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Stand in the middle of Bears Ears at night and you can see a single streetlight 20 miles away. That’s how dark Southern Utah is: so dark that the Milky Way looks like a strange streak of cloud, and there are so many stars you can’t pick out the Big Dipper.

In this Our Story episode, host Missy Rentz sits down with Michael Rymer, Communities Program Manager at DarkSky International, to talk about why this corner of the country has some of the darkest skies on Earth, what that darkness means to the tribal nations who have always lived beneath it, and what happens when development brings light to places that have never had it.

In this episode:

• Protected Land, Dark Sky: Why the wildest places in Utah also have the darkest skies, and why Utah now leads the world in certified dark sky places.
• Not Just the Stars: What light at night does to pollinators, migrating birds and the nocturnal animals that hunt and navigate by darkness.
• The Sky as Family: How the night sky told the tribal nations of the region when to plant and when to harvest, and why losing it is like losing a relative.
• One Streetlight, Twenty Miles: What mining and development at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase would mean for the night sky.
• All You Need: Two working eyes, a functional brain and a big heart, plus 20 to 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust.
• Turn Your Screen Red: How to use a stargazing app without ruining your night vision.
• The Parking Lot Trick: Why you don’t have to hike in the dark to see the sky at Natural Bridges, the world’s first dark sky park.
• Timing the Moon: Why the new moon matters, and the winter Milky Way that shows up in the early morning.
• Find Your Dark Sky: Certified places, dark sky festivals in Bluff, and ranger programs.

Michaels picks: Links that Michael recommends when planning your trip

• https://stellarium-web.org/
  https://www.timeanddate.com/
  https://www.astrospheric.com/?Latitude=40.606143&Longitude=-90.332346&Loc=Forecast
  https://clearoutside.com/forecast/
  https://bluffutah.org/star-gazing/

Learn more and find a dark sky place near you at darksky.org.

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On Memorial Day weekend, two wild mares gave birth right behind the campsites at Assateague State Park. Word spread through the campground, hundreds of people gathered, and a crowd that had been loud all day went completely quiet.

That’s Assateague: a barrier island where the horses go wherever they please, including your campsite and the middle of the road. Host Missy Rentz sits down with Meghan Rhode, Assistant Park Manager at Assateague State Park, a few weeks after camping there herself, to talk about the horses, the island, and how to plan a visit to Maryland’s only oceanfront state park.

In this episode:

• One Island, Three Agencies: How the state park, Assateague Island National Seashore and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge share 37 miles of barrier island.
• Shipwreck or Tax Break: The two stories of how the wild horses got there, and which one has more history behind it.
• Born in the Campground: How the herd is managed, and the day a campground full of strangers watched a foal arrive.
• Not Chincoteague Ponies: Why Maryland’s herd is separate from the famous pony swim, and the fence that keeps them apart.
• The Soap Opera: Stallions, bands and territory fights, sometimes two campsites over from yours.
• Sharing the Island: Slow speeds, safe distances, and the horse-resistant food boxes under every picnic table.
• Why They’re Ponies: How a harsh island turned horses into shorter, sturdier animals over generations.
• Pack for the Wind: Extra-long tent stakes, your own shade, and why a west wind means bugs.
• Day Trips and Booking: The beach, the 5 Tides restaurant, and why summer weekends book up a year ahead.
• Bringing Your Dog: When pets are allowed, which loops are pet friendly, and the bur grass nobody warns you about.
• Nature’s Palette: Sunset over the marsh from the causeway, and why you should stop at the visitor center first.

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In 1900, birds were something you shot and pinned to a hat. Then an ornithologist named Frank Chapman suggested people go out on Christmas and count them instead. Today, a family will drive four and a half hours across the desert, three kids in the back seat and every one of them holding binoculars, just to spend a weekend looking up.

Recorded live at the Maryland Outdoor Recreation Summit in Ocean City, Maryland, host Missy Rentz sits down with Wayne Klockner, Executive Director of the American Birding Association, in front of a room full of the people whose job is getting the rest of us outside. A week earlier, Wayne had taken Missy on her very first birding trip at Assateague, where she spent two hours learning what to look at (and mistaking pine cones for birds).

In this episode:

• From Hat Feathers to the Christmas Bird Count: How birding started as a way to stop the killing.
• A Million Ways to Bird: Why watching the feeder in your backyard counts just as much as chasing a rarity across the country.
• “That’s Not Your Fault, That’s the Leader’s Fault”: Why beginners feel intimidated on bird walks, and whose job it is to fix that.
• Missy’s First Morning at Assateague: How birding turned out to be less about competition and more about learning to be present.
• Not Just Retirees in Vests: Why young people are trading screen time for binoculars, plus the ABA’s sold-out young birder camps and city Community Weekends.
• What Birds Do for Us: From birdsong at lunch to the canary in the coal mine, why birds matter beyond their beauty.
• For Parks, Tourism and Retailers: Interpretive signs, scheduled bird walks, and the clothing companies already designing gear for birders.
• How to Start: Find other birders, get a basic pair of binoculars (8x40 or 7x35), download the free Merlin app, and pick up a field guide.
• Birding All Year: Why fall migration, which runs into early December, is a great time to begin.
• No Yard Required: How Christian Cooper turned a Manhattan balcony into a stop for birds with native plants.

Recommended reading: The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley · Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper

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Water is the most boring thing in your pack — right up until it's the biggest problem of your day.

Alison Hill runs LifeStraw, but her background isn't gear. It's infectious disease. She came to the company to tackle waterborne illness, not to start a retail brand.

In this episode: — Why most Americans assume they have safe water, and why that's a misconception — aging infrastructure, lead contamination, boil advisories, unmonitored wells — Responding to Hurricane Helene in the town she grew up in — How much water to actually carry, and why there's no magic number — What dehydration does to your decision-making, which is the part nobody warns you about — How to choose a filter without standing paralyzed in the aisle: start with the use case, not the product — And why you can trust it: a partnership with The Carter Center that has taken Guinea worm disease from about 3.5 million cases a year to ten worldwide

Plus the speed round: Gates of the Arctic, chili pork rinds, lemurs in Madagascar, and the greatest gift the parks give us, in one word.

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This is the last episode of the Save Public Lands series — and we are four days from National Public Lands Day.

Tania Lown Hecht — VP of Communications and Strategy for Outdoor Alliance — joins me to close out the campaign. As we recorded this, 60 people from the Outdoor Alliance coalition were on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers on behalf of the outdoor community.

In this episode: — What Outdoor Alliance is: a coalition of 10 national outdoor recreation groups representing climbers, paddlers, surfers, backcountry skiers, mountain bikers, and trail runners — What 60 advocates told lawmakers this week — including the Roadless Rule comment stats (98-99% of public comments in support of keeping it) — Why Save Public Lands was born out of last summer's sell-off fight — and what happened when offices said they'd "never gotten this many messages about any issue ever" — Why the human-powered outdoor community has more in common with hunters and motorized users than with the timber or mining industry — How connection to place is the foundation of the conservation movement — Tania's personal story: cancer as a teenager, a first question about the mountains, and why she's dedicated her life to public lands

The petition closes September 26th — National Public Lands Day. savepubliclands.us. Four fields. Thirty seconds.

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You don't have to be a big company to show up for public lands.

Joy Seward — co-founder of RecPak and NOLS expedition guide — joins me for episode four of the Save Public Lands series to talk about how small businesses can get involved in advocacy, why The Conservation Alliance makes it easy, and what it looks like when a brand builds its mission into the business from day one.

RecPak was literally born on public land. Joy and her co-founder met on a NOLS course — operating on public land — and launched their company together afterward. Before their first sale, they already knew they wanted to give back.

In this episode: — What RecPak is: an ultra-lightweight 700-calorie, 42g protein meal for endurance athletes and backpackers — How RecPak was born out of a NOLS course on public land — Why Joy joined The Conservation Alliance before RecPak's first sale — The myth that advocacy is only for big companies — and why Conservation Alliance makes it low barrier for any size brand — What small businesses can actually do: social posts, tabling, directing customers to comment periods — Over a year of Joy's life spent cumulatively in wilderness areas as an expedition guide — What public lands mean to Joy personally — How to sign the Save Public Lands petition in under 30 seconds

Campaign runs through National Public Lands Day, September 26th.

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It can feel like every week there's a new emergency, a new deadline, a new thing to fight. That's not an accident.

Rebecca Gillis — VP of Government Affairs and Advocacy at The Conservation Alliance — joins me to decode what's actually happening to our public lands and why it feels so chaotic.

In this episode: — Executive orders: how they drive everything that happens at the agency level — Deregulation vs. what we're actually seeing — and why it goes one step further — The Congressional Review Act: an old tool being used in ways we've never seen, including Boundary Waters and Grand Staircase-Escalante — Budget reconciliation: the simple majority vehicle that's scarier than it sounds — Flood the zone: why the chaos is a strategy, and what that means for advocates — Why shortened comment periods, circumvented processes, and staffing cuts are all connected — Big Bend, Chaco Canyon, Bears Ears, Grand Staircase, Alaska, and Yosemite — quick updates on everything in play — The power of the outdoor industry: economic, reputational, and people power — 77 open comment periods — and how to navigate them without burning out — The doctor's prescription: keep going outside

Take action: ONX and Protect Our Parks both track open comment periods. The Conservation Alliance has form letters ready. Five Calls makes calling your representatives easy. And save the date — National Public Lands Day is September 26th.

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Public lands don't belong to one party. They belong to all of us.

Cal Callaghan — President and CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers — joins me for episode three of our Save Public Lands series to talk about why this campaign matters, why a million signatures is a low bar, and what it means when people who don't look the same, act the same, or vote the same all show up for the same thing.

In this episode: — What Backcountry Hunters and Anglers does: 44 chapters, 35,000 members, year-round stewardship across North America — Why conservation is a "guilty pleasure" — and why that's fine — Reject the politics. Focus on the policy. It will affect you no matter where you are on the spectrum. — The Kevlar vest: how every user group — hunters, hikers, skiers, stargazers — is a woven fiber protecting the same special places — Why a million signatures is a low bar: there are more than a million people who buy a duck stamp alone — What public lands mean to Cal personally — from wilderness backpack hunts to throwing sticks with the dogs — And the simplest ask: go to savepubliclands.us. Name, zip code, email. Done.

Campaign runs through National Public Lands Day, September 26th.

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