Grizzly bears. They define charismatic megafauna. Huge animals that draw both human admiration and fear. Once they roamed the entire country, though that was a long time ago. Today there are pockets of grizzly bear populations in the Rocky Mountains from Yellowstone to Glacier National Parks.

Among the questions that revolve around grizzly bears is how many are too many, are they a threat to humans, should they be removed from the landscape, or protected?

To explore those issues our guests today are Erin Edge and Joseph Vaile from Defenders of Wildlife, a nonprofit wildlife advocacy organization.

Running nearly 2,200 miles along the spine of the Appalachian Range from Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail arguably is the world's most famous long-distance trail.

Some think it's also one that can be very crowded in spots. Morgan Sommerville, the director of visitor use management for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, joins us today to discuss the trail in general and whether it's too crowded.

Heading into the National Park System this summer? Going it alone, or have you booked a tour company? What do you think about how the Trump Administration and Congress are treating the National Parks and the National Park Service? Have you reported any park signs to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that disparage Americans, dead or alive?

As you can tell there’s a lot going on in the parks. Some good, some not so good, and some downright bad. It’s a lot to digest, and a lot to discuss. To help us gauge a sense of what’s going on out there, our guest is Leigh Barnes, President of the Americas at Intrepid Travel, an Australian-based tour company that has been leading trips around the world since 1989. Part of their cache is keeping tour groups small, a dozen or so travelers along with the guides.

The company also recently conducted a survey of Americans to get their sense of how politicians are treating the Parks and the Park Service that we’ll discuss with Leigh.