Nature Now

Hosts Debaran Kelso, Nan Evans, and Jackie Canterbury have a good time sharing their favorite recent natural history books. Join the fun and start your 2024 "to read" list. (Airdate: January 3, 2024)

Books discussed:
An Immense World by Ed Yong
The Mind of a Bee by Lars Chittka
Passings by Holly Hughes
Alfie & Me by Carl Safina
Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan Slaght
Take Heart by Kathleen Dean Moore
Horizon by Barry Lopez
Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World by Barry Lopez
A Naturalist's Year in the Pacific Northwest by Geoffrey Hammerson
Salmon Cedar Rock & Rain by Tim McNulty
Sibley Birds West by David Allen Sibley
A Field Guide to Western Birds by Roger Tory Peterson
Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests by Casey McFarland, Matthew Monjello and David Moskowitz
Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest by Andy Lamb and Phil Edgell
Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon
Pacific Northwest Insects by Merrill Peterson
Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry by Elizabeth Bradfield, CMarie Fuhrman and Derek Sheffield

Find more to read in the Jefferson Land Trust Natural History Society Book Club reading list.

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and want to support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Jackie Canterbury talks with Dr. Steve Hampton about the oldest citizen science program of its kind, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count or CBC. The CBC began on Christmas Day 1900 as a way to count birds rather than shoot them as people began to become visibly concerned about declining bird populations. Today the CBC occurs each year from December 14 through January 5 relying on volunteer birders. Audubon and other organizations use the 122 years of data to guide conservation efforts, including the greatest challenge of all, climate change. "There is nothing else like the CBC in terms of geographic coverage and time," says Geoff LeBaron, Christmas Bird Count Director for the National Audubon Society. And none of it would happen without dedicated volunteers. (Airdate: December 27, 2023)

Learn more:
History of the Christmas Bird Count
The 122nd Christmas Bird Count Summary
From Steve Hampton's blog: Heading south for winter, more birds are choosing the PNW

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and want to support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Thousands of crab pots go untended yearly in the Salish Sea; their release causes crab loss and ship damage. Nan Evans talks with Nathaniel Ashford about the efforts of Port Townsend’s STEM Club (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to salvage those lost pots using robotics. Olivia Reinhart joins the conversation to share her experience working with the Sea Dragons team (part 2 of a two-part program). (Airdate: December 20, 2023)

Learn more:
The project to remove lost crab pots
The Port Townsend STEM Club
The Sea Dragon derelict crab pot recovery project has won the ESRI 2023 student Storytellers of the Year award

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and want to support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Join host Debaran Kelso as we explore the fascinating world of screech owls! Renowned ecologist Dr. Carl Safina is our guest, speaking about his most recent book Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe, which describes his family’s raising of an orphaned Eastern Screech Owl and how this changed their lives. (Airdate: December 13, 2023)

Learn more:
Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe by Carl Safina
Carl Safina's website
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and want to support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Nan Evans talks with Jim Bodkin about what scientists have learned about sea otter ecology and conservation since otters were nearly forced into extinction by fur hunters – specifically how important sea otters are to healthy, diverse and resilient ocean ecosystems. How do we know if and when the sea otters have been restored to pre-hunting conditions? Is there a relationship between climate change and healthy sea otter populations? (Airdate: December 6, 2023)

Watch Jim Bodkin's lecture: Sea Otter Stories – History, Ecology & Conservation.

Learn more:
Elakha Alliance – Bringing Back Oregon’s Sea Otters
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Seattle Aquarium
Sea Otter Foundation & Trust
Why the return of sea otters to Canada’s west coast is making waves

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and want to support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Join Debaran Kelso on a fall mushroom hunt with fellow fungiphiles Maxwell Fisher, Baylin Speidel, and Shawn Gisriel (part 2 of a two-part program). (Airdate: November 22, 2023)

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and want to support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Nan Evans and Jim Bodkin, Scientist Emeritus of the U.S. Geological Survey, finish their discussion of sea otters off the outer Washington coast (part 2 of a two-part program). (Airdate: January 2017)

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and want to support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Nan Evans talks about sea otters with Jim Bodkin, Scientist Emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey, in a wide-ranging discussion of the animals off the Washington coast (part 1 of a two-part program). (Airdate: December 2016)

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and want to support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Nan Evans delves further into the background and lives of sea otters in a discussion with wildlife biologist Jim Bodkin (part 2 of a two-part program). (Airdate: May 2016)

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and want to support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Nan Evans interviews wildlife biologist Jim Bodkin in a discussion about sea otters (part 1 of a two-part program). (Airdate: May 2016)

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and want to support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!