Beaver State Podcast

Montana Pagano works for the Nez Perce fisheries in the tribe's watershed restoration division. Kyle Bratcher is the acting district fish biologist for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Wallowa district. For this podcast, we talk to Montana and Kyle about the work they do to help restore and manage fisheries in beautiful Northeast Oregon. The two of them often work together on many projects that overlap, and they represent a new era of partnerships between tribes and local and state agencies on conservation efforts for fish ranging from lamprey to bull trout. 

Part II of our conversation about beavers with OSU wildlife researcher Vanessa Petro. Because beavers can be both a keystone species as well as ecosystem engineers, they’re among the more complicated species from a management perspective. Knowing more about them and their behaviors helps wildlife managers make decisions with more predictable outcomes. In this episode, Vanessa Petro continues to break through some of the many misconceptions about these fascinating critters. 

Did you know that not all beavers build dams, and that just because you don't see a beaver dam doesn't mean beavers aren't there, or that beavers can probably travel much further than you think they can? In this episode, we talk to Oregon State University wildlife researcher Vanessa Petro about common misconceptions about beavers and what we do know about beaver behavior and conservation in Oregon. 

Scott Haugen has seen and done it all in the outdoors after decades in the hunting and fishing television industry, countless magazine articles and many books. He's watched the outdoor industry and media change completely over the last few years and he's continuing to adapt to those changes and is constantly looking for opportunities to educate people about hunting and fishing from his home here in Oregon and through continuing travels. Scott took a few minutes to talk to us about how the industry has changed and what he tells folks who ask him how they can become an outdoor writer. 

Tellus Calhoun grew up moving back and forth between Louisiana and Northern California always wanting to have dogs but never being allowed to. When he was old enough to finally have a dog, he never looked back. Calhoun trained dogs for hunt tests and field trials and ended up moving to Oregon because of its temperate climate so he could train and compete year round. Now retired, the legendary dog trainer sat down with us at Charlton Duck Club to talk about his life as a professional dog trainer, avid hunter and being Black in the outdoors. 

Two small minnows live in tiny, remote and hostile environments sixty miles apart in Oregon's Great Basin. Threats to their unique habitats resulted in both getting listed on the Endangered Species List. Efforts by state, federal and private agencies resulted in both fish species recovering and getting delisted in 2019 and 2020. Former ODFW biologist Paul Sheerer even kept three quarters of the entire population of Foskett Springs speckled dace alive in fish tanks in his hotel room while their habitat was restored. This week we're sharing a conversation we had with Paul about these two unique fish species and his work with them over his career. 

A recent article on Meateater.com highlighted deer fawn survival research conducted in Delaware in a part of the state with almost no predators to see what kills deer fawns in the absence of predators. Turns out nutrition is a huge factor in whether a fawn lives or dies, and predators take advantage of weakness that may be due to a lack of good nutrition. Justin Dion is the biologist who conducted that research, and he now works for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. We pulled Justin Dion and ODFW carnivore biologist Derek Broman in for a conversation about how research like the deer fawn study goes from field work to wildlife management practice and the value of building up different career experiences like that for wildlife biologists. 

Chad Brown is the founder and president of Soul River, a 501(c)(3) which brings together underserved youth with veterans to participate in conservation and education. Chad is an African-American man whose experiences in the outdoors are important to hear and to understand, because who he is, his upbringing and each trip to the river are inseparable from who he is as a person. The great outdoors is a place from everyone to experience. But not everyone has the same experience. This podcast episode is the first in many that will explore being outdoors from the perspective of people from many walks of life. Graphic warning: This episode talks about rape, racism and suicide. 

Salmonflies are the kings of their species, the largest of the stoneflies. Every May these magnificent bugs emerge from the Deschutes, Rogue and Klamath rivers to breed a new generation of bugs, and fly anglers are there to take advantage of the resulting feast for trout and steelhead. This week we talk to ODFW fishing ambassadors Chris Clogston and Luis Alvarado about their passion for the salmonfly hatch, tying big "ugly bugs" as they call them and why May is one of their favorite times of the year to find the big trout on some of Oregon's most iconic rivers. 

Hunters have until May 15 to apply for Oregon's controlled hunts. After that, they have until June 1 to make changes. That's when things get really crazy. Even with more digital technology these days, ODFW staff still hand-enter a lot of data and then create business rules for the algorithm that eventually conducts the drawing. It's among the most complex systems anywhere, and we break it down with Linda Lytle, ODFW's license services manager.