Science Moab

The Glen Canyon Dam disturbed the balance of many natural processes in the Grand Canyon stretch of the Colorado River. Here we talk with geologist and fluvial geomorphologist, Katie Chapman about the effect the dam has had on sandbars downstream. By understanding how the sand is (or is not) moving through the canyon, Katie is working to try and restore these once plentiful sand deposits for the sake of recreationists as well as natural river ecosystems.

Tara Gatewood understands the power of Indigenous radio. As longtime host of "Native America Calling", Tara was part of a communal place where native voices were heard. Here, we speak with Tara, an award winning veteran journalist and enrolled Citizen of the Pueblo of Isleta/Diné, who is now the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Director of the Fund for Indigenous Journalists Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T) (https://www.iwmf.org/programs/fund-for-indigenous-journalists/ ), an initiative that directly supports Indigenous journalists’ reporting on the issue of MMIWG2T.

Dawn Davis of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall, Idaho studies the sustainability of ethno-significant plants. Her work is trying to deter people from harming culturally important plants by helping others understand the impacts on plant populations and the Indigenous cultures that have had direct relationships for thousands of years. Here, Science Moab speaks with Dawn about Peyote, a traditional medicine and important cultural plant found only in the Southwest United States. We speak about how peyote is threatened and how she and others are working with land owners, Native communities, and scientists to maintain this important species.

Science Moab talks with Ann Marie Chischilly, Executive Director at the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP).  In addition to the advocacy work she does at the national and international level, Chischilly works with ITEP to address climate change in Tribal communities  and works in academia to Indigenizing higher education.

This week we talk with Reagan Wytsalucy about traditional foods on the Colorado Plateau. Reagan is actively working to reestablish agriculture and the traditional food crops in native communities, and is specifically looking at peaches as the beginning food crop to identify, locate, and bring back to four corners communities.

Native communities have land management objectives that stem from traditional ecological knowledge and deep connections to land. Jaime Yazzie has been asking how traditional knowledge held within her Diné community can inform management in Navajo Nation forests. Yazzie's work on Tribal forests emphasizes Diné concepts of kinships and here she explains how she works to incorporate these concepts into management objectives.

This episode of Science Moab was made possible by a Stem Action Grant from the Society for Science.

All About the Bees by Peggy Hodgkins

When it comes to the Colorado RIver Basin, the management of resources must consider the scale at which effects are felt. We talk with Lucas Bair, economist with the USGS Southwest Biological Science Center in Flagstaff, AZ. His work deals with the monitoring and researching resources downstream from Glen Canyon Dam and also provides science to federal agencies, providing additional science and information that helps them make informed decisions when managing the basin. Ideally, this monitoring and research helps inform not only the delivery of water and the production of hydropower, but also the management of ecosystems and other resources at the basin scale.

There are many efforts going on within the national parks of the Southwest to restore degraded ecosystems. From using biological controls, to weeding and seeding, to anticipating the effects of climate change, the national parks of southeastern Utah are actively being managed to return or maintain ecological function. Here, we speak with NPS ecologist Liz Ballenger about what ecological restoration means for national parks within SE Utah and the Colorado Plateau.

Horses evolved in the North American landscape but went functionally extinct towards the end of the Pleistocene. Horses were then re-introduced to North American and many have become wild on western ranges. Their numbers are growing and so is the damage they are causing. We talk with range scientist Eric Thacker about the growing number of wild horses across the west and the need for horse management in order to maintain the fragile ecosystems they graze on.