Lake Superior Podcast
We are made stronger by story and there’s no better source than the continent's largest body of freshwater, Lake Superior. Join hosts Walt Lindala and Frida Waara as they highlight the five National Parks that ring this Greatest of the Great Lakes - meeting the people, touring the places and learning about the projects that make these parks and body of water so remarkable.
Join our podcast community! Please share your own stories, comments and podcast episode suggestions (www.nplsf.org/community).
Brought to you by The National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation (www.nplsf.org).
Theme song: King Whirl by David Huckfelt (www.davidhuckfelt.com).
Photo Credit: David Guttenfelder.
Podcast sponsored by Café Imports, a Minneapolis-based importers of fine, specialty green coffees.
Episodes
66 episodes
S6 E4: Tourism, Economic Growth, and the Magic of Munising - An Interview with Kathy Reynolds
Our National Parks are important places, not just for their preservation of natural beauty and resources, but also for the economic impact they bring to gateway communities. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula sees n...
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Season 6
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Episode 4
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34:57
S6 E3: The Lake Trout Resurgence In Lake Superior: A Conservation Success Story - An Interview with Shawn Sitar
Since the 1940’s, Lake Trout have been extinct in all of the Great Lakes except Lake Superior. Pressure from commercial fishing as well as the invasion of sea lamprey devastated this native species, and the population in Lake Superior also suff...
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Season 6
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Episode 3
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28:22
S6 E2: Michigan Ice Fest – Where Adventure Meets Community – An Interview with Bill Thompson
Winter can be a sleepy time at the National Parks on Lake Superior, but at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore near Munising, Michigan, visitors come to snowmobile, mush dogs, snowshoe, fish and cross-country ski. But the biggest event to bring f...
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Season 6
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Episode 2
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31:27
S6 E1: Chasing Sunrise On Lake Superior: An Interview with Bugsy Sailor
New Year Resolutions, if you don’t make them, chances are you thought about it. But do those promises keep? In this episode of the Lake Superior Podcast Walt Lindala and Frida Waara talk with Bugsy Sailor, the Official Unofficial Ambassador of ...
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Season 6
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Episode 1
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34:38
S5 E14: The Estivant Pines Story - 50 Years of Conservation with Charles Eshbach
The forests that ring Lake Superior are some of the most magical on the continent. At the tip of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula, in Copper Harbor, you’ll find the Estivant Pines. This 570 acres of old-growth pine has lured hikers for decades. Bu...
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Season 5
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Episode 14
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37:51
S5 E13: Foraging - Rediscover and Reconnect With Nature - An Interview with Tim Clemens
Since time began humans have been foragers. Survival depended on connecting to the natural world. Today, when most of our food comes from a grocery store or is eaten in a restaurant, that link has been lost. But not for Tim Clemens. In this epi...
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Season 5
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Episode 13
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33:04
S5 E12: Capturing the Magic of The Northern Lights: An Interview with Ogetay Kayali
Witnessing the Northern Lights checks a bucket-list for many. The first time you see the sky erupt in waves of pulsing white, green, red, or even blue light makes lifelong memories. In this episode of the Lake Superior Podcast, Walt Lindala and...
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Season 5
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Episode 12
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31:11
S5 E11: Pictured Rocks: Where Conservation Meets Recreation - An Interview with Hannah Bradburn
Nearly a million visitors came to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 2023, contributing over $45 million dollars to the nearby economies. For Alger County--with a population of less than nine thousand people—the ...
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Season 5
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Episode 11
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31:13
S5 E10: Isle Royale Through The Lens - An Interview with Tom Haas, Photographer and Author
For those who have backpacked Isle Royale, you know it’s a rugged place. Imagine carrying a 20 pound camera and wooden tripod around, along with a stash of 4x5 black and white film. In 1967, Tom Haas, a 19 year old college student from Connecti...
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Season 5
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Episode 11
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27:39
S5 E9: Great Lakes Shipping - An Interview with Sam Hankinson, Development Coordinator at the Port of Monroe
While we see trucks and trains moving freight around the country, goods are also traveling by freighter, and some of those ships are 1,000 feet long. In this episode of the Lake Superior Podcast, Walt Lindala and Frida Waara talk with Sam Hanki...
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Season 5
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Episode 9
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38:40
S5 E8: The Lutsong Music Festival - An Interview with Co-Founder Scott Schuler
Music. Why is it important? For most--on a personal level--music stirs feelings, memories and sensations. But sharing music is also a way to for people to connect, bond thoughts and emotions when words won’t do. Lake Superior’s waves have been ...
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Season 5
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Episode 8
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29:43
S5 E7: Jon Prain - "The Isle Royale Guy"
A backpacking trip to Isle Royale heads up the Bucket List for many, but with 165 miles of trails and 36 campsites, planning a trip can be overwhelming, particularly for first-timers. Experience counts. In this episode of the Lake Superior Podc...
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Season 5
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Episode 7
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31:14
S5 E6: Jerry Dennis - Award-Winning Great Lakes Author - Traverse City, Michigan
Jerry Dennis is one of the country’s most prolific outdoor writers. With by-lines in The New York Times, Smithsonian, Orion, American Way, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Gray's Sporting Journal as well as 13 books--and most re...
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Season 5
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Episode 6
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32:44
S5 E5: Aidan Lee - Owner of Trek & Trail - Bayfield, Wisconsin
When it comes to kayaking this Sweetwater Sea, a paddler has 2,726 miles of spectacular shoreline to explore as well as three National Parks: Isle Royale, Apostle Islands and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshores. But it’s also a destination where...
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Season 5
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Episode 5
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31:59
S5 E4: Tyler Penrod - Program Manager with the Superior Watershed Partnership - Marquette, Michigan
Changing climate is impacting Lake Superior. The lack of ice cover this past winter effects coastal erosion, water levels, fish populations and wildlife. Plus, the unseasonably warm weather has economic and cultural impacts on the shoreline com...
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Season 5
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Episode 4
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29:53
S5 E3: Dan Fountain - Author, Shipwreck Historian and Researcher
Lake Superior is home to an estimated 550 shipwrecks, with approximately half of them still undiscovered. In this episode of the Lake Superior podcast, hosts Walt Lindala and Frida Waara talk with Dan Fountain, author, shipwreck historian, and ...
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Season 5
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Episode 3
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30:14
S5 E2: Phyllis Green - Former Superintendent of Isle Royale National Park - Ballast Winter
Lake Superior tops the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem as well as the longest deep-draft inland waterway, extending from Duluth, Minnesota, to the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Atlantic Ocean. Roughly 10,000 cargo ships pass through the Soo ...
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Season 5
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Episode 2
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27:20
S5 E1: Dr. Sarah Hoy - Research Assistant Professor at Michigan Technological University - Isle Royale Winter Study Suspended
Unseasonably warm weather along Lake Superior from Sault Ste. Marie to Grand Portage has canceled a host of winter events from sled dog and cross-country ski races to snowmobile rides and ice fishing tournaments. But it’s not just tourism that ...
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Season 5
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Episode 1
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24:22
S4 E12: Craig Blacklock, Photographer & Author - Moose Lake, Minnesota
Craig Blacklock first started taking pictures when he was nine years old, following his father, Les Blacklock, a pioneering nature photographer. By the time he was 15, he had graduated to capturing images on a large format 4x5 camera. Over his ...
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Season 4
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Episode 12
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28:56
S4 E11: Karl Koster, Park Ranger - Grand Portage National Monument
Grand Portage National Monument in northern Minnesota sits right in the middle of the Canoe Capital of the World. The National Park has many boats on display, from smaller crafts used for gathering rice and hunting to huge Voyageur canoes used ...
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Season 4
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Episode 11
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31:30
S4 E10: Beth Kirschner, Author of "Copper Divide" - Ann Arbor, Michigan
Christmas Eve, 1913, was a tragic night in Calumet, Michigan. 73 people—59 of them children--were killed when someone falsely yelled, “Fire,” at a crowded Christmas party on the second floor of the Italian Hall setting off a deadly stampede. Th...
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Season 4
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Episode 10
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29:01
S4 E9: Hannah Bradburn, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Visual Information Specialist & Emma Olechnowicz, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Ranger
78 lighthouses circle Lake Superior, 42 of those navigational aids dot the Michigan shoreline. Au Sable Point Light Station in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore ranks one of the most popular. Built in 1874, it stands 86’ tall and the original t...
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Season 4
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Episode 9
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33:18
S4 E8: John Shepard, Associate Professor and Assistant Director at the Center for Global Environmental Education, Hamline University
Lake Superior is one of the fastest warming lakes in the world. And when it comes to getting people’s attention about the warming, film is a powerful medium. In this episode of the Lake Superior Podcast, Walt Lindala and Frida Waara talk with f...
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Season 4
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Episode 8
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33:22
S4 E7: John Mueller, Owner of the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge
As daylight hours begin to wane, the darkest months of the year are ahead. For many, it means more time to get outside and pay attention to what’s happening through the night in our sky. In this episode of Lake Superior Podcast, Walt Lindala an...
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Season 4
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Episode 7
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34:45
S4 E6: Joe Hughes, Chief Ranger at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore stretches along 42 miles of Lake Superior shoreline from Munising to Grand Marais. The year-round park covers roughly 114 square miles and includes 22 back country camp grounds, many circling the 10 inland lake...
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Season 4
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Episode 6
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34:57