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In this episode of Naturally Scott, Scott Harris sits down with primatologist and author Dr. Christine Webb to explore the ideas behind her powerful new book, The Arrogant Ape. Christine’s work blends primatology, psychology, philosophy, Indigenous knowledge, and lived experience to challenge one of the most deeply ingrained beliefs in Western culture: that humans sit above the rest of nature.

Christine shares the roots of her fascination with animal minds, her academic path from Emory to Harvard to NYU, and the pivotal field encounters — including a surprising moment with a young baboon named Bear — that reshaped her understanding of what other species know, feel, and perceive.

Together, Scott and Christine dig into:

• Why Western science has long insisted on human superiority
• How captivity creates “bizarre” models of animal behavior
• What Indigenous worldviews understood long before modern research
• How animals communicate, think, and even empathize
• What shifting away from human exceptionalism might mean for our future
• Why moments of connection with wild animals matter more than we realize

Scott also shares his extraordinary encounter with a Northern Hawk Owl — a moment that brushed against the boundary of species and self — and Christine responds with insight into how animals may be perceiving us in ways we’re only beginning to understand.

This conversation is thought-provoking, personal, and full of wonder. If you’ve ever questioned where humans truly fit into the living world, this episode will stay with you.

Christine’s Book: The Arrogant Ape
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In E34, Scott sits down with Michael Goergen, President & CEO of the American Chestnut Foundation, for a powerful and deeply hopeful conversation about restoring one of America’s most important lost trees — the American Chestnut.

The American Chestnut once made up 25% of the Appalachian forest, feeding wildlife, sustaining communities, and anchoring entire ecosystems. Then a blight brought from overseas wiped out nearly every adult tree within a single human lifetime. Today, only root sprouts remain — alive, but unable to reach the canopy.

Michael walks us through:

🌰 The rise and fall of the American Chestnut — from canopy monarch to functional extinction
🌱 Why the roots never died — and how this miracle of endurance makes restoration possible

🧬 Cutting-edge genetics & breeding programs:
• Recombinant genomic selection
• Cross-breeding resistant trees
• Exploring CRISPR and biotech tools
• Why restoring a long-lived tree requires decades of patience

🔥 Battling multiple threats:
• Chestnut blight
• Phytophthora root rot
• Site conditions that determine survival or failure

🏔 Chestnut groves that still exist today — and where to find wild sprouts and active restoration orchards along the East Coast

🤝 Why this work is powered mostly by volunteers and private donors, not the government — and why that makes it one of America’s great conservation stories

🌲 Forests, ecosystems, water, wildlife, and people — how restoring a single keystone species strengthens entire landscapes and communities

🐻 Unexpected connections:
• Chestnuts and black bears
• Chestnuts and passenger pigeons
• Chestnuts and early Indigenous cultures

💡 Why hope — not fear — drives conservation, and why Michael believes a restored, self-sustaining American Chestnut forest is achievable within our lifetimes.

📚 Michael’s Book Recommendation:
Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West — William Cronon

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In E33, Scott sits down with Chris Parish, President & CEO of The Peregrine Fund, for one of the most wide-ranging and compelling conversations we've ever featured. From California Condors to global vulture crises, from the San Joaquin Valley to India and the African savannas, Chris brings decades of experience, candor, humor, and unmatched field knowledge.

Born and raised in California’s San Joaquin Valley as a hunter, angler, and football player, Chris’s life took turns he never expected — from NFL Europe to prairie dog trapping, to running Arizona’s California Condor Recovery Program, and now leading one of the most respected raptor organizations in the world.

This episode dives deep into:

🦅 The fight to save California Condors from extinction — including how lead poisoning became the #1 threat, and how science + hunters created the most successful voluntary non-lead program in America.

🎯 Why hunters resist changing ammunition — and what truly changes minds (hint: tradition, trust, and generational hand-offs).

🌾 How grasslands collapsed — and how Opalmatto Falcons reveal the whole ecological story of brush encroachment, drought, predators, and rancher partnerships.

💊 The diclofenac tragedy in India, which wiped out entire vulture colonies and unleashed a massive public-health crisis.

🌍 Retaliatory poisoning in East Africa, electrified bomas, and how Maasai communities are protecting both wildlife and their cattle.

🔥 Why science alone is NOT conservation — and why change must be earned, not imposed.

🦉 Are vultures really “raptors”? Chris and Scott dive into classification, history, culture, and why humans have always been obsessed with birds of prey.

Chris’s approach is simple but rare:
 “We’re not here to tell you what to think — just to give you more to think about.”

📚 Chris’s Book Recommendation:
My Side of the Mountain — Jean Craighead George

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In this episode, Scott sits down with Steve Mietz, President & CEO of Save the Redwoods League, for an extraordinary conversation about Redwoods, Sequoias, wildfire, tribal stewardship, and the future of America’s greatest forests.

Steve traces his journey from Eagle Scout in New Jersey to environmental economist at Cornell, to a lifelong career across the National Park Service — including Grand Canyon, Great Basin, Point Reyes, Pearl Harbor, and Redwood National & State Parks. His path ultimately led him to one of the most ambitious restoration efforts in the United States: saving and rebuilding the Redwoods and Sequoias.

Together, Scott and Steve explore:

🌲 Why only 5% of old-growth Redwoods remain — and how we can create the next 5%
🔥 How fire suppression created a crisis, and how tribes & scientists are fixing it
🌊 Restoring buried creeks and watching salmon return within months
🤝 Partnerships with tribes to restore land, culture, and ecological balance
🏞️ Why Redwoods are Earth’s greatest carbon sink — even more than the Amazon
💡 Why hope, not despair, is the key to conservation
🌍 How protecting forests in California benefits people everywhere

Steve also shares inspiring stories about working with the Yurok Tribe to restore ancestral lands, the emotional return of elders to sites they hadn’t seen in 150 years, and how Redwoods “save us” as much as we save them.
 

This is one of the most powerful conversations we’ve ever had on Naturally Scott — a deep, hopeful look at what’s possible when science, tribes, communities, and passion all work together.

📚 Steve’s Book Recommendation:
A Sand County Almanac — Aldo Leopold

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From the Inside Passage of Alaska to the gray-whale nurseries of Baja and the volcanic shores of the Galápagos, expedition leader Taylor Butz has lived a life most nature lovers only dream about. In this episode of Naturally Scott, Taylor joins Scott from Neah Bay after a morning surf session—Starlink on the beach and gray whales cruising just offshore.

Together they dive into:
 • Growing up on Washington’s Vashon Island 🌲
 • His early years as a cabin steward & deckhand aboard Lindblad/Nat Geo ships
 • How bubble-net feeding humpbacks actually coordinate their hunt 🐋
 • Why gray-whale behavior is rapidly changing—and what it means
 • Secret dolphin super-pods of the Gulf of California
 • The magic of Galápagos wildlife that doesn’t fear humans
• The challenge of protecting Antarctica as tourism expands
• And how surfing culture has become an unexpected conservation force 🌊

If you love whales, wild places, or just great storytelling, this one will pull you straight into the water.

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Subscribe, rate, and share if you enjoy these conversations — it truly helps us bring more incredible guests to the show.

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For more than three decades, Dr. Jerry Lorenz has been a voice for the Everglades — a scientist, teacher, and lifelong birder who helped lead Florida Audubon’s fight to restore one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems.

In this conversation with Scott Harris, Jerry takes us deep into the story of the Everglades, its estuaries, and the pink-winged residents that symbolize both fragility and resilience — the flamingos. From his front yard in Islamorada to the farthest reaches of Florida Bay, Jerry shares what it means to dedicate a lifetime to restoration, research, and reverence for the wild.

🦩 In this episode:
🌊 The hidden life of estuaries — where fresh and salt water meet
🌴 How the Everglades are being brought back to life
🐦 The mystery and return of flamingos to Florida
📖 The true story behind Guy Bradley and the deadly plume trade
💧 Why South Florida’s future depends on saving its wetlands

A remarkable journey through the science, struggle, and soul of Florida’s wild heart — and the people fighting to keep it alive.

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Sophie Osborn never expected to spend her life saving birds. With degrees in French literature and international relations, she seemed destined for diplomacy — not a tent in grizzly country, hand-raising peregrine falcons on the edge of extinction.

In this powerful and moving conversation with Scott Harris, Sophie shares her extraordinary path from the University of Pennsylvania to the wilds of Wyoming, Kenya, Hawaii, and the Grand Canyon — all chronicled in her acclaimed book Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds.

🦅 In this episode:
🌍 How peregrine falcons came back from the brink after DDT
🐦 The heartbreak and hope of working with Hawaiian crows and California condors
📚 Why individuality — not just populations — matters in conservation
💫 What it means to fall in love with the wild and dedicate your life to its defense
✍️ Behind the scenes of her next book, Wild Work: Adventures of Women Field Biologists

From condors and crows to childhood spark birds, Sophie’s story is one of resilience — a testament to how much one person’s wonder and persistence can change the world for the wild things that still remain.

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Susie Spikol is an author, naturalist, and lifelong believer in wonder — a woman who bridges the world of science and story with grace and joy.

In this charming and heartfelt conversation with Scott Harris, Susie explores how imagination and curiosity can reconnect us — and our children — to the natural world. From her beloved books The Book of Fairies and Forest Magic for Kids to her decades of work at the Harris Center for Conservation Education, Susie reminds us that nature’s greatest lessons often begin with play.

🧚‍♀️ In this episode:
📖 The childhood magic behind The Book of Fairies
🌲 Blending storytelling with science
🦉 Life at the Harris Center in Hancock, New Hampshire
🧪 The joy of “potion-making” and unstructured outdoor play
💫 Why wonder is a form of wisdom — and why we must protect it

Susie’s world is one where fairies meet field guides, where curiosity leads to conservation, and where every child (and adult) is invited to rediscover the wild imagination that still lives within us.

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Cherryl Connally is a lifelong naturalist, birder, and educator who has spent decades helping people slow down, look closer, and rediscover wonder in the ordinary.

In this thoughtful and heartfelt conversation with Scott Harris, Cherryl shares stories from her life in nature — from childhood birding adventures to her work connecting communities with the outdoors.

🕊️ Highlights include:
🌿 Finding stillness and balance through birdwatching
📚 How curiosity can transform the way we see the world
💬 The subtle art of teaching wonder — and why it matters
🎨 The creative side of fieldwork and nature journaling
💡 What birds can teach us about presence, patience, and play

This episode is a quiet celebration of awareness, gratitude, and the magic in everyday encounters with nature.

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Doug Peacock has lived a life few could imagine — from serving as a Green Beret medic in Vietnam, to spending decades alone among grizzlies in the wilds of Yellowstone, Glacier, and beyond.

A lifelong author, filmmaker, and conservationist, Doug’s story is one of survival, humility, and fierce love for the wilderness. In this intimate and powerful conversation with Scott Harris, he shares how encounters with grizzly bears helped him heal from the trauma of war and shaped a life of purpose and advocacy.

🐻 Highlights include:
🌲 Coming home from Vietnam and finding healing in the wild
📚 The making of Grizzly Years — now one of National Geographic’s “Top 100 Adventure Books of All Time”
🎥 Filming the PBS documentary Peacock’s War and The Beast of Our Time
🔥 Why he never carried a gun in grizzly country — and what those encounters taught him about courage
🌎 How climate change and habitat loss threaten North America’s great bears
💪 The fight to keep grizzlies protected and wild — and why it’s worth it

It’s a conversation about wilderness, redemption, and the quiet heroism of those who refuse to give up on wild things.

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