BEAVERCAST PART 2: Too Castor, Too Canadensis

In this episode we cover some udderly ridiculous creatures that some people seem to think could be big moooovers in the natural resources conservation space by "replacing" bison that have been largely extirpated from the landscape. It's not that we have a beef with these animals, and obviously we aren't going to chuck all prairie restoration in the bin. We just think that once you cut the bull, we find a lot of people trying to milk these efforts for all they're worth by making big, largely unsubstantiated claims about how much "good" they can do. We're really just grazing the surface on prairie restoration here, so let us know if you'd like a more in-depth episode on that!Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us a message at [email protected] song: Matt's Blue's - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Do you enjoy being completely confused by meaningless paperwork? Do live for learning new acronyms and initialisms? Do you like free* money from the government? Then boy do we have the agency for you! Join us to learn about the Natural Resources Conservation Service! That's right, we're going to talk about arguably the most effective and most hated federal agency enabling conservation work on private land in the United States! I bet you can't wait to learn about 9 step planning processes** and 6 part folders***!*nothing is free and this will cost you part of your will to live. also taxes!** no one has ever followed the 9 step planning process in the history of NRCS and nobody outside of some real nerds in DC could even tell you all 9 steps*** its a folder with 6 parts in it but NRCS thinks its real special for some reasonHave a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us a message at [email protected] song: Matt's Blue's - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Apologies for the long hiatus, life got in everyone's way!In this episode we are joined by wildlife biologist and entomologist Dr. Erika Machtinger to talk about the New World Screwworm! We cover what it is (and isn't!), implications for eradicating a native species, how we got rid of it the first time, how it came back, and the challenges ahead.Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us a message at [email protected] song: Matt's Blue's - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Historian and friend of the show Marissa joins us once again to talk beavers! In part two we talk about the history of beavers in North America, covering how and why they were nearly extirpated as well as their subsequent recovery. John also explains how we go about using beavers to do the heavy lifting of watershed restoration!Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us a message at [email protected] song: Matt's Blue's - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In the episode we are joined by Michigander, theatre director, writer, podcast host and just all-around excellent dude Josh Boerman to talk about the ecology, life, and death of the finest lakes on the planet. That's right! We're talking about the Great Lakes, why they're super cool, and how we're ruining them. Also, Calvin gets mad at Josh for seeing into the future and getting to Calvin's notes before he can! And because it gets brought up anytime anyone mentions the Great Lakes, we talk a little about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.Josh is co-host of The Worst of All Possible Worlds and Ill Conceived. If you are somehow not yet listening to them, you should.Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us a message at [email protected] song: Matt's Blue's - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Apologies for the hiatus; John has been slow to edit due to his new son who is not very good at audio editing. We will do our best to keep on some sort of schedule but episodes may be erratic. I mean the episodes have always been erratic but now also the release schedule.In this awesome episode we are excited to have animal historian, friend and possibly future cohost of the show, Marissa, on to discuss one of the most interesting creatures in North America. The beaver! Learn thrilling facts such as what a cart beaver is , why medieval europeans obsessed over beaver testicles, beaver tale recopies and more!Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us a message at [email protected] song: Matt's Blue's - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode Calvin and John (and John's son) discuss the recent plan to open up the boundary waters wilderness to mining interests. AJ is taking some time off from podcasting and work in order to work more.Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us a message at [email protected] song: Matt's Blue's - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

On this belated holiday (hogiday?) episode we have a good friend of the podcast and environmental historian Marissa on to discuss hogs and their various crimes against medieval villages and the ecology of North America.Calvin is still beset by audio gremlins and John's audio also decides to take a nap 2/3 of the way through. Apologies all around.Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us a message at [email protected] song: Matt's Blue's - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode we have a guest! A professional knower of facts about bugs! We are joined by Michael Skvarla, one of the co-hosts of Arthro-Pod to learn about vector-borne diseases!Buckle in to learn how these diseases shaped history during the Napoleonic era and also finally get an answer to the age-old question "Is shrimp bugs?"Apologies for Calvin's audio, he continues to be attacked by technical difficulty gremlins.Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us a message at [email protected] song: Matt's Blue's - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This episode is a little different from our usual ones. We do a "quick" read-through and critique of a pending piece of legislation known as the "Fix Our Forests" act. As of the release of this episode, the House version has been passed, inked up (mostly in good ways), and is on the Senate calendar for consideration.Link to the Senate version: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1462Have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover? Send us a message at [email protected] song: Matt's Blue's - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/