Beaver State Podcast

A podcast in which we explore the origins of the saying, "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." We also talk to ODFW's Angler Education Program Coordinator Amanda Boyles about the process of teaching someone to fish and the philosophies behind the angler who buys all the latest gear, and the traditional hook and worm angler.

Oregon's Hunter Education Program has been around for a long time. The early focus was on firearm safety, but today the program's many priorities have broadened out to encompass safety but also rules and regulations, game tracking, ethics, survival and many other aspects of being in the outdoors. ODFW's Hunter Education Coordinator, Jered Goodwin, sat down for a wide-ranging look at Oregon's Hunter Education Program and where it's headed in the future.

The Access and Habitat Program has been around since 1993. The legislature established the program as a funding mechanism to provide grants to private landowners, timber and agriculture corporations, sportsmen groups, natural resource agencies, and others for projects designed to increase public hunting access to private lands and/or improve wildlife habitat. Travis Schultz is the Access and Habitat Program Coordinator, and he sat down with us for this episode to talk about some of the lesser known aspects of Access and Habitat. Learn more about Access and Habitat. Check out the Oregon Hunting Map.

Trout is a classic first fish for many people. Whether that's a trout stocked in a lake by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife or a wild trout in a rainforest creek, trout make up a lot of our fishing memories. Many anglers oriented their calendars around the April 22 trout opener, but today, you can fish for trout 365 days a year somewhere in Oregon. We explore the love of trout fishing and the many trout fishing opportunities in this episode. For additional resources, see our Trout Stocking Schedule, the weekly Recreation Report and how to get started trout fishing.

The North Bank Habitat Management Area rises out of the North Umpqua River on dramatic cliffs before rolling out into oak savannahs, hardwood and conifer forests, rocky outcrops, grasslands and ash wetlands over its 6,581-acres that are set aside by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for the once-endangered Columbian White-tailed deer. In this week's episode, we talk to ODFW's DeWaine Jackson about how he's used the special habitat management area to research ungulates over the course of his career with the agency. Learn more about North Bank at these websites. https://www.blm.gov/or/districts/roseburg/north_bank.php and https://www.dfw.state.or.us/images/video_gallery/north_bank_HMA_1.asp

This is an episode you might want to share with those folks who are interested in tagging along on a hunting or fishing trip but who might not know the protocols yet. We talked to long-time hunting and fishing buddies Jay Remy and Chris Martin about how they navigate group dynamics and personal relationships when it comes to hunting and fishing with friends.

Zoos and aquariums are often the first places kids encounter some of the critters they will ultimately be fascinated with the rest of their lives. Dr. Kathayoon Khalil is a conservation psychologist who studies these interactions and works to improve the relationship that humans have towards nature through education. Of course many zoos and aquariums also play a quiet, behind-the-scenes role in conservation by raising and releasing threatened and endangered species back into their habitats. We talked to Dr. Khalil about her work in these spaces.

Micah Rogers spends a lot of time looking through a microscope at the tiny world of phytoplankton, those microscopic, plant-like critters that make up the base of the marine food web. The reason she does this is to make sure none of those microorganisms is in such prevalence that it indicates a harmful algal bloom or HAB. When HAB's occur, they can raise toxicity levels in clams and crabs to the point of concern for public safety.

Micah Rogers spends a lot of time looking through a microscope at the tiny world of phytoplankton, those microscopic, plant-like critters that make up the base of the marine food web. The reason she does this is to make sure none of those microorganisms is in such prevalence that it indicates a harmful algal bloom or HAB. When HAB's occur, they can raise toxicity levels in clams and crabs to the point of concern for public safety.

Herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles, and herping is the practice of going out to find amphibians and reptiles, Chris Cousins explains in this episode of the podcast. Cousins is a PhD candidate at Oregon State University, where he focuses much of his attention on some of Oregon's most elusive salamander species. Cousins shares a lot of his adventures on his Instagram and sat down to talk with us about what it's like to make a life out of studying reptiles and amphibians.