber, and Gail Evans, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, to talk about the impact poorly regulated oil and gas extraction has on New Mexico’s environment. Gail and Don...
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Trump bonding rates could cost taxpayers billions
In this episode of The Landscape, Aaron and Kate discuss the Trump administration’s plan to roll back oil and gas bonding rates designed to protect American taxpayers from the cleanup costs of abandoned wells. The episode features insights from David Jenkins, president of Conservatives for...
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Uranium boom or bubble? Exploring the future of uranium mining in the West
Join us on The Landscape as we dive into the resurgence of uranium mining in the American West. Hosts Aaron Weiss and Kate Groetzinger speak with Land Desk author and public lands expert Jonathan Thompson about whether the current uranium hype signifies a boom or a bubble. We explore the history…
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What the shutdown means for public lands w/ Rep. Jared Huffman
Aaron talks to Rep. Jared Huffman, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, about the government shutdown, whether Adelita Grijalva will ever get sworn in, and what he tells people who ask what’s bringing him hope in this dark time. Produced & hosted by Aaron Weiss (Kate’s back…
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How people across the West are fighting to protect public lands
This Saturday is National Public Lands Day, and in honor of that, we’re bringing you a special behind the scenes episode about our Keep Parks Public tour featuring the team here at CWP. As many listeners or Look West subscribers may know, the CWP team embarked on a 10-day journey that took us…
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Ryan Busse on how billionaires are locking up land in Montana
Kate and Aaron talk to former Montana gubernatorial candidate, public lands hunter, and Substack author Ryan Busse about how billionaires are cutting off access to the outdoors in Montana and a whole lot more. We also briefly touch on the news that the Trump administration is repealing the Public...
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LIVE in Grand Junction: Public land advocates take Trump attacks personally
Kate hosts a live episode in Grand Junction on CWP’s Keep Parks Public tour! Guests discuss the importance of keeping our parks and monuments staffed and funded. Guests: Ken Mabery, former superintendent of Colorado National Monument, Cole Hanson, Grand Valley Outdoor Recreation Coalition board...
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LIVE: Utah conservation all-stars on how to Keep Parks Public
Kate hosts a live episode in Salt Lake City on CWP’s Keep Parks Public tour! Guests: Erika Pollard, National Parks Conservation Association; Davina Smith, Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and Grand Staircase Escalante Partners; Scott Braden, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; Doug Tolman, Save…
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LIVE: Colorado’s public lands are under attack. Keep Parks Public tour highlights threats and ways to fight back
Aaron hosts a live episode in Denver, kicking off CWP’s Keep Parks Public tour. Scott Fitzwilliams, former supervisor of the White River National Forest in Colorado, Kelly Nordini, CEO of Conservation Colorado, and Kara Matsumoto, public lands director at the Conservation Lands Foundation, join…
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What’s next for Utah after SCOTUS snub and Mike Lee flame out?
What the heck is Utah up to now that it’s land grab lawsuit has been snubbed by the Supreme Court and Senator Mike Lee has made public land sell-off untouchable in Congress? Kate and Aaron put that question to John Ruple, a Professor of Law and Stegner Center Fellow at the University of Utah, and...
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The strange and mysterious history of the Joshua tree
Kate and Aaron interview author Barret Baumgart about his new book Yuck: The Birth and Death of the Weird and Wondrous Joshua Tree. Baumgart became obsessed with Joshua trees during the pandemic and ended up uncovering some interesting facts and stories about them. News Trump admin to ink deals...
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Former Forest Service leader on how Trump is hollowing out the agency
Kate and Aaron talk to Steve Ellis, a 38-year veteran of both the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management and current chair of the National Association of Forest Service Retirees, about what the Trump administration is doing, and trying to do, to the Forest Service, and what that means...
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How do we protect BLM lands? We tell their stories
Kate and Aaron talk to writer, photographer, and adventurer Josh Jackson about his new book, The Enduring Wild, which beautifully captures the variety and vastness of California’s public lands—with a particular focus on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Josh is also the man behind…
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Mining companies are knocking at the doors of our national parks
Kate and Aaron talk to experts at the National Parks Conservation Association about illegal mining inside of Mojave National Preserve and a recent uptick in mining claims on public lands, including those near national parks. News 250+ million acres of public lands eligible for sale in SENR budget...
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The DOJ just told Trump he can eliminate monuments. Now what?
Trump’s Department of Justice just released an opinion stating that the Antiquities Act gives presidents the power to shrink or eliminate national monuments at will. But what does that mean, for example, if Trump tries to undo Chuckwalla National Monument or shrink Bears Ears? Will this DOJ…
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Tracy Stone-Manning on the biggest threats to public lands right now
Kate and Aaron talk to Tracy Stone-Manning, former director of the Bureau of Land Management and current president of the Wilderness Society. Tracy tells us what it was like to inherit an agency that was decimated by the first Trump administration and what she’s worried about this time around—but...
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How are the national parks holding up against DOGE and Trump’s attacks?
Kate and Aaron talk to Kurt Repanshek, founder and editor of National Parks Traveler, about President Donald Trump’s proposed funding cuts to the National Park System as well as how staffing cuts imposed by Elon Musk’s DOGE are affecting the Park Service. News In the dead of night, House…
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New nature doc frames the Colorado River as an opportunity, not a crisis
Kate and Aaron speak with Len Necefer, CEO & Founder of NativesOutdoors, a native owned outdoor media, apparel and consulting company. You may also know him as the man behind the Sonoran Avalanche Center Instagram account. Len talks about his latest project, a documentary film about the Colorado...
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How the White House is making federal permitting less efficient
Kate and Aaron nerd out with John Ruple, public lands professor at the University of Utah and a former member of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) about recent changes to how the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is being implemented across federal agencies, like the...
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Unpacking Trump’s mining and timber EOs
Kate and Aaron talk to two experts about recent executive orders that negatively affect public lands. Mitch Friedman, founder and executive director of Conservation Northwest, talks about how Trump’s executive order aimed at increasing logging in national forests squares with existing law and...
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How Elon Musk is trying to dismantle the Interior department
Kate and Aaron are joined by Jimmy Tobias, a public lands reporter and contributor to the Public Domain substack, and Jacob Malcom, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Environmental Management at the Interior Department, to talk about Elon Musk’s attacks on the Interior Department…
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How nature makes us feel happier, healthier, and more connected to humanity
This week, we take a break from bad news to talk about what nature does to your brain. Kate and Aaron speak to author Florence Williams about her book, The Nature Fix, which came out in 2017 but is just as relevant today. Her book looks at the science behind why nature makes us feel happier, […]...
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Western voters reject Trump agenda on public lands
Aaron and Kate break down the results of Colorado College’s annual State of the Rockies Conservation in the West poll with pollsters Lori Weigell and Dave Metz. The poll found that voters in the West support preserving and protecting public lands more than ever before in the poll’s 15-year…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
News, interviews, and history with newsmakers and environmental advocates, focused on parks and public lands across the American West. Produced by the Center for Western Priorities, formerly known as Go West, Young Podcast.
HOSTED BY
Center for Western Priorities
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How many episodes does The Landscape have?
The Landscape currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Landscape about?
News, interviews, and history with newsmakers and environmental advocates, focused on parks and public lands across the American West. Produced by the Center for Western Priorities, formerly known as Go West, Young Podcast.
How often does The Landscape release new episodes?
The Landscape has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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You can listen to The Landscape on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Landscape?
The Landscape is created and hosted by Center for Western Priorities.
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