Neva Hassanein is a Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. For this episode, she interviews her mentor, friend and professor whom she studied with in East Africa. 

Paul’s formative years were spent in the Belgian Congo—ay a time when most of Africa was the possession of one or another of Europe’s nations.  For more than four decades, his life experiences were largely centered in Africa where he lived, worked, and together with his wife, Margie, raised three children. Then for 15 years, he directed a global service learning program at Wheaton College, where his Africa experience was been enlarged to include much of what is being called “The Majority World.”  

His journey in scholarship really began at Northwestern University, where he studied history and was awarded a Fulbright to examine the vulnerability of African communities to protracted drought in the 1970s. His PhD research brought together archival investigation in the U.K. and Kenya, and living oral history from the deserts of the Kenya-Ethiopian frontier, where he spent considerable time walking desert paths and sitting under trees in conversation with Gabra sages, learning how they survived and flourished in one of Africa's harshest environments.  This experience anchored his engagement with issues of cultural change and ‘development,’ as well as his commitment to learning from other cultures.  For four decades, he shared that learning with college students through cross-cultural learning and service educational programs.

Paul’s scholarship and teaching have always been directly linked to praxis.  He continues to work closely with international organizations, assisting with assessment of development initiatives.  High points of this include working for two years with Kenyan communities, helping to facilitate integrative responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the past 20 years involved in peace-building, reconciliation, and reconstruction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through the Congo Initiative. He is passionate about emerging relational and partnership paradigms between North and South to effect changes that improve lives and care for the environment. He gives leadership on several international boards that address global challenges of hunger, poverty, and transformation.

Summing up Dr. Robinson’s teaching, he would say, “Until we begin to recognize how we look through others’ eyes, we will not ‘get it.’" We begin to see with new lenses first through encounter and then into engagement. Then from engagement to relationship.  It is in relationship that we begin to find wholeness and well-being. As we find others, we begin to find our true selves.” Perhaps seeing ourselves ultimately as truly human.  Paul is committed to understanding through exposure to, involvement with, and learning from other perspectives. 

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Brad Lourens grew up in Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. As a child, he spent most of his free time at the ocean and during the holidays he would spend time in the bush with his father. He was a part of the Junior Honorary Rangers, where he would assist rangers in the parks. He studied to be a guide in 2007. As a level 2 trails guide, he often takes clients out on game walks where he often gets close to the Big Five. 

Brad works as a game ranger/guide in the most famous of the private game reserves near Port Elizabeth. Shamwari is a 70km2/27mi2 conservation project with the Big Five and, like Addo, five of South Africa’s eight biomes. (Nama Karoo, Succulent Karoo, Fynbos, Forest, Thicket, Savanna, Grassland and Desert) Guests can visit the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre and Born Free Big Cat Sanctuaries and choose between six luxurious lodges and the Explorer Camp. Swapping four wheels for a walking safari, the Explorer Camp comprises three tents, an outdoor bathroom and a plunge pool on a plateau amid basalt and granite extrusions.

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Mandela interviews two of her clients while rowing them across a glacial lake connecting the Alsek River drainage. Scott and Heather have run over one hundred rivers around the world and they reflect on protecting rivers in South America as well as climate change and the importance of connecting with people wherever you go. 

Scott's conservation connection and focus is the Futaleufú River. Based in the town of Futaleufú, nestled at the confluence of the Futaleufú and Espolón rivers, his team works year-round to fulfill their vision of a Patagonia where rivers flow freely, developers are held accountable for their actions, and people and communities have agency over decisions that will affect their watershed, their homes, and their lives.

Futaleufú Riverkeeper’s work is based on the three main pillars of environmental policymaking and litigation, scientific data collection and monitoring, and community education and empowerment. We monitor the watershed and are alert to emerging threats to water and ecosystem health, then take action to combat these threats through policy work and community initiatives. We provide valuable information that contributes to the strengthening and promotion of public policies that protect the rights of rivers and communities. Following the Riverkeeper model, we place special emphasis on developing legal strategies, prosecuting polluters, and taking strong legal action to put a stop to activities that will harm the Futaleufú watershed.

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Dr. Bruce Stein s a scientific expert on biodiversity and wildlife conservation, and serves as the National Wildlife Federation’s chief scientist. The author of numerous publications on conservation biology, endangered species, and climate change, he is also a sought-after speaker and instructor.

Since joining the National Wildlife Federation in 2008, Stein has spearheaded the organization’s work to develop new approaches for carrying out wildlife conservation in an era of climate change. Known as “climate-smart conservation,” these techniques have been widely adopted by wildlife and land managers in the United States and internationally. Stein has served as a scientific advisor to various government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Interior and Department of Defense, and is on the steering committee of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Climate Change Specialist Group.

Prior to joining the National Wildlife Federation, he helped establish the non-profit organization NatureServe, where he served as Chief Scientist, and he spent more than a decade as a senior scientist with The Nature Conservancy. A botanist by training, Stein received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his Ph.D. from Washington University, St. Louis and the Missouri Botanical Garden.

100% of financial support for this podcast and our educational outreach programs comes from Patreon donations. Please help keep the podcast ad free by visiting www.Patreon.com/TrailLessTraveled & seeing which donation tier suits your budget. We make $227/month as of June 2023... please help us reach our goal and thanks for considering!

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Recorded while floating down the Selway River in the heart of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, we invite you to join us for an interview with Mark Martin. Mark is a river and fishing guide in Idaho who serves as a salmon and steelhead advocate for the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association. Mark is also a writer, conservationist and backcountry skier. Mark is also a fly tier extraordinaire who is known as the "Idaho Guide Bob Ross".

Mark was born and raised in northern Maine: a place and culture where “going for a walk in the woods” is still a legitimate way to fill an empty afternoon. He spent most of his free time fishing, hunting, canoeing, and skiing, and his dad taught him to flyfish and tie flies when he was eleven. Several years of education and work in fisheries conservation led him to a realization that no wild river’s heart and soul could ever be characterized by a series of equations….and right about then he discovered central Idaho and the Middle Fork. It was, as they say, love at first sight. Since then, his natural habitat has become the rower’s seat of a fishing boat.Mark ties all his own flies for fishing, sells a few, and brings a selection of favorites to the Middle Fork for each trip. When not guiding, he finds work as a server at an off-the-grid backcountry ski-in restaurant in the winter in McCall. Somewhere in there he finds the time to fly fish obsessively for steelhead all over the Northwest, and explore Idaho’s mountains on his skis…all while daydreaming about last Middle Fork season, and the next. He is also a favorite amongst our guests and is an incredible fishing guide and has the patience of a sage.

100% of financial support for this podcast and our educational outreach programs comes from Patreon donations. Please help keep the podcast ad free by visiting www.Patreon.com/TrailLessTraveled & seeing which donation tier suits your budget. We make $227/month as of June 2023... please help us reach our goal and thanks for considering!

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Neva Hassanein is a Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of

Montana, where she has taught since 2000. Neva earned her Doctorate in

Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin and her Masters degree

from the University of Oregon.

Neva is author of the book, Changing the Way America Farms: Knowledge and

Community in the Sustainable Agriculture Movement. Her recent scholarship

develops the concept of “food democracy,” which is the idea that people can and

should meaningfully participate in shaping the food system, rather than remain

passive consumers on the sidelines. Her work has explored various issues, such as

farmland loss, regional food economies, pesticides, the US organic program, and

biotechnology.

An engaged scholar, Neva is active beyond the academy, attempting to put research

into practice at the local level. She and her students help strengthen Montana’s food

system through community-based research projects and active partnerships.

Neva served on the Missoula City-County Consolidated Planning Board for six years.

She has also co-founded and served on the boards of several organizations.

Neva is currently a business partner in Corner Farm Village LLC, which is doing a

farmland conservation development project on the edge of Missoula.

Neva enjoys gardening, sharing food with friends, hunting wild mushrooms, raising

urban chickens, and exploring the natural world.

https://missoulacurrent.com/um-sustainable-agriculture/ 

100% of financial support for this podcast and our educational outreach programs comes from Patreon donations. Please help keep the podcast ad free by visiting www.Patreon.com/TrailLessTraveled & seeing which donation tier suits your budget. We make $227/month as of June 2023... please help us reach our goal and thanks for considering!

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This episode was recorded inside an old Land Rover Defender 110 (the portable recording studio) parked in front of the Roxy Theater during the International Wildlife Film Festival. We sit down with the crew behind the award winning wildlife documentary, Kangaroo Valley!

Journey to a secret valley in Australia, where a nervous baby kangaroo named Mala faces hungry dingoes and winter snows in this coming-of-age adventure. Kangaroo Valley is available to watch on Netflix!

Tab Murphy's theatrical debut, Gorillas in the Mist, was nominated for an Academy Award for his writing. In 1995, Murphy made his directorial debut with Last of the Dogmen and wrote the feature. Afterwards, Murphy has spent nearly ten years with The Walt Disney Company writing The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996, Tarzan in 1999, Atlantis: The Lost Empire in 2001, and Brother Bear in 2003. During his time with Disney, he was hired by TriStar Pictures to write a treatment to a planned sequel to the 1998 film Godzilla.

Kylie Stott has a track record of internationally acclaimed, documentary programs including David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef and Stephen Hawking’s Brave New World. With over 15 years of experience in television, Kylie started her factual career in the UK and has worked on blue chip productions for the BBC, National Geographic, Discovery, ITV, ZDF and others. In 2013, she then returned home to Australia, to work on a combination science, history, archaeology and natural history programs. Then in 2015, she leapt feet first into virtual reality with the BAFTA winning VR team from Atlantic Productions on Atomic Ghost Fleet, for Sony Playstation. From December 2019, she relocated to Los Angeles where she works as a director and producer.

100% of financial support for this podcast and our educational outreach programs comes from Patreon donations. Please help keep the podcast ad free by visiting www.Patreon.com/TrailLessTraveled & seeing which donation tier suits your budget. We make $227/month as of June 2023... please help us reach our goal and thanks for considering!

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Dawn Kish received her first camera, a Nikkormat, when she was 17 years old from her mentor Sue Bennett. For over 25 years she has been shooting adventure, commercial, and conservation photography. “If it is outside,” says Kish, “I’ve probably photographed it.”

She creates photos of her journeys, whether they are stories of Native Americans in her Arizona homeland or hanging off a cliff wall in Yosemite.  Dawn’s life is full of adventure activities: snowboarding, rock climbing, backpacking and white water boating. She has worked as a river guide in the Grand Canyon for the USGS. “The river is part of me. It is in my heart and soul.”

Dawn was inspired at a young age by the National Geographic Magazines her mother subscribed to and kept on a bookshelf in her bedroom. Then in 1999 she started shooting for them. “It was a dream come true.”

For Kish, photography is all about the people and their stories, their emotions, and the honor of the photographic moment. Direct and honest, this playful self-taught photographer has a way of bringing out the genuine and expressive ways of the people she works with. “My subjects give me so much, that I get charged up. That is why I keep traveling, learning, and telling stories.”

Kish started a portrait series on conservationist of the 22 Tribes of Arizona called Connected. A long term photogravure project influenced by the famous work of Edward Curtis. It documents the Arizona native conservationists and the land they protect. “We must promote advocacy and save our natural world.”

Her lovely clients are Arizona Highways, Audubon, Grand Canyon Trust, National Geographic, Patagonia, and Sports Illustrated. “I feel so honored. I love being a photographer,” says Kish. “It’s the best job ever and I get to work with awesome clients.”

Kish has many awards and is a featured photographer in the book, National Geographic Field Guide to Adventure Photography, plus, honored in the top 30 photographs in 30 years of National Geographic Traveler, and the top 50 photos ever in Arizona Highways Magazine. Kish also received the Red Bull Illume award for the photo Climbers Hand.

Kish loves to direct and tell stories and turns her photo projects into film.

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Lara Tomov is a filmmaker and communications consultant, who keeps her ear to the ground for messages that can improve the well-being of human communities and the ecosystems they're a part of. Her work as a cinematographer has taken her around the world with productions for Travel Channel, Discovery, and independent documentaries. 

After growing up in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, then living out of state for a decade, she is happily based back home in Montana. She founded her media brand, Stories for Action, in 2020, which holds a mission to use the power of storytelling to create connections around a thriving planet for all. 

Stories for Action and other partners launched the Life in the Land project in 2022, which is a series of films and podcasts elevating the value of community-guided and holistic approaches within Montana's landscapes. The Life in the Land film episode from Blackfeet Nation, which is screening at IWFF, is Co-Produced by Lailani Upham of Iron Shield Creative. Lara earned a BA in Film from Emerson College and is a licensed drone pilot and underwater camera operator. 

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