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Podcast! Eager Beavers S4:E3

…with Alexa Whipple, director of the Methow Beaver Project

Listen to Eager Beavers with Alexa Whipple
 
Our furry, toothy friends, nature’s flat-tailed engineers, the North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) is native throughout this continent, and once populated our region in great numbers. Over the last two hundred years the fur trade and the general perception that beavers are pests have decimated populations. The future is looking brighter for beavers, however, as people like Alexa Whipple and organizations like the Methow Beaver Project are making great strides in demonstrating the value of beavers for the many ways they support communities, livelihoods, and biodiversity. The life history of beavers and the ways that they change their habitat to meet their own needs also happens to contribute to water conservation, improve water quality, restore and maintain habitat for countless other species, contribute to wildfire resilience, mitigate climate change, and more. As beavers gain more positive attention for their ecological values, policy makers are looking to do their part to change the way beavers are perceived and managed on a Washington State-wide level. Have a listen!

Methow Beaver Project: https://methowbeaverproject.org/

Senate Bill 5846: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5846&Year=2023&Initiative=false

 

This podcast is produced by Okanogan Highlands Alliance. For more information or to support OHA, visit our website: okanoganhighlands.org

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Episode Art by Diana Weddle

Podcast! Birdwatching Is For You (Who Me? Yes, You!) S4:E2

…with Alex Feinberg, birdwatcher and software engineer with Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird Program

Listen to Birdwatching Is For You with Alex Feinberg
 
This episode is inspired, in part, by the Great Backyard Bird Count, a worldwide citizen science effort organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Audubon Society and Birds Canada to observe and record wild birds all over the world. It doesn’t matter what level you are, everyone is welcome and encouraged to join a worldwide community of bird fans and participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which takes place mid-February each year. This podcast episode will help you prepare to participate or to take on birding adventures of your own any time of the year!

Over the course of the next 20 minutes, Alex Feinberg, avid birdwatcher and software programmer with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird program, shares his experiences learning to birdwatch, and how the vast and varied bird resources developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology can help you learn. By the end you will be ready to let your birding career take flight.

We hope that you are inspired to get outside, watch birds, listen for birds, and join the worldwide community of bird fans, not just for the Great Backyard Bird Count, but for a whole lifetime of birdy adventures!

For more about The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and to explore their resources, check out their website: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home

To get involved, check out the Great Backyard Bird Count: https://www.birdcount.org/

This podcast is produced by Okanogan Highlands Alliance. For more information or to support OHA, visit our website: okanoganhighlands.org

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Podcast Art by Martina Graves

Podcast! Grasslands of the Okanogan S4:E1

…with Don Gayton, ecologist and writer

Listen to Grasslands of the Okanogan with Don Gayton

Welcome to Highland Wonders Podcast Season 4!!! We are excited to be back and kicking off the new season with Don Gayton: ecologist, writer, and native grass enthusiast. This episode is sure to push you into the next level of your natural history learning, and to inspire new questions about our native species and ecosystems. At the end, if you are thirsty for more to explore, here are some additional resources to tide you over until you can get back out into the shrub steppe or a highland meadow and see for yourself!

For more about Don Gayton, including his publications and blog, check out his website.

Zoom in and learn more about our native grasses and their distinctive plant parts in Don Gayton’s Grass Identification Primer.

Zoom out with information from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Shrub Steppe page, where you can find an overview, a virtual tour and a short film (by Conservation Northwest and WDFW) about Washington’s Shrub Steppe Habitat. 

Join a citizen science opportunity! Help to catalog the biodiversity of the Okanogan Highlands through iNaturalist, a great (and free) platform for learning that allows you to submit your photos or audio observations for identification and learning. It’s a really fun way to connect with a community of nature observers and learners of all levels, and has real value in building our understanding of the biodiversity of our area so that we can better steward our place. Once you have a username, please join our local projects to help build a repository of knowledge about the species that inhabit this special place. Here are a couple of projects that we recommend:

 Okanogan Highlands Biodiversity Project: Chesaw and Surroundings

Okanogan Highlands Biodiversity Project: Mt Bonaparte and Surroundings

This podcast is produced by Okanogan Highlands Alliance. For more information or to support OHA, visit our website: okanoganhighlands.org

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Podcast Art by Martina Graves

Podcast! All About Bears S3:E5

…with Bill Gaines, wildlife biologist and Executive Director of the Washington Conservation Science Institute.

Listen to All About Bears with Bill Gaines

Dr. Bill Gaines has been studying wildlife, including (and especially) bears – both black bears and inland grizzly bears – since the late 1980’s and, wow, has he had some adventures! In this episode, Dr. Gaines shares the experiences and understandings that have come about through his research studies on the ecology, habitat, and population of bears in the North Cascades over the last three decades. 

This episode comes at an opportune time, as this summer (2023), the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to release a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that includes a response to initial public comments and a range of options for how to proceed with an effort to restore a grizzly bear population to the North Cascades Ecosystem. This DEIS comes with an opportunity for the public to provide input. As always, OHA encourages the public to build their own understanding, and to participate in the public process by providing input to the decision makers when the opportunity arises. Here are some sources to find more information about the process and timeline of the grizzly bear restoration proposal in the North Cascades.

Friends of the North Cascades Grizzly Bear: https://www.northcascadesgrizzly.org/

National Park Service: 2022 North Cascades Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Restoration Plan/Environmental Impact Statement: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=112008

US Fish & Wildlife Service: North Cascades Grizzly Bear Restoration EIS: https://www.fws.gov/project/north-cascades-grizzly-bear-restoration-eis

Dr. Bill Gaines is the Executive Director of Washington Conservation Science Institute. Learn more about him and his organization at: https://waconservationscience.com/

This podcast is produced by Okanogan Highlands Alliance. For more information or to support OHA, visit our website: okanoganhighlands.org

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Podcast Art by Martina Graves

Lost Lake Moss Walk with Erica Heinlen

What a treat this field trip was! The Lost Lake Wetland and Wildlife Preserve has habitats that support great moss diversity. A full complement of moss enthusiasts joined OHA and Erica Heinlen, M.S., Zone Botanist for the Tonasket Ranger District, Colville National Forest, as we walked, talked, and learned together about moss structures and identifying features, ecological adaptations and functions. Erica manages the sensitive botanical species and native plant programs for the Tonasket and Republic Ranger Districts of the Colville National Forest. She is excited to share her love for plants and bryophytes with others. It was truly a fun day exploring these small jewels in the forest!

Where and When:

10 am: Moss Walk Begins from the Lost Lake Wetland and Wildlife Preserve Kiosk on the south end of Lost Lake. Find driving directions here.

What To Bring:

Sturdy walking shoes, clothing layers, water, lunch, hand lens (we will also have these available to borrow if needed)

2023-9 HW Field Trip Moss with Erica Heinlen

 

Podcast! Canada Lynx and Home Range Wildlife Research S3:E4

…with Anna Machowicz, Education Director

Listen to Canada Lynx and Home Range Wildlife Research

Join us for a refreshingly fun episode, full of natural history, scientific research, and the developing story of Home Range Wildlife Research, whose mission is “to advance wildlife conservation by conducting high-quality research, educating aspiring biologists, and engaging local communities.” Anna Machowicz, Home Range Education Director, shares exciting news about field training and volunteer opportunities, and explains how Home Range has begun implementation of a long-term study of Canada Lynx populations in the mountains between the Methow and Okanogan – an area that has been significantly altered by two decades of megafires. In all that they do, Home Range invites community volunteers, students, and academics to participate, leading collaborative investigations of wildlife and working to understand how communities and land managers can support wildlife populations and healthy ecosystems into the future. Check out their website: https://www.homerange.org/home for more information, and to sign up for training and volunteer opportunities! 

For additional information, check out this recent article about Home Range in the Seattle Times:

https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/could-prescribed-fires-offer-the-best-protection-for-washingtons-lynx/

This podcast is produced by Okanogan Highlands Alliance. For more information or to support OHA, visit our website: okanoganhighlands.org

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