The Wandering Naturalist

John Moriarty, Senior Wildlife Manager at Three Rivers Park District, returns to talk about how you prepare to reintroduced a rare or endangered butterfly. From planting thousands of host plants to working with Federal Agencies, wander with us as we see what goes into restoring what's been lost.  

Land management or stewardship is a complex task, especially when you are managing nature on an Army Base. Jessup Weichelt, Land Manager at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin joins us to talk about managing habitat for rare and endangered butterflies, and what makes Army Bases so uniquely suited to this.  

What is a state pollinator coordinator? Rebecca Gutierrez-Moreno, the State Pollinator Coordinator with the Environmental Quality Board, wanders with us to discuss this and explore how pollinators, especially butterflies, are doing in Minnesota.   

Dr. Dan Larkin from the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at the U of M discusses invasive aquatic species, issues with current control methods, and how we can better work to improve treatment of them while protecting native plants.  

Justin Valenty from our Water Resources team joins us to dive into how they monitor aquatic plants in the park district and some cool management techniques they are doing. This includes some rare Minnesota plants you can see in Three Rivers' parks!    

Brandon faces his fears and dives with Angela below the water to explore the plants that call lakes, ponds, and rivers home. Donna Perleberg, Aquatic Plant Ecologist from the Minnesota DNR, talks with us about native plant species. We learn about the different type of plants living in the water, including a predatory plant!  

Sabrina Celis and Emily Althoff, graduate students at the University of Minnesota and members of Frenatae join us to learn about the bugs that keep soil healthy. From tiny springtails to animals with way too many legs, join us to learn about the different kinds of bugs and what they do in the soil.  

Alex Romano from the Land Stewardship Project joins us to talk about how farmers are leading each other to sustainable practices and healthy soil. How can farmers teach each other sustainable soil practices and does it benefit them? Wander with us to find out.  

Dr. Lee Frelich Director of the Center for Forest Ecology at the University of Minnesota wanders with us as we discuss what makes forest soil healthy around the Twin Cities. We discuss the impacts invasive earthworms have had on soil, and how a new species of earthworm, the jumping worm, is expected to impact forests.  

Meg Duhr, Three Rivers Invasive Species Supervisor and participant of Becoming an Outdoor Woman or BOW, and her BOW mentor Kathy Von Bank join us to discuss hunting Wild Turkeys, barriers to being able to hunt and how the DNR program BOW helps remove those barriers.    

Nate Huck, Resident Game Bird Specialist, and Timothy Lyon, Research Scientist and Upland Game Project Leader, both from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wander with us to discuss the history of the introduction of Wild Turkeys in Minnesota, the ecological balance of managing a game bird, and research currently being done.  

Angela and Brandon go on their own hunt to figure out fact and fiction on the topic of turkeys.  Can turkeys fly? How did they get their name? Did Benjamin Franklin really want them to be the national symbol of the United States? Tune in because the answers are beyond belief!  

Teaching and engaging with nature takes many forms, from film, writing, creative art, and much more.  Local writer, organizer, and film producer, Erin Sharkey, joins to discuss the power of nature in unearthing black history and memory, how we are guided by relationship building between people and the land for healing. 

Connecting everyone with the outdoors and wilderness continues to evolve, those stepping in to continue the legacy of outreach is changing, creating a spark of hope ahead to everyone feeling they belong.  Interpretive naturalist, Katie Frias, shares how this force of change can come from educators to create a bright future of stewardship.   

Working in any aspect of the outdoors is rewarding to most, fresh air and endless curiosity.  Join Angela, Brandon, and guest co-host Charity, as they talk with returning guest, Judy Voigt-Englund on her career working outdoors as a part of the wildlife team at Three Rivers and then later as an educator at our very own The Lowry Nature Center.     

Can humans and the land be in a mutualistic relationship? Jenna Grey-Eagle and Gabby Menomin from Wakan Tipi  Awanyankapi  share their thoughts on why we are, how approaching our relationship with the land as a mutualistic relationship benefits both us and the land, and how this view point impacts their work at Wakan Tipi  Awayankapi .

  Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, Curator of Mycology at the New York State Museum talks with us about how cultural biases impact how we study things like symbiotes. We discuss how the tools of science help us understand the world until they become dogmatic, and how to avoid those pitfalls in science.  

Brandon and Angela explore the spectrum of symbiotes. From mutualistic relationships that are like  you and your friend making each other better, to that one friend that just takes and takes, a.k.a. the parasite, and everything in between wander with us as we figure out the complex relationships that make up the world.

Dr. Holly Menninger executive director of the Bell Museum wanders with us to discuss her research on the bugs found in your homes! Why are they there? What are they? Should you be worries? Learn all about the amazing variety of insects that share your home.  

Dr. Robin Thomson the curator for the University of Minnesota Insect Collection joins us to talk about what running a bug library is like. With insect collections from the late 1800's to today, the Insect Collection provides an invaluable resource for studying bugs. From unidentified specimens, to figuring out how to organize a collection like this, a lot goes into running it.    

It is BYOB! Big Year of Bugs. The coordinator for the year, Bailey Kaul, joins us to discuss why Three Rivers is celebrating bugs for a year, the diversity of bugs, what bugs are, and why they are important.     

White Earth Band of Chippewa member and Fond du Lac fire program manager Damon Panek as well as Rachel Olesiak, Research Plot Coordinator for the U of M Cloquet Forestry Center join us to talk about how the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Cloquet Science Center partnered to bring back cultural fire for the first time in 100 years. The Cloquet Science Center stopped Ojibwe from p...

Rebecca Crooks-Stratton, Secretary/Treasurer of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and leader of the Understand Native Minnesota campaign joins us to discuss why the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is working with Minnesota teachers to improve education in K-12 schools about Native history. 

Dr. Deondre Smiles, member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Assistant Professor at the University Of Victoria, Canada and his graduate student Aidan Gowland wander with us as we learn what Traditional Ecological Knowledge is, Western history with removing or co-opting the knowledge, and how Indigenous People are reclaiming it. We discuss why this knowledge is important and how parks are workin...

Leslee Gutiérrez Carrillo is a local climate activist who joins us to share her personal story about why and how she has worked to combat climate change in Minnesota and how she deals with the stress and anxiety caused by climate change.