Nature Nuggets

Join us for a fun and insightful conversation with progressive forester, naturalist and author Ethan Tapper!

Ethan Tapper is a forester, author, birder, hunter, and natural historian from Vermont and the author of the recently published book ​​How to Love A Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World.

He has been recognized as a thought-leader and a disruptor in the forestry and conservation community of the northeastern United States and beyond, winning multiple regional and national awards for his work. Ethan runs a consulting forestry business – Bear Island Forestry – is a regular contributor to Northern Woodlands magazine and a variety of other publications and is a digital creator with tens of thousands of followers on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook @HowtoLoveAForest. In his personal life, Ethan works, writes, hunts and birds at Bear Island – his 175-acre working forest, homestead, orchard and sugarbush – works toward a graduate degree at the University of Vermont, and plays in his 10-piece punk band, The Bubs.

Join us for the special one-year anniversary episode of Nature Nuggets as we chronicle the many signs of spring's emergence and engage in an insightful conversation with Phil Greene, Environmental Specialist with the City of Kingston. We explore the impressive array of sustainability initiatives and environmental education programs being conducted by the City of Kingston, spanning from the highly local and pragmatic to the global infrastructure transition away from a fossil fuel economy.

And we are joined by third-time visiting guest and longtime Nature Nuggets supporter Brianna Cayo-Cotter, who brings tales of the future from the southlands where spring has already sprung!

Join us for a spring-filled, wide-ranging conversation with Marist University Environmental Science professor, and outdoor educator extraordinaire, Dr. Zion Klos about the transformative importance of immersive outdoor experiences for young people as well as the dynamic intersections of earth sciences like hydrology and geology with human psychology and decision making around community responses to the climate crisis. Also, beavers!

As an environmental Earth scientist, Zion focuses on integrating the physical, ecological, and social sciences, often through the lens of issues surrounding water and climate. Before Marist, he was based at the University of California, Santa Barbara while pursuing research focused on the overlap of ecohydrology, geology, and land management in mountain systems. This work stemmed from doctoral research at the University of Idaho focused on the interaction of water, ecology, and society in the western US, Costa Rica, and the Eastern Seaboard (via a year on a sailboat). There he specialized in physical hydrology and climate science, but was also part of a unique, team-based Ph.D. focused on using a psychological lens to communicate and evaluate how changes in climate were impacting decision-making in resource-dependent communities.

Zion’s foundational interests in physical sciences stem from his undergraduate major in geology at Colorado College. There he fostered another major personal interest in outdoor leadership. At Marist, he brings these same types of transformative outdoor-based, project-focused research and course experiences to his students to help them better understand the natural world and its integration with society, both locally and globally.

Today we talk with local author of Love Story with Birds, Bard literature professor and bird admirer Derek Furr about how bringing attention to the natural world can open up new realms of insight and understanding.

Derek Furr grew up in rural North Carolina, taught public school in Charlottesville, Virginia, and lives now with his family in the Hudson Valley. He is a literature professor and Dean of Teacher Education at Bard College. He is the author of three collections of poetry and prose--Love Story With Birds, Suite For Three Voices, and Semitones--as well as critical works about poetry, sound, and performance.

Derek is an active participant and featured speaker at the excellent local nature group John Burroughs Natural History Society (JBNHS).

Join us for a rich conversation with Wild Earth Executive Director Omari Washington as we highlight their inspiring offerings for environmental education experiences and 'earth living skills' available for kids of all ages in the Hudson Valley. Also we talk out our firsthand observations of the active emergence of spring exploding all around us this week!

This week features a great conversation with local birder, science teacher, cyclist and nature walk leader Chrissy Guarino! Chrissy leads day trips with the John Burroughs Natural History Society (JBNHS), including a popular annual visit to the Shawangunk Grasslands to check out the bizarre and wonderful early spring phenomenon that is the American Woodcock's dramatic courtship display. This show focuses on the early signs of spring already unfolding in the region, and features lots of tips and resources for getting outside and encountering some of our region's amazing birds and ecosystems.

Co-hosts Duane Martinez and Laurel Sutherlin explore recent seasonal happenings in the natural world from around the Hudson Valley and across the world, including experiences Laurel brings back from nature excursions in the mountains of Thailand.

Don't miss Chris's conversation with bryophile Julia Palmer this week, who takes us on a trip to the tiny, wonderful world of mosses. We learn how mosses differ from vascular plants, introduces us to some of her favorite mosses and moss names, and helps explain the special properties of the boundary layer where mosses and lichens live. Julia fell in love with mosses at SUNY ESF studying with renowned indigenous author and botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, and shares how learning to pay attention to these tiny organisms (some of which have leaves that are only one cell thick!) changed how she moves through the world. Stay tuned for some tips on how you can get out and appreciate moss (and the rest of nature) this week!

Links mentioned~

Further reading: Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Mosses of the Northern Forest by Jerry Jenkins

3/1 Winter Hydrology Walk

Adams Garden Show

This week Chris has Kate Rose Weiner in to talk about her work with Loam, the publishing branch of the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education. Among other topics, we discuss the mostly invisible, unsung, heart work that is editing, taking authentic joy in our naturalist passions, the reasons behind Loam's decision to divest from social media, and the challenges of doing the deep, slow work of storytelling about disaster resiliency when the pace of climate catastrophe keeps speeding up.

Tune into Kate's work here~

https://loamlove.substack.com/

https://loamlove.com/

https://www.katerweiner.com/

Chris sits down with Sefra Alexandra, aka the Seed Huntress, for a lively conversation about seed conservation. We talk about seed saving from the small community to global levels, from local seed libraries to the Global Seed Vault. Sefra helps demystify a lot of seed terminology, and explains how planting truly native plant ecotypes suited to our region supports pollinators and other wildlife, and makes a world of difference in the work of ecological restoration. At the end of the hour we cover "seed guilds" and how us regular gardeners can get involved in the work of restoration and seed stewardship!

Links for the organizations mentioned~

Northeast Seed Collective: https://www.northeastseedcollective.com/

The Ecotype Project: https://www.ecotypeproject.org/

Northeast Seed Network: https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/northeast-seed-network/

BOATanical Expeditions: https://boatanical.org/