Dan Puskar, executive director of the Rock Creek Conservancy, discusses Rock Creek Park, the 1,754-acre urban national park Congress created in Washington, DC the same week in September 1890 as Sequoia and Yosemite. Puskar traces the park’s reliance on partner organizations amid two decades of flat federal funding, and details a joint effort with DC Water to build the Piney Branch Tunnel, a project intended to sharply cut sewage overflow and E. coli levels in Rock Creek. He also previews the reopening of the Carter Barron Amphitheater, a stage built in 1950 as one of the city’s first integrated performance venues, for three nights of jazz, gospel, and go-go music August 20–22, 2026, its first performances in a decade. Puskar points to the pending America the Beautiful Act, which would extend federal deferred-maintenance funding for public lands through 2031, as part of what it will take to fully restore the historic stage.

No government, federal, state, or local, can fully fund the parks its citizens actually want, and that the gap gets filled by the people who show up

Dan Puskar is the executive director of the Rock Creek Conservancy, the nonprofit partner charged with helping care for Rock Creek Park, the 1,754-acre national park running through the heart of Washington, DC. Puskar spent more than two decades working at the national level, starting as a park ranger at Mesa Verde National Park, then six years at the National Park Foundation, then a decade as president and CEO of the Public Lands Alliance, before deciding he wanted a single park to call his own again. Rock Creek Park gave him that, and it also gives millions of Washingtonians their closest connection to the National Park System, even if most of them have never quite thought of it that way.

Puskar walks through the park’s origin story, created by Congress in the same week in September 1890 as Sequoia and Yosemite, and explains why an urban national park with no entrance fee faces a different set of pressures than its western counterparts: two decades without a real increase in federal funding, a forest stressed by beech leaf disease and years of deer overbrowsing, and a creek whose health depends on stormwater and sewage decisions made well outside the park’s boundary, up in Montgomery County, Maryland. He describes Rock Creek Conservancy’s response, from a volunteer program that brings more than 4,000 people a year into the park, to a new partnership with DC Water on the Piney Branch Tunnel, a project just underway that’s expected to cut sewage overflow into the creek by an order of magnitude. He also talks about where equity fits into that work: a new park-wide signage project deliberately starting in the neighborhoods that have historically had the least access to Rock Creek, and the reopening this week of the Carter Barron Amphitheater, a stage built in 1950 as one of the city’s first integrated performance venues, dark for the past decade and returning for three nights of jazz, gospel, and go-go.

Puskar’s throughline is that no government, federal, state, or local, can fully fund the parks its citizens actually want, and that the gap gets filled by the people who show up: a volunteer stream monitor, a lawmaker pushing the America the Beautiful Act, a concertgoer buying a fifteen-dollar ticket to hear live music return to Carter Barron. The open question is whether that patchwork of goodwill and coalition-building can keep pace with a maintenance backlog that keeps growing and a forest that is visibly changing, even as more people than ever are counting on Rock Creek Park as the outdoors closest to home.

In this episode:

• A career that found him, not the other way around Puskar traces his path from a bio major who didn’t care about ecology to a “temporary” summer ranger job at Mesa Verde that turned into a career in national parks.
• An urban national park most people don’t recognize as one Rock Creek Park was created by Congress the same week in 1890 as Sequoia and Yosemite, but Puskar explains why it rarely gets mentioned in the same breath.
• Two decades of flat funding, no entrance fee Puskar breaks down what it means for a park to serve more than two million visits a year on a federal budget that hasn’t meaningfully grown in 20 years.
• A creek shaped by decisions made outside the park Rock Creek’s health depends on stormwater and sewage choices made upstream in Montgomery County, Maryland; Puskar discusses the newly begun Piney Branch Tunnel project with DC Water aimed at cutting sewage overflow into the creek.
• Signage as an equity decision Rock Creek Conservancy’s new park-wide wayfinding project is starting deliberately in the neighborhoods with historically the least access to the park.
• Carter Barron Amphitheater comes back to life A historic stage that opened in 1950 as one of DC’s first integrated performance venues, dark for a decade after its substructure failed inspection, reopens this week for three nights of live music.

Links & Resources

Organizations & Initiatives:

• Rock Creek Conservancy — Nonprofit partner to the National Park Service for Rock Creek Park, formerly known as Friends of Rock Creek’s Environment (FORCE). 
• Public Lands Alliance — National nonprofit supporting the organizations that partner with public lands; Puskar served as president and CEO for a decade before joining Rock Creek Conservancy. 
• National Park Foundation — Official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, where Puskar worked for six years. 
• Carter Barron Alliance — Coalition Rock Creek Conservancy is building among music, arts, historic preservation, and public space advocates to support restoration of the Carter Barron Amphitheater. 
• DC Water Clean Rivers Project: Piney Branch Tunnel — Underground tunnel project intended to capture combined sewage and stormwater overflow before it reaches Rock Creek. 
• Chesapeake Gateways — National Park Service program supporting sites across the Chesapeake Bay watershed; provided support for the Carter Barron reopening. 

Places & Landscapes:

• Rock Creek Park — 1,754-acre national park running through Washington, DC, established by Congress in 1890. 
• Carter Barron Amphitheater — Historic outdoor performance venue in Rock Creek Park, opened in 1950; reopening for three nights of music August 20–22, 2026, after a decade dark.
• Mesa Verde National Park — Colorado national park where Puskar first worked as a park ranger. 

Government & Policy:

• Great American Outdoors Act (2020) — Made Land and Water Conservation Fund permanent and directed nearly $10 billion toward deferred maintenance across federal public lands.
• America the Beautiful Act — Pending legislation that would extend the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund through 2031; discussed as key to fully restoring sites like Carter Barron. 

People Mentioned:

• Jamie Raskin — U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 8th District, which includes part of the Rock Creek watershed; named by Puskar as a champion for the park in Congress.
• Benjamin Harrison — 23rd U.S. President; signed Rock Creek Park into law in 1890 in the same week as Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks.

Dan Puskar has led Rock Creek Conservancy as its Executive Director since July 2025. Puskar is a longtime leader of national public lands conservation organizations and brings the extensive leadership experience and knowledge needed to support the Conservancy’s ambitious mission to restore Rock Creek and its parklands as a natural oasis for all people to appreciate and protect. He brings a wealth of leadership, finance, and conservation experience; extensive knowledge of national parks; a well-established network of
relationships; and—most importantly—a deep love for Rock Creek. He came to the Conservancy from the Public Lands Alliance, where he has served as President and CEO since 2013. He has held prior leadership positions with the National Park Foundation, National Park Service, and Mesa Verde Association. He lives in DC with his husband, Jack.

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