Robert Manning
CommentatorRobert Manning is the Steven Rubenstein Professor of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont.
He's the founding director of the Park Studies Laboratory, a group of scientists in the university’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, which administers a long-term program of research for the National Park Service.
Manning spent four year-long sabbaticals with the National Park Service at Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Golden Gate and the Washington Office.
Manning is co-editor of the new book, A Thinking Person’s Guide to America’s National Parks, and co-author of Walking Distance: Extraordinary Hikes for Ordinary People.
Manning is also the host of VPR's series, "Our National Parks".
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Yellowstone was the first national park in 1872 and it set the standard for many that followed – Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Mount Rainier and… -
Birthdays are a time to celebrate, but an opportunity to look forward as well.There are many challenges the national parks must face in the 21st century,… -
Though the national parks have famously been called “America’s best idea," this sentiment is not universally accepted.Native Americans were dispossessed… -
The 1964 Wilderness Act was a milestone in American environmental history. After hundreds of years of clearing away the wilderness, the official policy of… -
Visitors to our national parks may notice that the boundaries of many parks are marked by straight lines. These lines are political boundaries that have… -
The National Park Service finds itself in a seemingly paradoxical circumstance: widely admired, but increasingly uneasy about its ability to carry out its… -
National parks have famously been called “America’s best idea." This expression is commonly interpreted as meaning preservation of America’s iconic… -
American education is embracing "high-impact” practices such as engagement with real places and problems, experiential and service learning, interaction… -
The numbers for 2015 are in and they’re impressive; there were 305 million visits to the national parks last year. And while it’s wonderful that so many… -
I’m often asked, “What’s your favorite national park?” It’s a question that gets me excited, thinking about all the parks I’ve been fortunate to visit.…
