Podcasts about yosemiteland

Ezra Romero stopped by for Episode 174. Ezra is the host of the podcast YosemiteLand on Capital Public Radio. In this episode of the show I chat with Ezra about growing up on a peach farm in Fresno; how he The post Episode 174: Ezra Romero appeared first on Serious Talk. Seriously..

In this final episode of YosemiteLand, Ezra answers listener questions! He follows up with characters from previous episodes, and talks about everything from rock-climbing safety to remedies for parking and congestion.

Airbnb, caramel macchiatos and luxury dining. Yosemite is starting to feel more and more like the Bay Area. There are more visitors, more traffic, and now a Starbucks. Today, we'll introduce you to Yosemiteland, a podcast from Capital Public Radio that shows us how the national park serving millions of visitors each year is trying to adapt to a changing world. Guest: Ezra David Romero, host of Yosemiteland

Like many major U.S. tourist destinations, Yosemite is dealing with a housing-affordability problem and the arrival of short-term rentals like Airbnb. Many people are turning their homes into vacation rentals. It’s good for tourism. But some neighbors aren’t happy, and area residents say it's often difficult to find a place to rent. Potential employees aren’t taking jobs in the park, and many existing employees face long commutes. In this episode, Ezra speaks with residents who are dealing with the housing issue in the Yosemite area.

Ezra Romero is Capital Public Radio's environmental reporter and host of the YosemiteLand podcast. He's also filmed multiple award-winning documentaries and has won five Golden Mike Awards through RTNA of Southern California for his radio reporting. In 2016, he was awarded a second place podcast award from PRNDI. Previously of Valley Public Radio David has recently made Sacramento his home. Join us as we talk all things YosemiteLand, discuss reporting in a "post-truth" era, and making Sacramento home. Shownotes Intro & talking about the podcast format 2:00 - Climbing Half-Dome 4:00 - The making of YosemiteLand 8:45 - A perfect time to talk about fire 12:35 - Why is Capitol Public Radio getting into podcasts? 20:00 - Ezra's favorite places to visit in Yosemite 26:00 - The rat race & making Sacramento Home 30:29 - Ezra's favorite stories he has covered so far 37:21 - How does a journalist deal with our current "post-truth" era 47:00 - A journalists job

We won’t have an episode on Labor Day, but we want to hear from you! Why? For our final episode, which will drop in a couple weeks. Is there a issue we neglected to discuss? Or did you want to hear more about a particular topic? Any creative ideas about how to remedy an issue like traffic or overcrowding? If so, shoot Ezra a voice memo or a note at ezra.romero@capradio.org.

We’ve explored Yosemite Valley a lot — for good reason. It’s an outdoor wonderland where people raft, hike and climb cliffs. In this episode, Ezra tours Yosemite Valley on a "green dragon" — an open-air tour bus — and also learns about rock falls and why historic places in the park have been renamed. He also visits what people call Yosemite Valley’s "twin sister." It’s a place that John Muir fought to preserve — but he lost that battle.

Hey everyone, Episode 6 will be out Tuesday. In the meantime, here's a taste.

For more than four decades, the Ahwahneechee people — the Native Americans with ties to Yosemite Valley — had no place to call home. Now, one of their villages is being resurrected. In this episode, Ezra meets with elders who say park service workers burned down their homes. They also discuss how they hope to preserve their heritage for future generations. During his reporting, Ezra realizes Yosemite is more than a cool hiking destination: It’s a very spiritual place.  

Hey listeners, we’re still hustling away on Episode 5. In the meantime, check out this teaser.

It's peak tourist season, but the most popular spot in Yosemite is eerily quiet. There are no hikers on trails or climbers on cliffs in the Valley. For the first time in nearly 30 years, a wildfire has closed major portions of the park due to heavy smoke. Yosemite Valley will remain shut indefinitely. In this episode, Ezra looks at the future of fire in Yosemite. He hikes with a scientist studying how climate change could drastically transform its landscape, talks with the park's first female fire chief, and learns about life growing up in a fire zone.

A new culture of rock climbers is overtaking Yosemite, including rock stars like Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell, who are pushing the sport to the edge by climbing with no ropes. In this episode, Ezra chats with rock climbing legends, explores how gyms are diversifying who climbs, and gets out on the rock near Glacier Point. He also talks with women climbers who are leading the way.

Traffic in Yosemite during peak tourist months is often compared to rush hour in Los Angeles. Some visitors will often drive around for hours and never find a parking spot. The bottleneck is so bad, it’s now part of Yosemite’s identity. That’s why we’re dedicating our second episode of YosemiteLand to the seemingly intractable problem of gridlock. Join Ezra as he sits in a snarl-up of tourists and learns how all these cars put wildlife at risk. He’ll also explore solutions that could make your future visits less miserable — and help sustain the park. In a previous version of this episode Ezra mislabeled Ryan Leahy and Caitlin Lee-Roney’s titles. They have been corrected. Ryan Leahy is a wildlife biologist in the park, and Caitlin Lee-Roney is the lead wildlife biologist for Yosemite National Park.

As tourism increases in Yosemite, how is the park’s identity — its sense of place — changing? In YosemiteLand’s debut episode, Ezra orders Starbucks while taking in majestic waterfalls, meets researchers studying how people experience the park, and looks at how Yosemite’s planners are rethinking popular destinations to make them more sustainable. You’ll encounter a bear up close, and Ezra will visit some of Yosemite’s oldest inhabitants: giant sequoias. In a previous version of this episode Ezra mispronounced Kara Stella’s name and title. It’s been corrected. She is a ranger.

YosemiteLand is about how decisions made today in Yosemite National Park will impact millions of visitors in the years to come. It's a region learning how to deal with a changing environment and increased tourism. Listen for a preview of this new podcast from Capital Public Radio. We'll release our first episodes July 16.