Rewilding Earth Podcast

Episode Summary Randy Young Villegas returns to the Rewilding Earth Podcast after a devastating flood at La Tierra del Jaguar in Sonora, Mexico. In late September, Hurricane Polo — amplified by recent upstream wildfire burn scars — forced the Río Sahuaripa to crest more than six feet, obliterating historical floodmarks and protective berms. The surge […] Read full article: Episode 185: When Floodw...

Episode Summary Independent filmmaker and wildlife biologist Ben Masters, founder of Fin & Fur Films, joins the Rewilding Earth Podcast to discuss his journey from riding wild mustangs across the Continental Divide for “Unbranded” to capturing cinematic, Planet Earth-style natural history right here in North America.  We dig into his latest feature, “Deep in the […] Read full article: Episode 184:...

Summary Fourteen years in the making, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over Southern California’s ten-lane Highway 101 is finally nearing completion. In this episode of the Rewilding Earth Podcast, Beth Pratt, California regional executive director with the National Wildlife Federation and founder of The Wildlife Crossing Fund, sits down with host Jack Humphrey to talk […] Read full article:...

Summary Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited and an original architect of the 2001 Roadless Rule, speaks with Rewilding Earth Podcast host Jack Humphrey about the origins of the Roadless Rule and why rescinding it is a problem for trout and salmon. With the imminent threat of deregulation for nearly 45 million acres […] Read full article: Episode 182: Millions Upon Millions of Acres on...

Legendary naturalist, author, and veteran grizzly bear defender Doug Peacock joins the podcast from his home in Montana’s Paradise Valley. In this frank, wide-ranging conversation with host Jack Humphrey, Doug cuts through modern anthropocentric environmentalism to refocus on what apex predators and wild country truly require: vast, unbroken, self-willed wilderness. We dig into the persistent […]...

Summary To make way for double 30-foot, steel border walls in Lochiel, Arizona, federal contractors have clearcut a grove of three 200-year-old Fremont cottonwood trees that reached their boughs across the U.S.-Mexico border in a sign of connectivity, friendship, and anchoring the headwaters of the Santa Cruz River. On the heels of this destruction, grassroots […] Read full article: Episode 180: A...

About Ben Levitan is a senior attorney at Earthjustice, the nation’s largest and most active public interest environmental law organization — know for its motto “Because the Earth needs a good lawyer.” As part of Earthjustice’s Biodiversity Defense Program, Ben advocates for the protection of imperiled species and ecosystems and opposes attempts to weaken environmental laws. […] Read full article:...

About Michelle Lute is a wildlife scientist and conservation leader with two decades of experience in wildlife conservation, nonprofit leadership, and public policy. As executive director of Wildlife for All, she’s leading the charge to transform state wildlife governance and center justice, compassion, and democracy in conservation. Michelle holds a PhD in wildlife management and […] Read full ar...

Episode Summary In this poignant and historic episode of the Rewilding Earth podcast, legendary Southwest author, activist, and audio naturalist Jack Loeffler connects with host Jack Humphrey, just ahead of Loeffler’s 90th birthday. A living thread to the bedrock of the modern conservation movement, Loeffler shares deeply personal stories of running wild rivers and backpacking […] Read full articl...

Episode Summary Louise Misztal, executive director of Sky Island Alliance (SIA), sits down with Rewilding Earth podcast host Jack Humphrey to explore the unique, biodiverse, and threatened Sky Island Region of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. They discuss how these isolated mountain ranges rise out of the surrounding valleys to create a biological […] Read full article: Episode...

Episode Summary Cooper Freeman, Alaska director for the Center for Biological Diversity, returns to the Rewilding Earth podcast and joins host Jack Humphrey for a transparent, gritty, and surprisingly hopeful update from the frontlines of Alaskan conservation. Navigating a relentless onslaught of fast-tracked industrial projects and regulatory procedures gutted under the current administration, Co...

About the Author Julie Carrick Dalton is a novelist, former journalist, and farmer whose work explores the deep, often complicated relationship between humanity and the natural world. With decades of experience telling stories rooted in fact and reality as a reporter, Julie later turned to working the land, a pivot that ultimately unlocked her passion […] Read full article: Episode 174: How Fictio...

Episode Summary Jack Humphrey and the Rewilding Earth podcast sit down with the Center for Biological Diversity’s National Public Lands Advocate Laiken Jordahl to discuss the current administration’s plan to extend border wall construction to Big Bend National Park and the West Texas borderlands. This is an immediate, gargantuan threat to one of America’s most […] Read full article: Episode 173: L...

Summary In 1959, George Schaller entered the Virunga Mountains with nothing but a notebook and a folding chair. At a time when the world viewed the mountain gorilla as a savage, cinematic monster, George saw something else: a peaceful, social being whose world we were only just beginning to understand. By sitting lower than the […] Read full article: Episode 172: “Homesick for a World Unknown: The...

Dr. Larry Stevens is the curator of ecology at the Museum of Northern Arizona and the director of Springs Stewardship Institute (SSI). He received his Ph. D in zoology from Northern Arizona University in 1989, and served as the ecologist for Grand Canyon National Park from 1989 to 1994. Well-respected in the field of ecology, Dr. […] Read full article: Episode 171: The Hidden Universe of Springs w...

Paul Watson, Founder & Director, Paul Watson Foundation Captain Paul Watson is a marine wildlife conservation and environmental activist, renowned speaker, accomplished author, and master mariner. Watson was one of the founding members and directors of Greenpeace. In 1977, he left Greenpeace and founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In 2022, he founded the Captain […] Read full article: E...

Reba Elliott Reba Elliott is the Executive Director of Great Old Broads for Wilderness, the only national environmental network for older women. Reba also serves on the Advisory Circle of Daughters for Earth, coordinates the Movement Building Committee of the National Wilderness Coalition, and is a fellow of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. […] Read full article: Episode 169: Reba...

Show Notes Sean Gerrity – Author of Wild on Purpose: The American Prairie Story and the Art of Thinking Bigger Sean Gerrity, founder and former CEO of American Prairie, discusses building the largest wildlife reserve in the Lower 48 states — bigger than Yellowstone and Glacier Parks combined. He shares how an “interim CEO” role […] Read full article: Episode 168: American Prairie’s Sean Gerrity on...

Paul Lister, founder of the European Nature Trust and owner of Alladale Wilderness Reserve in Scotland, has spent 20 years restoring 23,000 acres through reforestation, peatland restoration, and deer management. He advocates for reducing meat consumption, addressing population growth, and redirecting wealth toward nature restoration, demonstrating through tourism and immersive experiences that rew...

In this episode, we explore the frontlines of coral reef rewilding with Sam Teicher, co-founder of Coral Vita. While coral reefs cover a mere fraction of the ocean floor, they are the essential architects of marine life, providing the structural foundation for a quarter of all species in the ocean. We discuss the urgent shift […] Read full article: Episode 166: Coral Reef Restoration with Sam Teic...

Episode summary Jack Humphrey interviews filmmaker Austin Alvarado about his work on the new Fin & Fur Films documentary “Borderlands Jaguar,” which documents jaguars at the Northern Jaguar Reserve in Sonora, Mexico. Austin shares his journey from river guide in West Texas to wildlife cinematographer, detailing the intense dedication required for remote camera work — […] Read full article: Episode...

About Valerie and Cuenca Los Ojos Valerie Gordon’s conservation work spans more than two decades focused on endangered species, water, rangeland, and wildlife habitat. Most notably, she spearheaded the transition of Cuenca Los Ojos, a family foundation started by her mother, Valer Clark, into a non-profit that promotes land restoration in the U.S. and Mexico. […] Read full article: Episode 164: Cu...

Dr. Steve Carver is Professor of Rewilding and Wilderness Science in the School of Geography, University of Leeds and Director of the Wildland Research Institute. He has over 30 years of experience in GIS and multi-criteria evaluation, with special interests in wilderness, wildlands, rewilding, landscape evaluation, and public participation. He has worked extensively on the […] Read full article:...

Dave is retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where from 1990-1999 he led the USFWS’s effort to reintroduce the endangered Mexican gray wolf to the American Southwest. His interests include the ecology and conservation of large carnivores, protection and conservation of biodiversity, and wildlands conservation at scales that fully support ecological and evolutionary […] Read full articl...

About Danny Giovale Danny Giovale is the founder and president of Kahtoola, an outdoor equipment company he established in 1999. As a native of Flagstaff, Arizona, Giovale was deeply influenced by the area’s local community and environment, which fostered a strong sense of stewardship that guides his work. Kahtoola, which specializes in winter traction products, […] Read full article: Episode 161:...