Journalist Heather Hansman, author of Downriver and Powder Days, discusses her new book Fierce Country: The Untold Story of Three Women Who Ignited America's Love for the Wild, which profiles Grand Canyon river guide Georgie White, Adirondack wilderness biologist Anne...
A once-in-a-generation chance to reimagine public lands protection from the ground up The federal lands fight has shifted since Tracy Stone-Manning last sat down with Bill and Anders in June 2025. The workforce cuts she warned about have arrived; the Roadless Rule is...
A message of hope rooted in action, collaboration, and the fact that the technical solutions we need already exist Dr. Erica Smithwick, a distinguished professor of geography at Penn State University and director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, joins...
What matters most is that forests continue to function for people, wildlife, and the climate. Dr. William Keeton is a forest ecologist and silviculturalist at the University of Vermont who has spent most of his career studying old-growth forests in the eastern United...
January is Roadless Month on The Wild Idea. Throughout the month, we’re exploring the landscapes, communities, and ideas shaped by America’s roadless public lands — and what’s at stake as these protections face renewed threats. Why? Because decisions being discussed...
What does it mean to hold on to hope after history has shown us how easily good causes can go astray? Environmental historian Frank Uekötter joins Bill and Anders for a thought-provoking conversation about how good intentions and bad systems can collide, and what...
The power of combining personal stories with facts and building broad coalitions to make sure wild places stay protected. This special episode marks our first live recording, in partnership with the National Wilderness Coalition during National Wilderness Week in...
Alpinist Conrad Anker, who discovered George Mallory's remains on Everest in 1999 and completed the first ascent of Meru's Shark's Fin, discusses how decades in the world's highest mountain ranges shaped his conservation views. He describes firsthand observations of...
Theodore Roosevelt IV, great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt and a board member of The Wilderness Society, discusses threats facing Alaska's public lands, drawing on personal experience camping on the Kongakut River and paddling Southeast Alaska's coast. He...
“Our collective love for these places is pulling the work through our boots and through our hands.” - Sam Evans In this Southern Currents episode, Bill traveled back to Southern Appalachia nearly a year after Hurricane Helene, a storm that reshaped the region’s...