The Wandering Naturalist

Did you know Disney World doesn't use pesticides? If they don't need them, your garden doesn't either. Hope Flanagan, member of the Seneca Nation of Indians, and Community Outreach and Cultural Teacher for Dream of Wild Health joins us to discuss how they farm without pesticides. She provides a Native perspective on our relationship with insects and provides some strategies we can use in our garde...

Ken Graeve, Erosion & Stormwater Management Unit Supervisor, and Chris Smith, Wildlife Ecologist, with the Minnesota Department of Transportation join us to discuss how the Minnesota DOT is working to make highways and other roads safer for animals, a better habitat for plants, and safer for the people who drive on them.  

Ben Goldfarb, Environmental Journalist and author of such books as award winning, "Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter" is about to release a new book, "Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet" in 2023. He wanders with us to discuss the impacts roads have on humans and wildlife, new habitats created by roads, and direct impacts to Minneapolis a...

Brandon and Angela feel the need… the need for green, so they jump on the highway to the nature zone and explore what you can see as you drive to a Three Rivers park. From the large birds on light posts, to how bridges are making some birds' wings shorter, and more, learn about the nature outside your car window. Just don't buzz to close to any cell towers. After all Ghost Rider, the pattern is fu...

Our favorite historian is back to discuss the myths of the past! Why are beds really shorter in the 1800's? Were our parks untouched wilderness? Is Minnesota really a Scandinavian state? Find out!  

Allie Gams Beeson and Brett Sieberer join us to discuss some of the common myths they hear at the nature centers they work at. From insects predicting the weather to baby birds, wander with us to find the truth.  

Brandon and Angela share some of the myths from their childhood they believed for years, then get into the meat of persistent nature myths. What's the truth about Daddy Long Legs' venom? How did Walt Disney create a brand new nature myth? Is your dog really colorblind? Wander with us as we discover the truth and look into where these myths came from.  

Join as aspiring winter backpacker and thru-hiker, Emily Ford, shares on the remarkable journey of being the first woman to thru-hike Wisconsin's 1,200-mile Ice Age National Scenic Hiking Trail in winter.  Hear how Emily continues to seek adventure and represent the underrepresented in outdoor spaces.  

Learn about the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources program called Becoming an Outdoors Woman from its coordinator, Linda Bylander.  Whether you're trying an activity for the first time, or you consider yourself an expert, you can gain new skills and improve techniques in a relaxed, fun, and supportive atmosphere.      

Engaging with the outdoors can take many forms, from hiking to skiing to kayaking, but barriers can create hesitation or doubt of your own abilities.  Learn from guest, Allie Dart, Recreation Program Specialist at Three Rivers, on local opportunities for fem friendly programs, what makes them supportive, and why they are important.    

The relationship each of us creates and builds with wilderness is uniquely our own, but what is wilderness?  Join with Angela and Brandon, featuring special co-host Sara Gaines, as they take on the deeper definition and what it means to our guest, Ebba  Safverblad -Nelson who is currently living in Sweden.  A worldly perspective around outdoor recreation.    

Michael Waasegiizhig Price, Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) specialist at the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission in Odanah, Wisconsin, joins us to give his perspective on what Black Bears mean to his Ojibwe Culture and how Ojibwe words and perspectives reframe how the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission manage wildlife compared to the western philosophy of most stat...

Dr. Diana Doan-Crider, Director of Animo Partnership in Natural Resources, discusses the research she is doing on Black Bears in Mexico. She talks about how she started her project with a traditional western science mindset,  how she started including Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and the way TEK helped her project succeed.  

Andy Tri, MN DNR Bear Project Leader & Forest Wildlife and Populations Research Group, joins us to discuss the biology of Black Bears in Minnesota, how they are researched, and resources to help us be good neighbors to bears. John Moriarty, Senior Wildlife Manager at Three Rivers, talks to us about the Black Bears living at Elm Creek Park Reserve.  

Dr. Laurie Graham from Queen's University in Ontario Canada has spent 25 years studying antifreeze proteins. She talks about the evolutionary history of anti-freeze proteins, what life is like in a lab, and how you study creatures that are only 1 mm long.  

Dr. Rebecca Swenson and Dr. Corrie Nyquist join us from the University of Minnesota to talk about Minnesota's Bugs Below Zero project. We discuss some Minnesota specific winter active insects, why they are important and how you can help the University of Minnesota study them in a Citizen Science Project.  

We thought winter was safe! We were wrong… Brandon and Angela dive into the world of snow bugs, uh, we mean arthropods, to discover how they can survive and thrive on the snow.  Dr. Brent Sinclair, a professor in the Biology Department at Western University in Canada shares his research on how insects, spiders, and more can live and move over the snow.  

Steven Hogg, Wildlife Supervisor for Three Rivers, talks about the Wood Duck program's history in our parks, what has made it successful, and where you can find these ducks in our parks.

Greg Hoch, author of the book   With Wings Extended: A Leap into a Wood Duck's World . Joins us to talk about the history of Wood Duck conservation, how people can help Wood Ducks even if they don't live by water, and how Wood Ducks were an inspiration  for aircraft carriers in World War 1.

Jeff Bahls from the National Wood Duck Society joins us to explore the fascinating world of Wood Ducks. How far of a fall can a baby Wood Duck survive? Where do they go in the winter? Why are we talking about Wood Ducks in December? Listen to find out! 

Chris Smith joins us to talk about an app he helped to create, HerpMapper. Designed to document reptiles and amphibians around the world, Chris explains the features that make it safe for the animals being documented and how the app helps conservation.   

Breanne Black from Working Dogs for Conservation joins us to talk about conservation's best friend, dogs! Working Dogs for Conservation rescues dogs from shelters and trains them to perform conservation work. Whether it is searching for bumblebee nests, keeping habitats safe from invasive species,  protecting rare animals from poachers, or other jobs, dogs have unique traits that help them accompl...

Wander with us as we explore next and exciting tools being used by scientists in the field of conservation! Wendy Caldwell from Monarch Joint Venture joins us to discuss how drones and remote sensing are becoming an important tool for monarch conservation.  

In recognition of "International Artist Day" Angela and Brandon talk with artist Michelle Davis about her artistic process and how nature inspires the wonderful illustrations she creates for the podcast.

Dr. Dan Peach, "Dan the Mosquito Man", joins us to talk about his research on mosquitos, and what he calls the secret life of mosquitos. He shares the benefits that mosquitos bring to an ecosystem and why we should think twice before trying to squash one.