When Kurt Repanshek launched the Traveler back in August of 2005, it was primarily to find stories that he could pitch to magazines. But the magazine world took a nosedive, while at the same time readership on the Traveler continued to grow. 
Today, between 2.5 and 3 million readers and listeners a year turn to the Traveler to learn more about the National Park System, both its wonders and how it’s being managed. Unfortunately, the Traveler hasn’t been financially sustainable, and can’t continue unless we can attract the funding necessary to employ a small staff, upgrade IT resources, and allow us to tackle the growing number of critical stories that fall by the wayside because more and more news organizations are paring back, or totally going out of business. 
Rebecca Latson, the Traveler’s contributing photographer, and Lynn Riddick, who hosts many of the Traveler’s weekly podcast, discuss their participation in pulling together the Traveler’s editorial content, and how that’s given them greater appreciation of the value of having a news organization whose focus is solely on national parks and the National Park Service.