FVCC Nature Journal

In this segment, John Fraley recounts some scary and funny wildlife encounters from the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Glacier National Park. Species include grizzly bears, moose, pine marten, and even ruffed grouse!

Game Warden Ben Chappelow, known as the” Singing Game Warden,” joins host John Fraley to talk about humorous and interesting experiences he’s had while patrolling on horseback in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Ben shares a few song segments on his guitar along the way!

John Fraley welcomes award winning wildlife photographer Chris Peterson, editor of the Hungry Horse News. Chris relates some surprising encounters with wildlife, and some of his favorite photos and stories from his long career in Glacier National Park. Chris spends about 250 days each year in the woods. 

Fish Detective Sam Bourret joins the program again to talk about tracing the origin of the illegal introduction of walleye into Swan Lake. By analyzing the geochemistry of inner ear bones of the walleye, Sam identified the source lake and is hot on the trail of the perpetrators.

Fisheries biologist and “Fish Detective” Sam Bourret is on a search for a glacial relic, the pygmy whitefish, in lakes ranging from Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. He has recently discovered the diminutive fish in Tally Lake, and in Big Salmon Lake deep in the Bob Marshall. This ancient, deep-water critter is an important link in the lakes’ food chain and an indicator of healthy water quality.

Jim Williams joins John Fraley to talk about the exciting interactions of mountain lions (called pumas in Chile and Argentina) and their prey in South America, particularly in the large national parks that have been established there. In South America, some of the same conflicts between ranchers and ranch hands (Gauchos), and their livestock are present. Jim traveled to Patagonia to advise the wildlife managers there on how to help humans coexist with lions. In Patagonia, mountain lions prey on a type of camel, an ostrich (Darwin's Rhea), hares, and even Penguins.

In this episode, cat expert Jim Williams joins John Fraley to discuss William's 2018 book, Path of the Puma, published by Patagonia Books. Jim explains key points of cat biology and ecology, and Jim's 4-year experience with mountain lions (pumas) on the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana. Jim is considered one of the top mountain lion experts in the world. Jim and John talk about human-cat interactions, and note that mountain lions move through the Stillwater River Corridor right through the FVCC campus. 

In this first episode of the FVCC Nature Journal, Host John Fraley and recent FVCC graduate Raser Powell talk about the fascinating web of life found at Red Tail Riffle on the Stillwater River on campus.  As an ecology student, Raser led a project to identify the critters in the river and surrounding area to build a trophic energy pyramid for the system, noting over 400 predator and prey relationships shared by the 46 members of the flora and fauna. Some of the key species in the food chain include showy damselflies, crayfish, stoneflies, and northern pike. Raser teamed with a math student and they identified more than 30,000 total pathways of energy through the system.