The Wandering Naturalist

Ryan Barth, Outdoor Education Supervisor at Baker Near Wilderness Settlement, and Bill Vollbrecht, Golf Maintenance Supervisor at Eagle Lake Golf Course, discuss how they are mentoring children to help them learn how to hunt for deer. We discuss why it is important, the ethics of hunting when human population continues to grow and encroach on animal habitat, and how this helps promote a new genera...

Special guests Steven Hogg from our Natural Resource Management Department, and  Shawn Howard from our Tree Nursery join us to discuss what steps the park takes to manage the health of our parks with a large deer population. They discuss the benefits and challenges of techniques used such as hunting, exclusion fences, and smells. Wander with us as we discover why the park district manages deer and...

Join us as we explore the history of deer management, why it was needed, and Disney's impact on deer populations. We discuss deer habits and why we believe controlled hunts in our parks are important.

Zach Mohlis from, The Landing – Minnesota River Heritage Park, will provide a historical perspective on where the idea of human  zombies  has come from.  What is our cultural fascination with apocalyptic scenarios

Our guests students Evie and AJ and Three Rivers Forestry Supervisor Dan Comerford, join us to investigate other real life  zombies .  Evie and AJ talk to us about their award winning project with Zombees. Dan shares his knowledge with how plants can become  zombies .   Come wander with us as we journey through the strange world of  zombies .

Zombies  are real.   Zombies  are everywhere, near places you would never expect.  In fact, some of you may have even encountered  zombies  in your life, right in nature.  Join Angela and Brandon to explore the very real, and awesomely creepy world of  zombies  including horse hair worms, fungi, and cat parasites.

Three Rivers has worked to make our parks home for surrounding communities and wildlife over these past 50 plus years.  Building a foundation on educating others for a chance to nurture the interest about natural happenings in the outdoor world led to many greater things such as prairie restoration.  Kirk Mona, Interpretive Naturalist, joins to discuss the present and future of Three River's missi...

Listen in as Brandon and Angela journey to 1969 to explore Crow-Hassan Park Reserve and the first planting of restored prairie.  Joined by Senior Wildlife Manager, John Moriarty, they dig deeper to discover the challenges faced that have now seeded the way for large scale restoration with what is now the largest, first restored prairie of the metro area.  Now home to unique wildlife and a high div...

The first nature center was built in 1969, Lowry Nature Center.  Tag along as hosts Brandon and Angela interview Tom McDowell, retired park employee of 40 years, to explore the story of how outdoor education molded our mission of promoting environmental stewardship through recreation and education in a natural-resource based park system for the past 50 years. 

To celebrate the past 50 years, Brandon and Angela are talking to special guest Bill Walker, Cultural Resources Manager of Three Rivers Park District, to discuss the how and why Three Rivers was created.  2019 marks the 50 th  Anniversary of Minnesota's first public nature center, the Lowry Nature Center at Carver Park Reserve.  It also marks the 50 th  Anniversary of the first planted prairie at...

Britt Forsberg from the University of Minnesota Native Bee Atlas shares with us how the university is discovering what native bees live in Minnesota. She also gives advice on how to provide a home for native bees around your home, and Angela and Brandon give some tips on planting for natives.

Tim Reese, Director of Gale Woods Farm, talks with us about his experience raising bees, how bee keeping has changed over the past 9 years, and how Gale Woods Farm manages to be a working farm while still using bee friendly practices.

Wander with us as Angela and Brandon investigate the differences between two different kinds of bees, bumblebees and honeybees. Though different, they both face many of the same challenges, and they both are important pollinators for our food.

With over 149 dragonfly and damselfly species in Minnesota there is much to learn and observe.  Dragonfly scientist Ami Thompson joins on this episode to talk about her study subject, the Common Green Darner, as she works towards a PhD in Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota.  Listen to learn more about this fascinating dragonfly that migrates. 

Dragonflies are usually found around or near water such as lakes, ponds, streams, and wetlands because their larvae, known as "nymphs", are aquatic.  Join us as we talk with Mitch Haag, a Wildlife Operations Specialist at Three Rivers Park District and founding board member of Minnesota Dragonfly Society to learn more on the importance of aquatic habitats and where you can find these beauties on t...

Summer is here and with it you likely have spent time near water, a local lake, pond, or river, which means you have also undoubtedly watched the aerial antics of dragonflies.  But did you know that dragonflies live dual lives, their young are aquatic and then transform into a colorful, flying adult.  Wander with us and discover this unique life cycle that spans across both land and water.  

We are joined by Zach Mohlis, from The Landing-Minnesota River Heritage Park, who shares with us how people used the Minnesota River when Europeans first settled the area. We discuss how farming practices have changed since them, their impact on the river, and what we can learn from the 1800's to help our waters today. Nick Sacco from our Outdoor Recreation department shares with us many of the wa...

Join us as a member of our Water Quality department, John Hess, shares some of the challenges our waterways face, how he monitors them, and actions people can take at home to help keep our rivers and lakes healthy.

Wander with us as we dive into water and the issues that face it. How are nitrates and phosphates like vitamins? What is the difference between blue green algae and algae? What impacts does this have on our lakes? Do polar bear livers really have any connection to this? How is Damon and the rest of Three Rivers' maintenance staff changing salt use in the winter to help our water? Join Brandon and...

Wander with us as we talk with Pauline Bold from The Landing. She shares with us some of the ways people used early spring wildflowers, including uses as medicine and food. Disclaimer, do not try to use these as food or medicine yourself. Listen to the podcast to learn why. Laura Jarriel shares her photography expertise to help us take photos of spring wildflowers with our phones.

Do earthworms help or hinder flowers in the forest? How are invasive species like buckthorn impacting spring wildflowers? Join us as we talk to Missy Anderson, the Invasive Species Coordinator for Three Rivers Park District, and Alex Roth from Friends of the Mississippi to get the dirt on invasives and flowers, and discuss how you can help native flowers.

How can plant's grow while there is snow on the ground? Can a plant really produce its own heat? Tune in to this episode to find out as Angela and Brandon discuss the difference between a Spring Ephemeral and a Spring Wildflower, then investigate how tiny plants can grow and flower at a time when other plants dare not even show their leaves.

To determine status, distribution, and long-term population trends of frogs, citizen scientists participate in surveys in which they listen and record calling frogs. In this episode we are joined by a current volunteer, Dianne Rowse, to shed some light on this unique experience.

The signs of spring are near and you may be hearing the calls of frogs, even with snow still on the ground. Fresh out of hibernation, join Brandon and Angela, as they journey through the biology of frogs and toads to answer what is making all that noise in spring.