Wild Idaho! Podcast

Tune in to Wild Idaho! Podcast for a bonus episode with special guest Aaron Lieberman, Executive Director of the Idaho Outfitters & Guides Association. In our conversation, we dive a little deeper into what U.S. Congressman Mike Simpson’s Northwest in Transition concept means for Idaho’s fish and the communities that depend upon them. Host Hannah Smay and ICL’s salmon and steelhead advocacy fellow Mitch Cutter chat with Aaron about how the proposal ensures all communities a prosperous future by restoring abundant, healthy, and self-sustaining populations of salmon and steelhead to Idaho. Plus, learn how to get involved and make a difference!

Idaho Outfitter & Guides Association website: https://ioga.org/

Learn more: https://www.idahoconservation.org/our-work/salmon-and-steelhead/solutionstogether/

Rep. Simpson’s website: https://simpson.house.gov/salmon/

Take Action! https://p2a.co/LJrhMYQ

Resources for taking action: https://www.idahoconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/A-Northwest-in-Transition-Get-Involved-.pdf

Fact sheet: https://www.idahoconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Simpson-Proposal-Overall.pdf

Listen in as the Wild Idaho! Podcast takes a look at U.S. Congressman Mike Simpson’s Northwest in Transition concept, which charts a path forward for the Northwest. The proposal is bold, comprehensive, and urgently needed for Idahoans and the people of this region. Tune in as host Hannah Smay chats with ICL’s Salmon and Steelhead Advocacy Fellow Mitch Cutter and ICL’s Communications and Engagement Assistant Laura Pinover about how the proposal ensures all communities a prosperous future by restoring abundant, healthy, and self-sustaining populations of salmon and steelhead in Idaho, and building affordable clean energy and thriving agricultural economies. Plus, learn how to get involved and make a difference!

Learn more: https://www.idahoconservation.org/our-work/salmon-and-steelhead/solutionstogether/

Rep. Simpson’s website: https://simpson.house.gov/salmon/

Take Action! https://p2a.co/LJrhMYQ

Resources for taking action: https://www.idahoconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/A-Northwest-in-Transition-Get-Involved-.pdf

Fact sheet: https://www.idahoconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Simpson-Proposal-Overall.pdf

CORRECTION: Text "IDAHO FISH" to 52886 to take action now!

Join Wild Idaho! Podcast host Hannah Smay for a special episode about the Kilgore project, a gold exploration project located in the Centennials Mountains in east Idaho. Joining Hannah on this episode are Josh Johnson, ICL’s Conservation Associate, and Allison Michalski, the Idaho Conservation Associate with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC). ICL and GYC are partners in the effort to protect Idaho’s waters and wildlife from the impacts of mining and gold exploration in the Centennials. We are also joined by special guests Lauren Camp and Gretchen Henderson, two writers who have spent time in the Centennials. Lauren reads her poem “Reckoning” and Gretchen shares her piece “Headwaters.”

To learn more about the Kilgore project, visit ICL and GYC on our websites.

GYC: https://greateryellowstone.org/kilgoremine

ICL: https://www.idahoconservation.org/blog/gold-exploration-at-kilgore-threatens-wildlife-water-quality/

Learn more about Lauren Camp and her work at https://www.laurencamp.com/.

Learn more about Gretchen Henderson and her work at https://www.gretchenhenderson.com/.

Photo: Tony Huegel

Join Wild Idaho! Podcast host Hannah Smay and ICL's Salmon and Steelhead Advocacy Fellow Mitch Cutter to learn about the connections between endangered salmon and steelhead and electric power in Idaho. Electric cooperatives and municipal utilities across Idaho buy power from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which is generated at dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers. The four dams on the lower Snake River play a major role in driving Idaho’s salmon and steelhead to the brink of extinction. Tune in to learn about the path forward for recovering Idaho’s fish to abundance, ensuring clean and affordable energy for Idahoans, and making and keeping Idaho communities whole.

Learn more and contact energy leaders in your community here: https://www.idahoconservation.org/our-work/salmon-and-steelhead/fishpower/

Make your voice heard to the members of the Idaho Governor's Salmon Workgroup: https://species.idaho.gov/governors-salmon-workgroup/

Join Hannah and ICL's North Idaho Director Brad Smith to learn all about why Idahoans should be bear aware. Tune in for stories about grizzly bear sightings in Idaho and tips on how to behave safely in bear country.

Learn more at the ICL blog. https://www.idahoconservation.org/blog/lets-get-bear-aware/

Have concerns, need help, or want more information?

- Visit the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) website (http://igbconline.org/) for a wealth of resources for recreationists, homeowners, ranchers, farmers, hunters, and public lands users.

- Check out this one-hour educational presentation produced by the Montana Bear Education Working Group (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrFsJguXYIk&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3DexD1qR4bzmnC0iMjEoOB14wAPlltVbfP04SF-EK6zB5MSj-0UE376IM), covering bear natural history, biology, identification, attractant storage, preventing encounters, bear spray, and how to handle bear encounters.

Thanks to Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) for their support with our bear aware projects this 2020 season.

Join Hannah and Haley in a conversation with astronomer and ICL board member Matt Benjamin about Idaho’s unique and spectacular dark skies. We talk about light pollution and its impacts on human and ecological health, the history of the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve (North America’s first gold-tier dark sky international dark sky reserve) and how you can explore the wonders of the cosmos from the night sky in your own backyard.

Resources:

Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve: https://idahodarksky.org/

International Dark-Sky Association: https://www.darksky.org/

Best stargazing apps: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g26089673/best-stargazing-apps/

Calendar of astronomy events in 2020: http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-2020.html

Activities for kids: https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/subject/astronomy-and-space-sciences/

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/classroom-activities/en/

Join Hannah in a conversation with ICL’s North Idaho staff - Shelby Herber and Matt Nykiel - about precarious pollution challenges in and around Lake Coeur d’Alene. Learn about the interconnected web of contamination from historical mining activity in Idaho’s Silver Valley and the legacy of toxic materials that threaten lakeside residents and downstream communities.

We need your help to protect Lake Coeur d’Alene. Join us in urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate Lake Coeur d’Alene and provide a cleanup plan that will work. Comments are due April 30! Take action here: https://p2a.co/SH2c102

Learn more:

Pollution at the Heart of Lake Coeur d’Alene blog by Matt Nykiel

https://www.idahoconservation.org/blog/pollution-at-the-heart-of-lake-coeur-dalene/

A dangerous cocktail threatens the gem of North Idaho: Upstream mining has left a toxic legacy at the bottom of Coeur d’Alene Lake by Emily Benson (High Country News)

https://www.hcn.org/issues/51.11/pollution-a-dangerous-cocktail-threatens-the-gem-of-north-idaho

Leaded: The Poisoning of Idaho’s Silver Valley by Michael C. Mix

http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/leaded

Join Hannah and guest-host Jonas Seiler, ICL's River Conservation Fellow, in a conversation with environmental advocate and high school senior Asa Menlove. Learn about the youth environmental movement in Idaho and Asa's passionate efforts to protect Idaho's salmon and steelhead. To comment on the DEIS - https://comments.crso.info. To learn more and contact your Idaho decision-makers, click the link below. https://p2a.co/YU3f1em

Join us for a discussion with ICL's lobbyist and Director of External Relations Jonathan Oppenheimer about the highs and lows of Idaho's 2020 legislative session.

On this episode, Hannah and Haley talk electric vehicles! We discuss the growing popularity of EVs and chat about some of the ways Idaho is embracing EVs as part of the future of transportation in the state. Then, Hannah interviews ICL member Kurt Fesenmyer about being an EV owner and they go on a ride in Kurt's Nissan Leaf.