Nature Now

Nan Evans talks with Emily Buckner from the Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group about research goals, collaboration, and challenges involved in studying Dungeness crab populations in the Salish Sea. (KPTZ airdate: March 18, 2026)

Learn more:
Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group
Dungeness Crab 101
Puget Sound Restoration Fund
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can 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!

We're taking a fascinating dive into the tiny yet complex worlds of bees and birds. On the surface, these creatures couldn't be more different — one flits through the air with delicate wings, the other buzzes industriously from flower to flower. But when it comes to brains and behavior, both are masters of their environments in surprising ways. Jackie Canterbury and beekeeper Colleen Ebken uncover what makes these creatures' brains tick and their behavior so remarkable. (KPTZ airdate: March 11, 2026)

Learn more:
The Mind of a Bee: An Exploration of the Intelligence of Bees with Lars Chittka
Why bees are essential to people and planet
Washington Bee Atlas Volunteers
Beginning Beekeeping Course
Closing sound: Frederick Dunn

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can 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 Paul Koberstein, award-winning environmental journalist and the co-author of the book "Canopy of Titans: The Life and Times of the Great North American Temperate Rainforest", to weave together the relationship between salmon and our coastal temperate rainforest. The Pacific Northwest was built on the relationship between salmon and forests. The big takeaway: salmon don't just swim through our forest streams, salmon feed the forests, year after year, century after century. (KPTZ airdate: February 18, 2026)

Learn more:
Canopy of Titans: The Life and Times of the Great North American Temperate Rainforest by Paul Koberstein and Jessica Applegate
Audiobook preview of Canopy of Titans
The Forest That Fish Built
BioScience Talks: Canopy of Titans, with Paul Koberstein
Greenwashing and the North American Temperate Rainforest with Paul Koberstein
Mystery sound recording: AUDEVARD Aurélien, XC1046353, accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/1046353. License CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can 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!

Debaran Kelso speaks with Washington Butterfly Association members Regina Johnson and Dan Dunphy about our native butterflies (part 1 of a two-part program). (KPTZ airdate: February 11, 2026)

Learn more:
Washington Butterfly Association
Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest by Robert Michael Pyle and Caitlin C. LaBar
Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Washington by Caitlin C. LaBar
Mystery sound recording: The Jungle Diaries
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can 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!

The bluffs of Fort Worden loom over any walks along North Beach. Lift your eyes away from the sea and up to the bluffs or across the waters. The geological stories of our area are laid out in front of you and on the horizon. Can you read or imagine those stories of deep past times and more recent glacial periods? Join Nan Evans as she talks with Tim Lawson, Port Townsend geologist, to explore clues and knit the patterns together. (KPTZ airdate: February 4, 2026)

Learn more:
Jefferson Land Trust Natural History Society outing to explore the bluffs of North Beach on Saturday, Feb 21, 2026
Detailed Report on the Geology of the North Beach Bluffs (Quimper Geology Society)
Geology of the Olympics
Cruisin' the Fossil Coastline by Ray Troll and Kirk Johnson
Mystery sound recording: The Port Townsend Leader
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can 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 local naturalist Steve Grace about recent efforts to protect a very special old forest on the Quimper Peninsula. (KPTZ airdate: November 27, 2019)

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can 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 Steve Grace, a local author and marine science educator, about a "Lost Wilderness" he found on the Quimper Peninsula and efforts to protect this treasure. (KPTZ airdate: February 27, 2019)

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can 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!

How can we act locally to protect special forest habitats while providing for sustainable forest harvests and supporting our local communities and economies? A tough prospect. Nan Evans explores specific efforts here in Jefferson County, WA, to do just this. Guests are County Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour, and Malloree Weinheimer, owner of Chickadee Forestry. (KPTZ airdate: January 28, 2026)

Learn more:
Western Washington Forest Health Strategic Plan
Trust Land Transfer Program
Contact your Washington State legislators
Chickadee Forestry
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can 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!

This week we review the remarkable life of pioneer/explorer James Swan, who lived and worked and recorded extensively in our area from 1859 to 1900. Debaran Kelso speaks with James Swan scholar Steve Ricketts at Swan's burial site in the Laurel Grove Cemetery in Port Townsend, WA (KPTZ airdate: January 21, 2026)

Learn more:
Winter Brothers: A Season at the Edge of America by Ivan Doig
Swan, James G. (1818-1900)
The Northwest Coast: Or, Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory by James G. Swan
Music by Steve Ricketts

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can 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!

The hosts of Nature Now - Jackie Canterbury, Nan Evans, and Debaran Kelso - start the year by sharing their favorite books about natural history. The conversation roams from bees to wolves, research to poetry, and beautiful photographs to whimsical illustrations. Laugh with them, listen to the awe and amazement they share, and find a new favorite book to read. Happy New Year, listeners! (KPTZ airdate: January 7, 2026)

Books discussed:
The Trees Are Speaking: Dispatches from the Salmon Forests by Lynda Mapes
Apprentice To The Wild by Kurt Hoelting
Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
I Was a Middle-Aged Wolfman: Chasing Wolves in Idaho's Backcountry by Jim Holyan
Seabirds As Sentinels: Auklets, Puffins, Shearwaters, and the View from Destruction Island by Eric Wagner
Seabirds: The New Identification Guide by Peter Harrison
The Mind Of A Bee by Lars Chittka
Around The Salish Sea: Plants and Art by Alice Derry
In Praise of Mystery by Ada Limon
Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids by Joseph Gaydos
From BAM! to BURP! A Carbon Atom’s Never-Ending Journey through Space and Time and YOU by Melissa Stewart

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

Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can 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!