Hey Park People!!

Lucky you for being the insiders — getting a peak at our FIRST NEWSLETTER! Today we are releasing our interview with Susanne Fleek-Green, Superintendent of Lake Clark National Park & Preserve in Alaska!

Listen Now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts (also available at whorunsthispark.com) The interview with Susanne was SO FUN.

To get you excited about the interview, some fun facts about Lake Clark National Park & Preserve:

1. Lake Clark has 2 active volcanoes: Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliamna. National Park After Dark did an epic rescue story from the 1940s on Mount Redoubt (check it out here).

2. The most common way to get to Lake Clark is by PLANE! Susanne reveals in the episode that this is actually her commute to the park 🤯 This can cause folks to end up in the park for longer than planned due to weather conditions (fog, smoke, snow, etc) that make planes unable to land — definitely not a place you want to go unprepared.

3. The picture Susanne paints of the wildflowers in the summer made me itch to book a trip to Lake Clark

“While you're looking up at these majestic mountains, also take some time to look down and see if, you know, whether it's the fireweed or the dogwood or the chocolate lilies or what have you, Lake Clark is amazing for that.” — Susanne Fleek-Green

4. Lake Clark is best known for its salmon-chomping coastal brown bears. As Susanne says, they are “well-fed” with a variety of food sources, including clams, sea otters, seals & the “conveyer belt” of salmon. Listen to the episode to hear Susanne’s account of being 6 feet from the 8-ft tall animals 😳

Having grown up in the midst of some major public land debates (including Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which created Lake Clark National Park), Susanne has a passion to protect our public lands & it was such an honor to see that passion come through in our conversation

Some other highlights from our conversation:

1. Susanne’s 10-year stint in DC: working for Senator Patrick Leahy (Vermont Senator) and for the Environmental Working Group.

2. As a tribal citizen of Tlingit Haida, Susanne came into her superintendency understanding the responsibility that the National Park Service has to work with side by side with local tribes and tribal members to develop how they manage the park's resources, how it drives their research budget and how it drives what they’re doing on cultural resources.

3. The commercial fishing industry in neighboring Bristol Bay and the importance of protecting the resources of this land for the local communities, especially amidst the challenges and high expense in accessing these rural areas.

Don’t just read it here, listen to the conversation yourself on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Susanne taught me that the Dena'ina word for thank you is chin'an. As she said “I will say chin’an for spending time with me and learning about this wonderful park and preserve” — an even bigger thanks to Susanne for sharing Lake Clark and her story with us 😊 

I hope this inspires you to get outside! ✨

Much love,

Maddie

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Stay posted for future opportunities 🙂 we may be doing some sticker giveaways 😛