Wilderness Podcast

PSA! I have launched a new podcast called 'Our Public Lands'. Please check it out by searching for 'Our Public Lands' in your podcasting app. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/our-public-lands/id1752585783

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In this episode, I interview Val Barbour and Janelle Ghiorso with Oregon Wild Horse Organization.

Topics we discuss:

• What is so special about wild horses?
• Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.
• Federal Land management agencies abdicating their responsibilities. 
• Are wild horses a native species?
• Conflicts between cattle interests and horses.
• Ecological niches that horses and  burros provide.
• The health of horses vs cows on public lands.
• Horse/predator relationships.
• Horse gathers, sterilization initiatives, and holding facilities. 
• Issues with the immunocontraceptive GonaCon.
• What keeps Oregon Wild Horse Organization going?
• Educating the public about the wild horse issue. 

https://www.oregon-wildhorse.org/

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In this episode, we discuss:

• Mike’s career evolution.
• How the Alliance for the Wild Rockies has been able to maintain its mission and integrity over the decades.
• The origins of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA).
• Why the Alliance sues the Forest Service more than any other environmental group in the country.
• Wild Montana, Greater Yellowstone Coalition and The Wilderness Society’s promotion of harmful logging projects and the destruction of wilderness quality lands as part of a culture and system of corruption.
• What greases the skids of conservation collaboratives. 
• The public’s overwhelming support of roadless lands in Montana. 
• The ecological price of continuing motorized and mechanized recreation in roadless areas. 
• The importance of quiet to native wildlife and the human animal.
• The who, what and why of "conservation” collaboratives. 
• The disastrous Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act. 
• The many threats from road building. 
• The Lincoln Property Proposal.
• The Gallatin Forest Partnership.
• What true protections should look like under 30x30.
• How to start turning the tide for wildlands across the Northern Rockies. 

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies
The good, bad, and ugly of Tester’s Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Act
TWS's Roadless Report
The Bader Report (Gallatin Forest Partnership)

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In this episode, I interview Dr. Joseph Scalia III, practicing psychoanalyst in Livingston, Montana and frequent guest of the program. Dr. Scalia is a board member with the Gallatin Yellowstone Wilderness Alliance and long-time wilderness activist in Southwest Montana.

Topics we cover:  Societal change as an important component of the wilderness movement, Joe’s career as a psychoanalyst, the perversion of truth, Felix Guattari’s The Three Ecologies, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) shortcoming, the dark obscene underbelly of public lands politics and recreation, neoliberalism and how it drives mainstream conservation, psychological symptomology of capitalism, treating society as the patient, mechanisms of societal change, what drives the Big Greens, confronting painful truths and the unwillingness of many in the grassroots environmental movement to confront reality and advocate for radical change. 

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In this episode, I speak with Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project. We discuss his guidebook writing, the state of our public lands system, the work of Western Watersheds Project, the influence of domestic livestock on Wilderness and public lands, attitudes and historical context of wilderness, Native American omission from the Wilderness Act, the relevancy and importance of the wilderness designation, how to manage public lands for the benefit of ecosystems and the human, collaborative conservation and challenging the dominant culture of colonialism and dominion over nature. 

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In this episode, I interview Michael Kellett, Executive Director of Restore the North Woods, a non-profit environmental group working in Maine with the mission of creating a new national park near Mount Katahdin. We talk about his early years, his time spent working for The Wilderness Society on the east coast, the founding and vision of Restore, the story about the creation of the first national monument in Maine, the history and culture of New England landscapes and its working forests (i.e. logging), a vision for hundreds of new national parks across the country and how new national parks and wilderness areas should fit within the 30x30 Campaign. 

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Wilderness 30x30 | A Wilderness Podcast miniseries

In this episode, I interview Erik Fernandez, Wilderness Program Manager with Oregon Wild. We talk about his position at Oregon Wild, the green fallacy that is the state of Oregon, the state’s dwindling roadless areas and high road density, Oregon’s lack of political champions for wilderness, the outsized influence extractive industries have in the state, the need for bold legislative protections to make up for lost ground, recent anti-wilderness attacks in Washington DC, all about the various ecosystems throughout the state, Erik’s thoughts about 30x30, the pros and cons of different federal land designations, both the positives and shortcomings of the newly proposed Oregon Wild and Scenic Rivers Legislation, the frustrations and inaccuracies around labeling environmentalists as extremists and the wilderness proposals that Oregon Wild is working on across the state.

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Wilderness 30x30 | A Wilderness Podcast miniseries

In this episode, I speak with Mike Garrity, Executive Director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. We talk about the history of the Alliance,  the work they are involved with, how the Alliance has sued the FS more than any other group in the country, all about the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA), protecting entire ecosystems over state-centric wilderness  bills, protecting endangered species as a means of securing future wilderness, proposed landscape restoration work under NREPA, livestock grazing buyout provisions, Native American considerations, prominent supporters of NREPA, the economic benefits of the Bill, progress in Congress, thinking big and considering seemingly inconceivable political changes in this country as a beacon of hope for the Northern Rockies and beyond.

https://allianceforthewildrockies.org/

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Wilderness 30x30 | A Wilderness Podcast miniseries

In this episode, I speak with Terri Martin, Intermountain West Organizer with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). We talk about the founding of SUWA, how they have been successful in an anti-wilderness and anti-federal lands environment, local control efforts undermining the public trust, new wilderness as part of the 30x30 campaign, Native American reception to wilderness in Utah, Bears Ears as a catalyst for 30x30, America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, the spine of the continent, the importance of landscape connectivity, climate mitigation and refugia, SUWA’s monthly podcast and the measurable impacts that activism has on making a difference on the ground

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In this episode, I speak with Sally Ferguson, Executive Director of the Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation (SBFC). We talk about her background, the mission of the SBFC, central Idaho wilderness areas, how Idahoan’s value wilderness, creating advocates by virtue of deep wilderness experiences, how SBFC works with the Forest Service, noise pollution from small engine aircraft in Idaho wilderness areas, SBFC’s trails and stewardship programs and summer volunteer opportunities in the backcountry. 

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