Will We Make It Out Alive?

In this episode we talk about songbirds and umbrellas, the story of sage grouse conservation, how the Audubon Society’s Sagebrush Songbird Survey program uses GIS, and another opportunity for you to count birds.

A special thank you to Christi Norman, program director of Audubon Washington, for information provided. We also depended on the Sage Grouse Initiative website for a lot of study facts and figures and a High Country News article, The Endangered Species Act’s Biggest Experiment.

The Poop Detective starts us off by waxing poetic about the sagebrush ecosystem, specifically that which is located in eastern Washington and parts of Oregon. We explain sagebrush obligate species.

We then discuss the sage grouse and its mating habits, and talk about why these species are at risk. We reference an article from High Country News.

Because of the Sage Grouse’s particularities, they are a good indicator species for the overall health of the sagebrush ecosystems and the 350 other species that are dependent upon that ecosystem. They also have a huge, specific ecosystem range, which complicate the protection of the species. We also talk about the fact that it has never been listed as endangered.

Oddly enough, this may have actually helped in their conservation! In 2015, US F&W decided that listing the sage grouse on the endangered species list was unwarranted.

In sad news for science and endangered species everywhere, on July 19, 2018, the administration proposed to limit the power of the ESA in several ways. In late 2018 they also announced plans to roll back existing protections of the sage grouse by opening several protected areas to development. We shared Mark Rupp’s response, and he references some polling data.

The sage grouse was slated for reevaluation for listing on the endangered species act in 2020, but we will see what happens under the current administration.

We talk about how the Sage Grouse Initiative aims to manage to protect multiple species with different habitat requirements including other songbirds like the Brewer’s Sparrow (listen to its song and learn more!).

Amy drops more facts about how the Sage Grouse is an umbrella species. Jen may have snoozed a bit until Amy mentioned songbird maps.

We then started to switch gears to talk about a huge multi-year survey that eight Eastern Washington chapters of the Audubon Society took on as a group effort - the Sagebrush Songbird Survey project. This project is a partnership between the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Audubon Society. The goals of the project were to verify the accuracy of GIS mapping efforts and species models, track sagebrush songbird distribution in Eastern Washington, and collect information that would guide conservation efforts in the future. The Magical Mapper was excited to tell everyone how they used GIS on this project, because they used it in multiple phases of the project. The Audubon Society even teamed up with Esri!

Most of the data from the survey is publicly available on eBird, although in the final year of the survey some private lands are being opened up to volunteers, and this information will be vetted and go into the WDFW Priority Habitat and Species database.

For our citizen science segment, we talk about how the Audubon Society is looking for a few good cats, I mean volunteers, (at least 125 to be exact) to participate in the final year of the survey. There are a few requirements to be a volunteer, including attending training in March/April. You can see when the training is and RSVP to the coordinators on the project website. There are also many resources on the website so you can see what you’re signing up for before committing.

For fun, we asked Christi Norman if the Sagebrush Steppe of Eastern Washington was a good place to hide out during a zombie apocalypse. She said:

“It’s good as long as you don’t need much water, love a starry night, and are short enough to hang in the shade of the sagebrush in the summer heat. The rocks are pretty rough so you need an unlimited number of super-duper hiking boots –or perhaps a hoof adaptation. In the event of the catastrophic wildland fires wings would be helpful to fly away.”

— Christi Norman

If you’re a teacher, you can check out this sagebrush curriculum, which was developed by US Fish and Wildlife.

As always, thank you so much for visiting, and please subscribe to our podcast. We’re now on all of the major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play Music, and TuneIn. We’d appreciate it if you’d rate and review us, especially on Apple Podcasts (we’re trying to get into New and Noteworthy, so everything helps)! You’re the coolest cats around!

It’s episode 4, Why did the cat cross the road? We’re officially on at least one podcast outlet as of today, and we’re waiting be accepted to a few others. These cats are so excited for you to join us!

In this episode we open by talking about the Magical Mapper’s fear of 2-legged animals in the dark of night. I’ll have you know there are animals that get around on two legs, like kangaroos and other animals on this list! Also, Pedals the bear. Also, Jen learns that Wolverines are not Wallabies, but Wallabies are also two legged animals (just not ones found in Washington)…Whew, that is a lot of W’s!

Our main story this episode was all about wildlife crossings, particularly the new crossings on I-90 in Washington State. There are both undercrossings and wildlife bridges being built, and creatures big and small are already using them! That’s great news, because structures like these have been shown to greatly reduce wildlife vs. vehicle accidents (by over 80% in most places I’ve looked, especially when used in conjunction with fencing). There are many such structures around the world. Here’s a link to WSDOT’s older sweet and hilarious art about potential traffic congestion. Many of the whack facts in this episode came from this quiz.

In the GIS segment, we discussed the Union tool. See our How-To page for more information on this and other GIS tools and concepts.

If you’re interested in a little citizen science related to wildlife crossings, I-90 Wildlife Watch is looking for people to submit wildlife sightings, both alive and “sleeping” (that means dead, don’t tell Jen), along I-90. You can submit the information from your vehicle! You can also volunteer with Conservation NW to place wildlife cameras in remote locations to help scientists track which species and how many of each are present in Washington. One that is making a bit of a comeback is the wolverine (not to be confused with the wallaby). These remote opportunities are popular so they may not have space available. You can also donate so they can expand the program and add more camera sites.

As always, thank you so much for visiting, and please subscribe to our podcast. We’re on Google Play Music, and hope to be on Apple Podcasts and a few others soon as well. We’d appreciate it if you’d rate and review us once the podcast is up, especially on Apple Podcasts (we’re trying to get into New and Noteworthy, so everything helps)! You cats are the coolest!

Let’s talk about crabs, baby…Let’s talk about you and me…

This episode is all about crabs! We start out by explaining how some cat (M. Mapper) put miniature GPS trackers on snails and some other cat added them to crabs. We share our newly acquired knowledge about invasive European green crabs found in the Salish Sea, how the lil buggers may have gotten here, and why these little green (but sometimes not) crabs are so destructive. We also talk about pocket estuaries and how much juvenile salmon love them! I mean, what cat wouldn’t want to live in a pocket estuary?!

In our GIS segment, we discuss the importance of collecting accurate location data in order to track range and distribution - head over to our How To page for more information on the buffer tool (and caticorns) and other GIS concepts discussed in this episode. Also, check out the link to the Crab Team’s interactive map.

To close out, we highlight different ways you can help track green crabs in the Salish Sea and how to become involved in SeaGrant’s Crab Team.

WE HAVE NO PATIENCE FOR YOUR CRABS

To learn how to identify European green crabs, see this link, or this link. If you think you see a green crab, don’t pick it up. Rather, snap a photo and get GPS coordinates or the best location information you can, and report the sighting here or here.

Will the green crab make it out alive? Unfortunately, probably yes, unless we can train the cats (or gulls) to do our bidding…with our bidding being eating all of the green crabs from places where they don’t belong!

If you liked this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts (after January 22) and rate and review us! Even better, subscribe there! We’re trying to make it into the New and Noteworthy section and your rating, review and subscription will help get us there. Thanks in advance! You’re the best!

In this episode, Jen tells a story about how much her sister loves dipping her hands in poopy water. We talk about just how far it is from Victoria Harbor to Craigdarroch Castle (I mapped it, and it was a 1.7 mile walk one way from our hotel…sorry C&P!).

We highlight Victoria’s upcoming wastewater treatment plant, and some of the people whose efforts made it happen (including one Mr. Floatie!). Check out this video of someone diving on the Clover Point sewer outfalls! Mr. Floatie has a few other great videos out there, including one of his wedding to the plastic bag princess, and of him finally returning to the sea.

Some of our fun facts about Victoria came from this website, and you can learn more about wastewater treatment types here. Jen’s awesome poop facts came from this article. Also, even though I tried to tell Amy she meant that a tourism boycott was proposed, she still insisted that it was a ban… although now she will admit she was wrong… :) You can also google more about why the boycott ended.

We talk about GPS units and how to compare sampling results over time (for more detailed information, head over to our GIS Tools page).

Finally, we discuss different beach naturalist volunteer opportunities and how you can get involved. Here’s an extensive list of volunteer opportunities:

Beach Watchers (extensive training and commitment)

Snohomish County Beach Naturalists

Jefferson County Beach Naturalists

Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee citizen science

Fiero Marine Life Center (Port Angeles) opportunities

Clallam County Stream Stewards

Pierce Conservation District opportunities

Thurston County Stream Team

Shoreline Stewards Pledge

We talked in passing about the new climate change report and the effects climate change will have on the Pacific Northwest.

If you liked this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts and rate and review us (after January 22)! Even better, subscribe there! We’re trying to make it into the New and Noteworthy section and your rating, review and subscription will help get us there. Thanks in advance! You’re the best!

In this episode we discuss Vancouver’s aggressive crows and the CrowTrax app used to track them. Amy talks about a crow study making use of Dick Cheney masks. We also mentioned that a special crow named Canuck is now a movie star! Watch Canuck and I on YouTube. Watch the news about Canuck having babies (I’m sad to report that all of the babies have died).

For those GIS-inclined, we talk about sources of GIS data to get your project started, as well as some fun datasets you might have not thought even existed! (Here’s a map someone made from the beer data I mentioned in the episode.) Head over to our How To page to access the GIS Tools: Data Resources blog.

We close out with the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count and how you can get involved. Remember that you can’t sign up online, but you can check the map to find a location near you and get the contact information of the organizer. Although we’re releasing this episode on December 25, the count goes through January 5th so there’s still a chance to sign up in some spots. While you’re there view photos of birds, or look up some of the cool peer-reviewed studies that have been performed using the CBC data. If you missed out or want more ways to volunteer, Audubon Citizen Science has other opportunities as well.

Other sources for this episode:

This article by CBC News.

This article by CityNews 1130 in Vancouver.

If you liked this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts (after January 22) and rate and review us! Even better, subscribe there! We’re trying to make it into the New and Noteworthy section and your rating, review and subscription will help get us there. Downloads also help, so even if you listen here, please download once we release to Apple Podcasts. Thanks in advance! You’re the best!

It’s Episode 0, the About Us Episode! And no, just because it’s numbered 0 does not mean we are zeros… we’re heroes!!! Restoration and GIS heroes, that is!

In this episode you’ll learn what two silly cats, Amy The Poop Detective and Jen The Magical Mapper, really think of each other, and what to expect from this amusingly educational podcast (TBD).

WHACK FACT: If you listen to our podcast, you’ll hear about getting crabs, Victoria’s poop, and tracking a murder…

WHACK FACT: Amy sometimes makes things up.

WHACK FACT: WHACK FACT is a tidbit of knowledge dropped into the middle of a story, pro-style.

We plan to release a new hilarious episode covering environmental restoration, GIS tools, and citizen science (or stewardship) opportunities every other Tuesday, and are aiming for each to be around half an hour long. Please don’t hold us to this, as Amy is a perfectionist and will likely take a year to edit one episode… although Taskmaster Jen will try to keep her in line.

Don’t forget to surrender your email in the Keep Me Posted box to be notified of our super secret podcast release date. You will be one of the coolest cats by listening to us first! Don’t forget to tell your clowder about us! We are hoping to go live in a month or so; that is, if we make it out (of this process) alive…

WHACK FACT: A clowder is a group of cats.

If you have successful restoration projects, cool GIS tools, or citizen science opportunities that you would like us to showcase on our podcast, send us an email at [email protected].