to know the land

For this interview I get to talk with Jeremy Pustilnik and Paul Curtis about a recently published paper from the journal “Urban Ecosystems” on the interactions of Eastern Cottontail Rabbits (Syvilagus floridanus) and Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) around the use of Groundhog (Marmota monax) burrows and if the scent of Red Fox urine would dissuade the Cottontails from using the burrows. Not only does the paper cover this issue, but also invites some more complexity by looking at other animals, including specific reference to the Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis), and how and when those Skunks use the Groundhog burrows themselves.

The paper offers a lot of depth and detail around the broad intersectional ecology of the Groundhog burrow, who uses this burrow and why, and if by use of olfactory inputs from a local predator, would this act as deterrent to those species who use the burrows.

It was a lot of fun to get to dig in with these two biologists on their research, their experience and their passion for the work.

To read the paper :

“The effects of red fox scent on winter activity patterns of suburban wildlife: evaluating predator-prey interactions and the importance of groundhog burrows in promoting biodiversity” by authors Jeremy D. Pustilnik, Jeremy B. Searle, and Paul D. Curtis

image of Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) taken from study, provided by Jeremy Pustilnik.

The first show of 2021 is a great one. My guest is Sophie Mazowita, naturalist, educator, wildlife guide, tracker and much more. We talk about her journey as a naturalist and a tracker, how she gets off the trail and gets into the wilder world around her.

When I talk to folks about creating cultures of connection with the land, putting in the time, effort and passion into the work of learning ourselves and teaching others, Sophie is right on that. She has been working hard, as evidenced all over the internet with her videos, her career as a naturalist and educator, and her ongoing work getting folks on board with paying attention to the wilder world around them.

On top of her own personal endeavours, she shares her work with the Burlington Mammal Tracking Project where she led groups of trackers to map large mammal occurrence throughout the region. She shares more Conservation Northwest's Community Wildlife Monitoring Project where she is doing similar work, “organizing citizen-scientist volunteers to monitor and document wildlife using remote cameras where state and federal agencies don’t have the resources to go.” We also get to talk about a recent project of hers where she has been making space for folks to come together over video conferencing online to share their own tracking stories. What a great idea!

For more information about the work she is up to now, check out trackingconnection.com.

This is an older interview with cybersquirrel1.com creator SpaceRogue on why we need not worry about the threats of nationalistic warlike cyber attacks on the power grid on the continent, but instead we must be more concerned about THE SQUIRRELS!!! (sort of..)

Squirrels, Birds, Snakes, Raccoons have caused 2,123 power outages around the world since 1987, and possibly more. SpaceRogue has been collecting, documenting, and sharing details of these mischievous  animal attacks against the power grids. Tune in to hear about how the power infrastructure works in North America and how the wilderfauna are fighting back against “the grid”!

Originally aired April 17, 2017.

Cycles of the year are very important to me. Spring Equinox is always quickening as you smell the winter dripping away. Summer solstice for dancing with friends throughout the shortest nights. Autumn Equinox is a celebration of the bounty the summer has brought, and a reminder of the coming winter.

But none really carry the weight for me as much as the Winter Solstice. The returning of the Sun fills me with hope and relieves the anxious dark which settles deeper into my bones. It used to be a time of depression and despair, when I only saw death and bad, but as I have learned more about the land, the Winter Solstice has become a quiet promise that this dark, too, will pass.

Many cultures throughout history have marked the Winter Solstice with story and fire, communal celebrations which tie in tradition and custom from years back. Sadly this year we can't gather like we might like, and many of our  traditions are going to have to change dramatically or be skipped altogether. Luckily, playing “Solstice” is a Winter Solstice tradition that I do not have to skip.

“Solstice” is a guided journey led by a Shaman character, walking through our modern world of Christmas consumption and traditions revealing how they are overlayed on top of ancient earth based practices.  Along the way we meet a witch, a hunter, a Raven, and a Wolf who help guide us back to the origins of Yule.

This the third year that I get to play this radio play by Alison Mcleay originally broadcast on BBC Scotland  December 21st, 1985. With the voices of Michael Elder, Diana Olsson and Paul Young with producer Patrick Rayner, this is an archival piece of radio which deserves so much more air time. I will continue to rebroadcast this radio play each year that I have a show.

**Alison Mcleay’s (Martin was her married name) obituary

9xm8bfix

The work of Forest schools is becoming a bustling landscape of small organizations and business' trying their best to teach and share alongside the land in the best ways they can. But how do we transplant a European sourced model onto colonized indigenous lands without repeating the same racist patterns of harm? How do we not only stop harm, but work towards healing, reparations, and good relationships with all the communities we serve through the context of learning and teaching on the land?

Heather Wilson is the new (as of Nov. 18, 2020) Executive Director of Child and Nature Alliance of Canada and has been working towards some very specific goals:

With these commitments in mind, I wanted to ask how CNAC is moving forward, building decolonial futures in the world of Forest Schools/Nature Connection, and how do we do this work in pandemic times and beyond? 

With humility and grace, Heather shares some of the work she and the CNAC are doing to push Forest Schools towards a more inclusive, safe, meaningful, and culturally relevant option for all stakeholders.

*Illustration by Jeff Kulak

Coyotes have expanded their range in the last century more so than any other mammal on the continent, and is still going. Highly adaptive, intelligent, “wily”, and resilient, Coyote is not going to stop just because our human made landscapes get in the way. In fact, Coyotes make the way for themselves within our constructed spaces, finding edges and cracks and turning them into home.

But how do we c0-exist with an animal that so many have feared, hunted and sought to destroy for so long? How can we share the urban environment with a predator? When animals re-occupy the urban in novel ways, or ways that humans didn’t intend, how do we make space for that?

Lesley Sampson of Coyote Watch Canada, and animal geographer Lauren Van Patter take the time to share some of their experiences with Coyotes in urban environments, and share about how they are looking to help communities learn how to coexist with these wonderful animals.

Coyote Watch Canada

Lauren Van Patter’s website

Advancing best practices for aversion conditioning (humane hazing) to mitigate human–coyote conflicts in urban areas - Lesley and Lauren’s paper from Human-Wildlife Interactions journal

"How coyotes and humans can learn to coexist in cities" ,  article by Lauren and Lesley featured at theconversation.com

The Anthropocene’s animal? Coywolves as feral cotravelers by Stephanie Rutherford

*Coyote image by Joanne Merner c/o Coyote Watch Canada

Today I air a fanboyish interview with author, educator, terrestrial ecologist and inspiration, Tom Wessels.

Tom has written extensively on “forest forensics” and what I call “landscape tracking”, learning to read the signs of the forest to identify the ecological history and disturbance events which have affected that landscape. He looks to topographical features such as hills or the lack there of, floral composition of forest sites (which trees are present and who is not), and presence of any human made structures even when those structures have no relevance and therefore are invisible to the modern eye. These signs and more point to a hidden history revealed by his humble presentation of  He has been known to be able to identify a storm event from hundreds of years ago, which has toppled a tree in a random forest in New England down to the minute. He explains some of the ways he is able to deduce this throughout the show.

We also talk about his books, Reading The Forested Landscape, The Myth of Progress, and Forest Forensics among others. Tom shares ideas on ways we can imagine the future based on models of organization seen in nature, which we could adopt to create more sustaining, transformative, healing culture. He truly is a wealth of ecological knowledge and understanding of the New England forest landscape. Tom was, as I expected, detailed, sharp and full of insight. Well worth the listen.

This interview was originally broadcast November 18, 2019.

I get excited by finding dead animals on the land. There is so much we can learn by looking at these animals when they are in front of us. We can really examine their physical characteristics which isn't always that easy when the animals are alive, going about their own business, and generally trying to avoid interactions with humans.

When examining a dead bird there is a lot we can observe, such as their feathers, their bills, talons, bones the body has been opened by predators or by decomposition. We can move some of the limbs to better understand articulations, weight and possible range of motion. But sometimes it is difficult for us to know which animals we are finding out in the field. That's were Ed Drewitt helps.

For Episode 142 I get to talk to Ed Drewitt, naturalist, Peregrine Falcon researcher, and author of Raptor Prey Remains : A guide to identifying what’s been eaten by a bird of prey. On the show we discuss what is happening in England (where Ed is located), what the birds are up to this time of year, and also who is migrating and who is staying put. We talk about raptor ecology on the broad sense and also get focus on Peregrines. He also shares about his own efforts, from a school boy to working on his PhD 30 years later, all the while investigating feathers, skulls, and other prey remains.

It was a nice and relaxed interview, with Ed sharing so much of what he has learned through his years of observation and study, and how his book can help those who are getting started in the world of tracking birds of prey by learning to correctly identify that which they prey upon.

The show is a conversation with Jam Doughty, discussing the facets of their career as an artist creating beautiful works interpreting a diversity of lush flora, strange crustaceans, migrating autumn waterfowl and songbirds. We go over some of the complexities of being a white nature educator in the predominantly black community of Garfield Park neighbourhood on the west side of Chicago, working to push for more equity, and being and out spoken non-binary role model to the kids they work with.

How do we talk to our students, or the young people in our lives about our the complexities in the world around us? What about the subtleties and possibilities within our own experiences of ourselves? How do you challenge those we work with and for to push beyond lip service to racial equity and create real solidarity in our daily jobs? How does one do this amidst a culture of white supremacy, heterocentrism, and a pandemic, seemingly getting more and more out of hand?

We can’t answer it all, but there is open hearted conversation and sometimes that can help us through to the next day.

Check out their instagram here, and the Etsy account here .

Rhamnus cathartica, or Common Buckthorn, is a non-native opportunistic species of shrub that many love to hate, myself included most of the time. It seems to crowd out local species and possibly even poisons the soil beneath to make it even harder for other plants to take hold. Birds act as vectors for the seed dispersal and soon enough, another forest has a Buckthorn problem.

But what if we try to look at the species as a whole, trying to understand a little better, trying to learn a bit more about the relationships which are built around Buckthorn? Long used medicinally, for craft and beauty, we may already know some positives for this maligned plant. Can we look deeper and find something else? Something beyond the human?

This episode is a small step towards getting to know Common Buckthorn, R. cathartica, a little better.

Here is the link to the cabi.org write up on Buckthorn.