Luke Ovgard grew up fishing around Klamath Lake, but his fishing interests quickly outgrew even the legendary Klamath Lake redband trout that prowl the region. Luke's passion for fishing didn't necessarily mean catching bigger and bigger fish, in fact, it meant catching all kinds of fish, preferably anything that swims. Using techniques like micro fishing, Ovgard's passion for catching as many species as he can has taken him on road trips across America and now to places like the Canary Islands and Monaco. An author, a high-school teacher and now full-time, active-duty U.S. Military in Europe, Ovgard tells us about how he transformed fishing from a hobby to a lifestyle.

Show Notes: 

Luve Ovgard on Instagram

Book: Fishing Across America

Blog: Caught Ovgard

Hunting and fishing as a group activity might not be everyone's first thought as a place to start, but for many people, especially the growing numbers of women who are participating in hunting and fishing, Facebook groups, meetup apps and community education events have offered an opportunity to do something that can be challenging to learn on your own. For this podcast episode, we talked to Hailey Malone and Claire Grubb, two friends and outdoor enthusiasts from Roseburg, Oregon, who found each other through social media groups and who inspired others around them to get into hunting, fishing, hiking and conservation volunteer opportunities through group activities. 

Show Notes: 

While the Mardy Hunters group mentioned in this podcast episode isn't currently active, there are a number of ways to connect with other people to learn hunting and fishing skills. 

ODFW Workshops and Events

Hunters of Color

LGBT+ Outdoors Hunting and Fishing

Meetup.com

Oregon is not made up of just Douglas fir and Ponderosa pines, even though these are two of the most prevalent trees on their respective sides of the state. Portland-based arbocultural educator Casey Clapp talks to us about trees as habitat, their historical significance on the landscape before settlers showed up and what might happen as our changing climate continues. 

Show Notes: 

Book recommendations from Casey Clapp - 

"Trees to know in Oregon and Washington" 

Podcasts - 

Completely Abortrary - https://arbortrarypod.com/

Ologies - Dendrology (Trees) with Casey Clapp - https://open.spotify.com/episode/06NcI40zFZbNW7aOVfncDp

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation Coordinator Antonio Salgado works with many different community groups teach hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation classes in Spanish. But often works most closely with Oregon-based Hunters of Color, a group whose goal is: Fostering a more equitable and inclusive community for hunters. This partnership has already produced several successful hunting workshops, and this National Hispanic Heritage Month, we sat down with Salgado and HOC co-founder Jimmy Flat to talk about their work reaching out to Hispanic and Latino communities to try and increase participation in hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation. 

Show Notes - 

Follow Hunters of Color online 

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

Every year in late summer and early fall, ODFW receives dozens of messages about miniature Great white sharks washing up on Oregon beaches. Turns out these are juvenile Salmon sharks, a relative of white sharks but not the same thing. To find out more about Salmon sharks and why they might be washing up on our shores, we talked to ODFW's Lynn Mattes and the Big Fish Lab's Dr. Alexandra McInturf about this issue for this episode of the Beaver State Podcast. 

The needs of humans and the needs of the wildlife that surround us are intensifying. Habitat loss and fragmentation due to human development keep wildlife from finding food, water and shelter. These factors also make adhering to daily, seasonal and life history needs extra challenging and inhibit migratory movements, like moving to and from foraging areas and breeding sites. Dr. Rachel Wheat has been working on the Oregon Wildlife Connectivity Plan, an effort to better understand wildlife connectivity in Oregon. The goal of the plan is to evaluate and map out existing landscape-level connectivity for 54 species that represent a wide range of wildlife species, their habitats and life history strategies and movement capabilities. This information will better inform Oregonians about the needs of wildlife even as we go about fulfilling our own needs. Dr. Wheat talked to Tim Akimoff and Beth Quillian about the project for this week’s Beaver State Podcast. 

Dr. Kaeli Swift is a researcher and renowned science communicator who loves to unwrap the fascinating world of Corvids for her followers on social media. We caught up with Dr. Swift in Seattle before she left for a new research project she's conducting on the island of Tinian. Dr. Swift talked to us about crows and ravens, their biology, behavior and intelligence in this episode of the Beaver State Podcast. 

Show Notes: 

Follow Dr. Kaeli Swift on Social Media -

Instagram

TikTok

Twitter

Catch Dr. Swift on the Oologies Podcast talking about crow funerals - Corvid Thanatology (CROW FUNERALS) with Dr. Kaeli Swift — alie ward

Book Recommendations - 

"In the company of crows and ravens" by John Marzluff

"Mind of the raven" Bernd Heinrich

Check out the crows attacking the Barred owl at Seward Park when this podcast was recorded - https://youtube.com/shorts/_dMpJA84c8M?feature=share

We go bay clamming with Shellfish Program Leader Mitch Vance during a minus-2 tide at Yaquina Bay to illustrate how many different types of clams you can find as well as some of the barriers to entry and challenges to be prepared for. We also talk about how you don’t need a minus-2 tide to find bay clams, in fact, you can find them year-round during almost any low tide if you know where to go. This episode was not recorded in the studio and has mic noise from wind and moving around the bay.

Show Notes:

Bay Clamming Resources –

How to start clamming - https://myodfw.com/articles/start-clamming

Bay clam identification - https://www.dfw.state.or.us/mrp/shellfish/bayclams/clamid.asp

Clamming maps - https://www.dfw.state.or.us/mrp/shellfish/seacor/findings_yaquina_bay.asp

Clamming with ODFW Video Series - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLleHsPDijGZIFx_HTQ4zh6f-7j4xL9tr

Related episodes –

https://myodfw.com/beaver-state-podcast/crabs-and-crabbing-mitch-vance

https://myodfw.com/beaver-state-podcast/razor-clams

In this second installment of the Beaver State Podcast Book Club, we convened at the ODFW office in Clackamas to meet with Northwest District Watershed Manager Steve Niemela, District Biologist Dave Keiter and District Public Information Officer Beth Quillian too discuss author Mary Roach's book "Fuzz." This book takes an often humorous look at human/wildlife conflict around the world and compares those experiences with those many Americans experience. We looked at the shared experiences of biologists around the world and the ways in which technology is increasing our awareness of wildlife and the role of educating people about how to live with wildlife. 

Show Notes -

Want to learn more about living with in Oregon? Check out these resources - https://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/living_with/

You know when the salmon and steelhead runs just aren't living up to expectations and someone tells you it's because of ocean conditions? Pretty frustrating, right? The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's Dr. Laurie Weitkamp recently conducted a five-week study of the North Pacific to look at all kind of factors from food to water temperature and everything in between to try to get at why certain ocean conditions are so tough on salmon and steelhead. She talks about the findings of that study in this week's Beaver State Podcast.

Show Notes:

OPB story about salmon study - https://www.opb.org/article/2022/01/31/oregon-scientist-research-vessel-international-expedition-study-salmon/

A salmon's time in the ocean is a black box -

 https://crosscut.com/environment/2023/04/can-united-nations-help-save-pacific-salmon

Stoplight Table

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/science-data/ocean-conditions-indicators-trends