How Wild hits trails around the country, exploring the meaning of wilderness. A century ago, the U.S. set aside the first official wilderness. You'll hear stories from rangers, scientists, hikers, environmentalists, and Tribal leaders as they grapple with the realities of wilderness on a changing planet, and whether the concept of "wilderness" has ever really existed.
Host Emily Kwong explores the incredible migration of the American eel from Lake Ontario to the Bermuda Triangle in this interview episode.
9 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT
The American Storytelling collection explores the great outdoors
Host Ira Glass interviews guests about how the American outdoors reveals deeper truths about ourselves in this episode of 'How Wild'.
10 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT
Introducing the American Storytelling collection
NPR's podcast series "How Wild" introduces the American Storytelling collection, gathering diverse narratives from local stations to explore the evolving American identity.
1 Aug 2025TRANSCRIPT
Wild Times: Live Event with Former Parks Director Jon Jarvis
Former National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis discusses current threats to public lands with host Marissa Ortega-Welch, offering insights from his extensive career.
1 Aug 2025TRANSCRIPT
Wild Times: Rewriting History in National Parks
Host KALW's Crosscurrents interviews park rangers and historians about how Trump's policies rewrite history in national parks.
22 May 2025TRANSCRIPT
Wild Times: An Update On National Parks Under Trump
Host Marissa Ortega-Welch interviews park and forest rangers about the impact of Trump administration budget cuts on national parks.
12 Dec 2024
How Wild Presents: The Wild with Chris Morgan
Chris Morgan explores the wild ocean and scientists' efforts to restore Biscayne National Park's coral reefs in this interview episode.
7 Oct 2024TRANSCRIPT
How Wild Presents: "The New Space Race" from Outside/In
Host Maria Margaronis explores the growing satellite presence in space and its impact on our view of the night sky, interviewing experts on space regulation and environmental concerns.
24 Sept 2024TRANSCRIPT
Wild Ideas
Host [Host Name] explores the subjective feeling of wilderness and its future at Point Reyes National Seashore in this interview.
17 Sept 2024TRANSCRIPT
Other
Host [Host Name] explores diverse wilderness perspectives with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe in Montana, discussing their unique management of the nation's first tribal wilderness.
10 Sept 2024TRANSCRIPT
Primitive, Unconfined Recreation
Do you have all your gear to head into nature? What about your smartphone?
Technology helps people access wilderness, but it can also get in the way.
We're hitting the Pacific Crest Trail with hikers and a Search and Rescue team who have mixed feelings about technology in wilderness, and we meet a recreator who wouldn't be able to be here without it.
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3 Sept 2024TRANSCRIPT
Solitude
Do you have a permit?
We're going to a popular trail in Colorado's Maroon Bells to talk about the slippery feeling of solitude and what to do about more people on the trail.
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27 Aug 2024TRANSCRIPT
Natural
We're tired from hiking and taking a break at an art museum to ponder how nature got framed.
We're exploring how artists like Ansel Adams and thinkers like John Muir shaped Americans' ideas of what "authentic nature" should look like and who belongs in it."
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20 Aug 2024
Undeveloped
What do you mean by "undeveloped" — weren't there people living here?
We're wading through rivers in the nation's first wilderness in New Mexico's Gila National Forest to learn how the idea of capital "W" Wilderness came to be.
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13 Aug 2024
Untrammeled
Untrammeled. No, that's not a typo. We don't mean untrampled.
Wilderness areas are supposed to remain free from human intervention unless absolutely necessary. But in a world where every part of the planet is affected by climate change, how do we decide when to intervene? We're heading off-trail in Sequoia National Park with land managers and environmentalists who are at odds.
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1 Aug 2024TRANSCRIPT
Introducing How Wild
Put on your hiking shoes. Pack some water and snacks. We're heading out on trails around the West to explore the meaning of wilderness and how it's changing.
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Inside a recent episode
How Wild Presents: Beyond the Shore
Published 11 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] And nobody's ever actually seen it happen that I know of, but they get together as one giant group and they spawn. And that's it. They spawn once and they die. We think. just because we never see them again. One thing that really struck me as we went through this journey, American eels are extremely strange and surprisingly hard to study. Due to research limitations and the lack of consistent data collection over time, the eel facts in this story pretty much all have caveats. We are constantly updating our idea of the eel, and there's still so much we don't know. In tracking studies, scientists have seen tagged eels go to the sargasso, they've recorded the eels diving hundreds of meters deep, The theory is that they're mating deep in the ocean in the Sargasso Sea, where it's dark and cold and secret. […]
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