In a special episode of the Safe Travels podcast, host Joey Liberatore sits down with Scott Niedermayer, four-time Stanley Cup champion and Y2Y board member.
On the podcast, Niedermayer shares his passion for nature as an advocate for conservation, wildlife protection, and human coexistence.
Here’s a bit of background about why this podcast exists in the first place.
“I started the concept about three years ago,” Joey shares. “Really, it began during COVID. I finally got into the outdoors, started exploring, visited my first national park — and I fell in love with it.”
After planning a summer road trip packed with ranger talks and culminating in prepping for his first backcountry trip, Joey realized how little he knew about trail safety, wildlife, and even the history behind the landscapes.
“After chatting with so many park rangers that first year, I left feeling enlightened and humbled,” he says. “And I thought — what if there was a resource like a podcast to help other travelers know what I didn’t?”
What followed was Safe Travels, a podcast aimed at helping visitors have safer, and more respectful experiences in national parks. His goal is empowering park visitors not just to sightsee, but to deepen the context of connection to place by looking at geology, history and wildlife behavior framed by voices from rangers and passionate advocates in the parks.
“I wanted to help people feel more connected to the land. That’s where it started. But it’s grown into something more—showing how tourism, wildlife, and rural communities intersect, and how we as visitors can do better. That shared value with Scott and Y2Y felt like it was a great opportunity to highlight.”
Scott’s passion for Y2Y shines through from his commitment to large landscape conservation, wildlife corridors, and habitat connectivity.
“I’m eager and constantly trying to do things the right way as an athlete and person on this planet so that it functions as best it can. It’s the same in hockey and just life – I was always trying to be the best player and also a good person on this planet in terms of conservation,” says Scott.
Joey, who also works with the Anaheim Ducks in Southern California, had known Scott for years through the hockey world and interviewed him about his time on the ice in the past, but this conversation was different.
“I’ve never seen him light up like he did when we started talking about conservation,” Joey says. “This is a guy who’s known everywhere for being a champion, but when it comes to nature, you see this humility and reverence that’s incredibly rare. It turns out he’s also a champion of nature.”
During the interview, Scott reflected on his post-retirement journey — trading in his skates for more time on the trail.
“You have to make the effort to experience the natural world and pay attention to it,” says Scott.
“We will benefit from nature letting it function properly.Y2Y is all about using science and work that’s been done and learning what can we do to help people and nature thrive. It’s great to see, that conscious decisions are being made. Y2Y’s foundation is movement — a park is great, but animals don’t live in one spot or see boundaries. For things to function well, wildlife needs to be able to move, and that’s one of Y2Y’s main focuses. They are trying to provide solutions that help everybody. It’s fun to be a part of these win-win solutions.”
“We will benefit from nature letting it function properly. Y2Y is all about using science and work that’s been done and learning what can we do to help people and nature thrive.”
At the heart of their discussion was a shared philosophy — we don’t need to understand everything about the wild to respect it.
“For people looking for a more engrained experience with a park than just visiting and leaving,” Joey explains, “this podcast is a guide. We want to empower people to minimize their footprint, use their voices for advocacy, and see the parks as living, breathing systems.”
He’s building a tight-knit community of listeners: seasonal tourists, trail runners, influencers, and even National Park Service employees, sharing episodes, uplifting ranger voices, and creating a feedback loop of awareness and action.
And in that space of shared passion, Joey found a kindred spirit in Scott.
“He’s this recognizable icon,” Joey says, “but he humbles himself in a way that’s deeply rooted in nature. He’s been reading, studying, and supporting conservation for years — not because he has to, but because he genuinely cares. That’s rare and special.”
Learn more about the Safe Travels Podcast, and check out other episodes.
