J
Jason Epperson
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Jul 23, 2026
How America's national parks shape our identity
J
8:43Jason EppersonGUEST
Well, it's, it is complicated right now because I think a, a lot of Americans think of, uh, public lands as places that, um, are to be protected and to, uh, to keep development out and, and all that sort of stuff.
J
8:59Jason EppersonGUEST
A lot of Americans look at public lands as places where they should be free to roam wherever they want and the government should keep their arms off of.
J
9:07Jason EppersonGUEST
A lot of people look at them as resources, as places where we can go harvest wood and minerals and things like that.
J
9:14Jason EppersonGUEST
There's, there's a lot of complications right now with the desire for people to want to go tour these places uninhibited, and that conflicted with the amount of people wanting to do it.
J
9:27Jason EppersonGUEST
So there's been a whole lot of talk and, and administrative changes surrounding these timed entry reservations over the last few years.
J
9:37Jason EppersonGUEST
So there, a lot of the big national parks have instituted reservation systems where in advance you have to book the time and day that you're going to go in, and some people think that is, you know, that is an infringement [chuckles] on their rights, and some people think, "Oh, that's great.
How America's national parks shape our identity
17:43
Judy WoodruffHOST
Do you have favorites that you'd like to share that you've been to over and over again?
J
17:48Jason EppersonGUEST
Yeah, Fort Sumter is really interesting because it's one of these cool coastal forts.
J
17:58Jason EppersonGUEST
where they were sort of built right after first the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 to protect from, of course, battleships.
J
18:08Jason EppersonGUEST
And during the Civil War, it was very clear that they were absolutely useless.
J
18:17Jason EppersonGUEST
And when you go there and you visit and you experience it, you take a tour out there, you get on a boat and a ranger takes you through the place.
15 MINS LATER