Who Runs This Park – Details, episodes & analysis

Erin Sprague, CEO of Protect Our Winters (POW), joins Maddie Pellman, host of Who Runs This Park, Park Enthusiasts. POW is the outdoor movement driving climate action, fueled by the world’s most influential athletes, artists, and brands. With Erin at the helm—an intelligent, passionate, and adventurous leader—POW is tackling the climate crisis through transformative policy solutions and grassroots advocacy.

In this episode, we dive into the heart of POW and the remarkable journey of Erin herself. For Erin, national parks laid the foundation for her love of the outdoors—she even got married in Yosemite. Her career is a testament to bold pivots: from finance to the outdoor industry to climate advocacy, she has embraced a life of purpose and adventure. From completing a four-month bike race in Africa to being the youngest woman to run a marathon on every continent, Erin now pursues her goal of running a marathon in all 50 states.

We geek out over Erin’s experiences at Specialized and Aspen Skiing Company, including Aspen’s legendary powder day policy. And as we unpack POW’s work, Erin explains why imperfect advocacy is key to tackling the climate crisis, how the athlete ambassador model is driving impact, and why disrupting the status quo is POW’s biggest challenge.

This episode will leave you inspired to join the movement, better informed about the climate crisis, and ready to channel your love of the outdoors into meaningful action.You can follow Who Runs This Park on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube, can email us at info@whorunsthispark.com or check us out online at whorunsthispark.com. 

Sign up for the Who Runs This Park’s newsletter at linktr.ee/whorunsthispark. 

Who Runs This Park is produced by Maddie Pellman with music by Danielle Bees.

A special in-person episode, recorded at the National Park Friends Alliance Fall Meeting, featuring Yosemite Conservancy President & CEO Frank Dean and Yosemite National Park Superintendent Cicely Muldoon. Frank and Cicely provide a unique moment for Who Runs This Park by showcasing the incredible partnership between Yosemite and the Yosemite Conservancy, offering insights into the vital relationships between national parks and their friends groups.

This fun and laughter-filled conversation takes you behind the scenes of some fascinating stories, including the origins of the Starbucks in Yosemite Valley. We discuss the evolving and improving relationship between Yosemite and climbers (timely, as it's Rocktober!), the challenges and rewards of managing a park with over 800 miles of trails—including the iconic John Muir Trail (JMT) and Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)—and the significance of Yosemite as the birthplace of the conservation movement, where "it all began" for the National Park Service.

We also explore the power of leading with empathy and humor, reflect on Cicely's 40 years of service with the Park Service, and reminisce about Frank and Cicely’s friendship, which began nearly 35 years ago during the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Alaska.

You can follow Who Runs This Park on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube, email us at info@whorunsthispark.com, or check us out online at whorunsthispark.com.

Sign up for the Who Runs This Park newsletter at linktr.ee/whorunsthispark.Who Runs This Park is hosted and produced by Maddie Pellman, with music by Danielle Bees.

Check out our BRAND NEW SEGMENT, Park Enthusiasts, with Parks Project CEO and Founder, Keith Eshelman. Parks Project is an outdoor lifestyle brand with purpose. Parks Project gives back to conservation efforts focused on restoring habitats in our parklands and activates communities of volunteers to support parks. In only 7 years, what started as a one t-shirt business, has grown to an assortment of head-to-toe apparel and home goods and more than $2.6 million in donations to over 50 park conservatories, inspiring the next generation to leave it better than we found it. Keith, himself, is passionate about habitat restoration and making conservation accessible and cool. Prior to starting Parks Project, Keith was one of TOMS earliest employees, and it was there during a volunteer day in the Santa Monica mountains that he discovered the overwhelming backlog of much-needed funding to complete projects in parks and uncovered a need to educate the next generation of advocates. This episode dives into how Keith creates product stories with a purpose, his craziest moment in a national park, how Parks Project ran the E-Commerce experience for the National Park Service’s Find Your Park Campaign and the brands he looks up to. Listen in!

Get a sneak peek into the hidden gem that is Lassen Volcanic National Park from the superintendent herself, Roseann Worley. Lassen Volcanic National Park is sometimes referred to as "Little Yosemite." Imagine all the geothermal and natural features of Yellowstone in a more condensed and less populated space—Roseann argues Lassen Volcanic is even better ;). Lassen Volcanic is located in Northeastern California and was the 15th national park established by Congress, in 1916, the same year the National Park Service itself was founded. The park is a crossroads, featuring all four types of volcanoes and a rich biodiversity, as it lies at the intersection of the southern Cascade Range, the northern Sierra Nevada, and the Great Basin area. Listen to this episode to learn about the impact of fires on the park, the famous Benjamin Franklin (B.F.) Loomis’s photos of the 1914 and 1915 eruptions, the unique ways people recreate across the seasons in Lassen Volcanic, the role Search and Rescue teams play in the park, and the old ski lift and its archaeological remains. Roseann’s evident love for recreating in Lassen Volcanic shines through in our conversation, and you’ll be inspired to discover this hidden gem for yourself after listening to the episode.

"Sucking Wind" is a term coined by Crater Lake park rangers to describe the moment when someone walks up to the rim of the caldera for the first time and takes a deep breath, overwhelmed by the surreal scene. Today, we have the privilege of interviewing Superintendent Craig Ackerman, the caretaker of this inspirational and sacred place, Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake National Park is located in Southern Oregon, and the lake itself is the deepest in the U.S. Known as the “Mirror of Heaven”, the lake’s deep blue color comes from its purity and clarity. In this episode, you'll learn about the historic journey of how Crater Lake became a National Park, thanks to the heroic and persistent efforts of a single person. You'll learn about story of the "Old Man of the Lake," a 30-foot log that floats vertically around the lake. And, you'll learn about Crater Lake's sister parks in Slovenia and China, the tale of a car in neutral tumbling 1,000 feet into the lake, and a unique biking event called Ride the Rim. After listening, Crater Lake will quickly jump to the top of your bucket list.

Rhonda Loh, a local girl from Hawaiʻi, has been working and volunteering at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park for over three decades. She has been the superintendent since 2020, with her first day on the job coinciding with an eruption—quite the greeting and way to jump into the role. In this episode, we get firsthand insight into how volcanic activity is monitored and evaluated by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and how they collaborate with the park. We also get a glimpse into how the park is restoring native rainforests and studying fire ecology. Rhonda’s love for the park is evident as she reminisces about camping under the stars. Her knowledge of the park is extensive, as she holds a Master's in Chemistry and a PhD in Plant Ecology. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is located on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, rising from sea level to an elevation of over 13,000 ft. It encompasses two of the world’s most active volcanoes, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, includes seven ecological zones, and is home to 54 threatened and endangered species. The park is famous for its recent and historic lava flows, creating an ever-changing landscape. What a unique and magnificent park we got to learn about in this episode from a dedicated and caring superintendent!

Also referred to as the Galapagos of North America, Channel Islands is located 60 miles offshore from Santa Barbara, California and is made up of five islands. The stories Ethan McKinley, Channel Islands National Park Superintendent, shares are jaw dropping at the least -- from capturing golden eagles using helicopters and essentially pillowcases, to implementing a New Zealand designed biosecurity station, and to needing any ranger on San Miguel Island to be trained in unexploded ordnances. Ethan McKinley has been superintendent of Channel Islands National Park since 2019 and is one of the park service’s youngest superintendents - go Ethan! I promise you'll be itching for a trip out to the islands soon - it truly is a miracle we have a park with such internationally significant cultural resources and human history, with such pristine and wild wilderness and ecosystems and a wide array of recreation possibilities just off the coast of Los Angeles. As Ethan says, "I feel so fortunate that we're able to provide access to this quality of a national park this close to so many people."

Arches and Canyonlands National Parks are located in Eastern Utah and are both famous on their own accord. Arches is home to the Delicate Arch, which has become a famous symbol of Utah (it is on their license plate) and is one of the most recognized natural formations in the United States. Canyonlands is a much larger park with many opportunities for outdoor adventure through four wheel driving, challenging backpacking, etc. Today’s episode dives into the Lena Pace's (Arches & Canyonlands superintendent) perspective on the park as she ramps up to being superintendent (she has been superintendent since early April 2024). We are lucky to get unique and never before heard insight into her transition, into the partnerships she is maintaining and growing, the trails she is exploring and the Canyonlands districts she is learning about. We also hear about her experience growing up in rural Alaska and her 20+ years of experience as a Law Enforcement ranger. There is a lot of laughing in this episode, not one you want to miss.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park, located in northeastern Ohio is a breathtaking expanse of natural beauty, rich history, and vibrant wildlife and is unique in its proximity and relationships with surrounding communities/municipalities and its drastic transformation from a place where the river historically caught on fire to a river rich in ecology and opportunities for humans to recreate. Lisa has been superintendent at Cuyahoga Valley since 2021 but has been working at Cuyahoga Valley for almost 25 years, previously serving in a variety of leadership positions and working as a wildlife biologist and her passion for this park is evident in our conversation. Learn about the plans Cuyahoga Valley has for the future, the ways challenges with the scenic railroad were mitigated and resolved and, in the words of the superintendent herself, learn about “the sense of awe [you can] get from a place that just seems ordinary”. Listen for yourself, “because I think you'll be surprised”.

Kobuk Valley National Park, located in northwestern Alaska is a fascinating park, with a rich history of caribou hunting and the onion portage and a unique landscape compared to other Alaska parks we have done so far with sand dunes and vast valleys where caribou migrate. In this episode we interview Ray McPadden, Kobuk Valley (and the larger Western Arctic National Parklands) Superintendent, and his story is one for the books. Not only does he manage such a vast landscape with resiliency and intelligence, but he also served in the military (earning a Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars, and a medal for valor during his four combat tours) and is an award winning author of two books stemming from his military experience. Full of laughter, awe and just good conversation, this is not an episode to miss as you will get a taste for the rugged and wild lifestyle of living and working in “the bush” and managing a park as remote as Kobuk Valley.