Podcast
Forest Focus
Hosted by U.S. Forest Service · EN
Forest Focus is an audio program about the National Forests in California. Episodes focus on issues such as ecological restoration, fire, recreation, law enforcement, tribal relations and much more.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Forest Focus Podcast — Episode 50: For the Frogs: Reintroduction
Mar 1200:25:08Tap to summarizeThis is the fifth and final installment of a miniseries about amphibian conservation and determination called For the Frogs. This time, we meet the mountain yellow-legged frog and tag along during a reintroduction of this endangered species to the Angeles National Forest.
Transcribe →Forest Focus Podcast — Episode 49: For the Frogs: Investigation
Mar 1200:17:34Tap to summarizeThis is the fourth installment of a miniseries about amphibian conservation and determination called For the Frogs. In each episode, we will meet to one native amphibian that can be found in California's national forests. These creatures are important to ecological health and can deepen our connections with public lands, but they are also in a state of decline. Fortunately, a village of specialists are devoted to conserving these species. The stories of their resolute conservation efforts, pursued through obstacles and setbacks, provides portraits of determination that we can pocket and apply to our own personal experiences with adversity. This time, we meet the Yosemite toad and leap into long-term monitoring, a process of investigation that tracks changes in frog populations.
Transcribe →Forest Focus Podcast — Episode 46: For the Frogs: Construction
Mar 1200:19:42Tap to summarizeThis is the third installment of a miniseries about amphibian conservation and determination called For the Frogs. In each episode, we will meet to one native amphibian that can be found in California's national forests. These creatures are important to ecological health and can deepen our connections with public lands, but they are also in a state of decline. Fortunately, a village of specialists are devoted to conserving these species. The stories of their resolute conservation efforts, pursued through obstacles and setbacks, provides portraits of determination that we can pocket and apply to our own personal experiences with adversity. This time, we meet the California red-legged frog and hop into wetland construction.
Transcribe →Forest Focus Podcast — Episode 48: Wood Innovations and Biomass Utilization
Mar 1201:31:25Tap to summarizeIn this episode we turn back towards Nature's Benefits and cut further into Timber and Wood Products by discussing Wood Innovations and Biomass Utilization with a program specialist from the Pacific Southwest Regional Office. We talk grants, mass timber, forward-thinking projects, tribal initiatives, urban forestry and more with guests from Angeles National Forest and a sawmill owner in Los Angeles.
Transcribe →Forest Focus Podcast — Episode 47: Wilderness Walking
Mar 1200:06:24Tap to summarizeWe’re taking a wilderness walk in recognition of this anniversary year of the 1964 Wilderness Act, which created the National Wilderness Preservation System. But long before the Wilderness Act, and long before we were even using the word “wilderness”, these lands were used and stewarded by Indigenous communities. So designated wilderness areas are both Tribal homelands and places for recreation. Taking a walk in these lands is an opportunity to think about what wilderness means to us, which can help us connect to nature and each other.
Transcribe →Forest Focus Podcast — Episode 44: For the Frogs: Translocation
Mar 1200:14:04Tap to summarizeThis is the first installment of a miniseries about amphibian conservation and determination. We're calling the miniseries For the Frogs. In each episode, we will meet to one native amphibian that can be found in California's national forests. These creatures are important to ecological health, and once we get to know them, they can deepen our connections with public lands. But each of these species is in a state of decline due to overlapping threats, including pathogens, introduced predators, habitat loss, drought and wildfire. Fortunately, there is a village of specialists devoted to conserving these species despite the colossal challenge of the threat supergroup. The stories of their resolute conservation efforts, pursued through obstacles and setbacks, provides portraits of determination that we can pocket and apply to our own personal experiences with adversity.
Transcribe →Forest Focus Podcast — Episode 45: For the Frogs: Restoration
Mar 1200:24:15Tap to summarizeThis is the second installment of a miniseries about amphibian conservation and determination called For the Frogs. In each episode, we will meet to one native amphibian that can be found in California's national forests. These creatures are important to ecological health and can deepen our connections with public lands, but they are also in a state of decline. Fortunately, a village of specialists are devoted to conserving these species. The stories of their resolute conservation efforts, pursued through obstacles and setbacks, provides portraits of determination that we can pocket and apply to our own personal experiences with adversity. This time, we meet the Cascades frog and learn about a collaborative effort that led to the restoration of an important meadow.
Transcribe →Forest Focus Podcast — Episode 43: Snow Groomer: A Recreation Technician's Artistry
Feb 1100:42:19Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we ride along with a Recreation Technician from the Shasta-Trinity National Forest while he grooms 55 miles of trails for snowmobilers and ask him more about his work throughout the year, how does he make that corduroy pattern, what is that big red button for, and other hard snowball hitting questions. Then, we get behind the wheel. How hard can it be?
Transcribe →Forest Focus Podcast — Episode 42: Crawling in Caves
Feb 1100:22:17Tap to summarizeThere are portals within many national forests that offer entry into realms of the most curious forms of biodiversity. These underground chambers and hallways are called lava tubes or caves. In these landscapes below the ground, tiny creatures creep in the shadows in costumes of faded hues. Their pallor is paired with neighboring life forms that sparkle when hit by a flashlight, as if dusted with glitter. And these subterranean spaces are also archives that contain records of our Paleolithic and climatic past. To explore within, a readiness for crawling will be required. Fortunately, we have an experienced caver to show us the way.
Transcribe →Forest Focus Podcast — Episode 41: Wandering after Wolves
Feb 1100:38:21Tap to summarizeThe gray wolf (Canis lupus) became extirpated, or locally extinct, in California in the 1920s. But this large member of the dog family was once a native species in California that ranged widely here and throughout much of the United States. In recent years, gray wolves have been returning to California. Their slow comeback is a natural progression of population growth happening in others western states. Wildlife specialists with the USDA Forest Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are working together to monitor and conserve this recovering species by looking for signs of their whereabouts with boots on the ground, satellite collars, and DNA analysis.
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