← Rewilding Earth Podcast
Rewilding Earth Podcast
Episode 139: Year-End Recap With 2024 Guest Updates
00:29:08
Welcome to our 2024 recap episode! This year, we’re doing something different. We’ve asked a group of our 2024 guests to come back and give updates on their work since their episodes aired. Thanks to our sponsor, Biohabitats,
Loading summary
Transcript19 lines
- [00:08]
Jack
It is the end of the seventh year of the Rewilding Earth podcast and 2024 was one of the biggest years yet. I got to talk to so many dedicated and talented voices for the wild. I also met some of my biggest heroes and talked to so many new friends doing incredible rewilding work around the globe. Highlights for me include interviewing Chris TopPkins in episode 133, one of the world's greatest wildland philanthropists and an advocate for big thinking and massive action toward protecting land and oceanscapes and the wildlife within. Two other conservation heroes I was honored to interview are both named Paul and they happen to be at the top of my all time list of Paul's to interview Paul Ehrlich and Captain Paul Watson in episodes 137 and 138. In this year end episode, we reached out to guests whose work was unfolding as we spoke. We asked them to send in updates to catch us up on that work since their episodes aired. As I edited this episode, listening to this great sampling of our guests in 2024, I was struck by their passion and excitement. I usually only have one voice to listen to as I interview and edit episodes. Hearing a group of them like this is different. It's powerful. I can't wait for you to hear it. So without further ad Foreign you're listening to the Rewilding Earth podcast. Back in July, I met Eric Treffne in episode 128, a howl of Hope and learned about Eric's inspiring campaign to protect the critically endangered red wolf. He told me about a major effort to raise money and awareness for wildlife crossings in red wolf country. Here's what Eric has learned about that and other news of great importance to the future of red wolves.
- [02:14]
Eric Treffne
Hi Jack and the Rewilding Institute team. This is Eric providing you with some great news to howl about regarding red wolves and the effort to fundraise and build wildlife crossings in their territory. Since we last spoke, the deadline for the red wolf wildlife crossings has gained substantial momentum. The fundraising deadline was graciously extended several times, with current deadlines set for December 31, 2024. With that being said, I can share two awesome updates. The fundraising efforts, led by the center of Biological Diversity Wildlands Network and the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, and with thousands of small donors help both domestic and International. The $2 million fundraising goal has been met, which ensures the North Carolina DOT can apply for a grant through the Federal Highway Administration's Wildlife Crossings pilot program. Thank you to everyone who helped us meet this vital benchmark. And now for the really big news. The North Carolina DOT has been awarded $25 million from the federal Highway Administration through the Wildlife Crossings pilot program to build not one, but 13 wildlife underpasses in Red Wolf country, plus fencing to ensure red wolves and other wildlife is funneled towards the underpasses. This is the second largest financial award granted through the pilot program's history. With five red wolves being killed by vehicles in the last year and a half, these passages could not come at a more dire time. This is great news for red wolves and for wildlife, but also for humans too. This infrastructure will improve human safety on the roads in and around red wolf country by limiting wildlife and vehicle collisions. This is truly a seismic shift in red wolf conservation and recovery. While this is reason to celebrate, this does not mean red wolves are now safe from extinction. Anyone who cares about the species needs to remain in the fight to ensure America's wolf has a voice. You can regularly check the websites at Wildland Networks, center of Biological diversity and the U.S. fish and Wildlife Red Wolf web pages to stay engaged, aware and up to date on everything red wolf. Thank you to everyone who made this incredible effort happen. Thank you to Jack and the entire Rewilding Institute for ways of raising awareness about red wolves and their battle to survive. This is the best gift I could have ever received this holiday season. I'm truly over the moon with joy and gratitude and I hope everyone is too. Really looking forward to seeing what happens next. Thanks for everything. Bye.
- [04:28]
Jack
In episode 129, advancing wildlife connectivity, Aaron Seto from Wildlands Network took time to fill us in about state and federal policies supporting connected habitats, noting advancements in wildlife crossings and the significant support these initiatives have received. Here's Aaron's update on progress since that episode.
- [04:49]
Aaron Seto
Thanks so much for having me back, Jack. There is so much to celebrate at the end of this year since we last talked. Oh my gosh. I believe it was in June that we initially recorded our podcast. But since then, the federal bill that we discussed, the Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships act that has been introduced. It's the first federal court or bill to be introduced in both the House and the Senate with both Republican and Democratic co sponsors. So this is a pretty big deal for us. Senator Padilla from California and Senator Hoban from North Dakota were our sponsors on the Senate side. And then we also had Representative Ryan Zinke from Montana and Congressman Beyer from Virginia that supported the bill from the House side. It had a very favorable hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee. We are expecting it to be introduced again in the 2025, 119th Congress. So that's something to look forward to for 2025. We're going to come at that full steam ahead in the new year. Another exciting development that I am just still reeling from this morning is the announcement of the latest wildlife crossings pilot program grants. Federal Highways just today announced 16 new grants that were awarded to 15 states and one tribe. 125 million dol announced today in these grants. And this is to construct wildlife crossings across the country and also provide some funding to states to help do their statewide analyses and find those hotspots where wildlife are getting hit on our roadways. In particular, we're very excited about two of the biggest winners this year. Oregon is going to get its first overpass as wildlife overpass with a $33 million grant to connect the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. And in North Carolina, all the way on the other side of the country, we're going to see several wildlife crossings to support the critically endangered red wolf. I know you've been talking about that in other programs, too, but it's such a critical species. Their population numbers are so low, 7 to 19, and the number one reason for mortality is vehicle strikes. So there's a lot of hope today that we're celebrating at the end of the year with this news. So we're looking forward to those projects getting underway in 2025. And we're also looking forward to the one last grant round that's going to be announced, and the NOFO is coming out for that in May of next year. So something to look forward to, one more round of grants left to apply to. It's important to note that this federal grant program is currently a pilot program. And so we want all of Congress to know that the demand for this program is very high. Once again, There were over 50 applications to this program this year, roughly $550 million of funding requested, but only 16 applications were selected and $125 million was awarded. So you can see still a lot of need out there. So we need to be talking to Congress to tell them to make this program permanent and kick up the funding that they're providing to this program. So if you're already talking to your delegates, this is something you want to put on that list to talk to them about.
- [08:13]
Jack
And the instructions in the background for this is at episode129rewilding.org pod and an extra credit. Aaron has plied us with all the tools that we need to help support this work. Aaron, thanks so much. Have a happy new year.
- [08:30]
Aaron Seto
Excellent. Thanks so much, Jack. Happy New year.
- [08:32]
Jack
Turtle Southern is the latest, very welcome addition to the Rewilding Institute crew. A seasoned campaigner for jaguars, Turtle came to us from her previous job as coordinator of the Northern Jaguar project. During her 15 years with NJP, she helped establish and grow the 58,000 acre Northern Jaguar Reserve in Sonora, Mexico. And she hit the ground running when she joined the Rewilding Institute expanding on her advocacy for Jaguars. In episode 121, discussing Jaguar recovery in the United States, Turtle gave us a clear vision of the possible future for jaguars in the desert Southwest. This is her update.
- [09:10]
Turtle Southern
So when I was on the podcast, I was just starting my new position at the Rewilding Institute, diving into learning about jaguars north of the border in the US and trying to figure out where there were needs not being addressed. One thing that I thought was interesting, of course, in Sonora, in the area of the Northern Jaguar Reserve, where there is a breeding population, that's obviously great jaguar habitat. This year I traveled north and visited Cuenca Los Ojos, which is so beautiful. There is so much water and it just feels like there should be jaguars everywhere you walk. I was in the Sky Islands with the folks from Conservation Catalyst, Elitris Neils and Chris Bugby. And there we are on the top of a mountain and they're like, clearly there should be jaguars here. This is where jaguars live. Then I move up to the Gila Wilderness and go on a hike with Michael Robinson, who wrote the petition to reintroduce jaguars there. He works for the center for Biological Diversity. And we're standing on the trail when he says, isn't this the best jaguar habitat you have seen? You can say that going on to the Mogollon or the Grand Canyon. And my takeaway, every one of these destinations along the Northern jaguar corridor, the people who work locally in them think that is the best place for jaguars. And they're all right because it all is. I was with George Schaller in the spring, and after he gave a lecture in Tucson, which you can see on the Rewilding Institute's website, we did a tour of some of the locations where jaguars have been recorded in the US and one of the northernmost places with jaguars in Sonora. We discussed what it would take to restore a breeding jaguar population in the United States. And if there was one thing George stressed, it was that jaguars are adaptable. If there is prey available, they will do well. George saw enough to know that between public land and privately protected areas on both sides of the border. The habitat is there, the prey is there. Bringing jaguars back is within reach and the only barriers to their recovery are social and political. In terms of political, I want to say that there is a spark that keeps us going. Three days after the presidential election, we hosted an energetic standing room only meeting of a budding jaguar coalition. Great minds were there. Anti border wall experts, landowners, Mexican conservation organizations and researchers from the US Brought the science. Everyone agrees there has got to be hope. The needs are so much greater now. Threats are everywhere and yet we also have some real opportunities to build upon. One of these is pursuing work in the corridor between protected hotspots in Sonora, the El Tigre Wild Way. It is where jaguars roam and where we can make a difference by promoting coexistence with our wild neighbors. That will be one focus in the coming year, along with continuing to raise awareness that jaguars belong in the desert Southwest so more people advocate for their recovery and continuing to build our coalition of organizations to create more cohesion, communication and effectiveness as we safeguard borderland cats. Shortly after my podcast episode aired, I learned that the female jaguar Liebe Lula had died. Libelula lived more than 12 years. She had many cubs and was an inspiration for so much work to protect jaguars in their northern range. She led a storied life until she died of natural causes. Near a secluded cave I once visited, a place of wildness and beauty. Unlike with so many jaguars past and present. How remarkable it is to know how her story ends and that it wasn't tragic. I find even more beauty in that.
- [13:58]
Jack
In January, the first episode of 2024, I spoke with Lauren Strohacker and we discussed using art to reinvigorate human connection to nature. Her stunning and widely hailed border Wall Jaguar project proved without a doubt the power of art to move people.
- [14:13]
Lauren Strohacker
Hey listeners, this is Lauren Strohacker. You may remember me from episode 119 of the Rewilding Earth podcast titled the Arts of Rewilding. In that episode, Jack and I discussed my eco political art practice where I place animal imagery and animal concepts into human centric spaces. Creative wildlife reintroductions, if you will. One of my most notable works, and I'd argue my most important work to date is Unfragmenting des Fragmentando, where I and collaborators projected images of Sonoran Desert species into onto the US Mexico border wall in Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora. During our conversation, I told Jack my goal was to do these projections along the entirety of the border wall in other cities and other states. Both in the United States and Mexico. I want to, through this community centric art, call attention to two things. One, the harm a wall inflicts on human and non human communities in the borderlands and 2 the harm the American government does to democracy as it waives dozens of federal laws that are meant to protect us in order to build this wall. These are laws like the Clean Air act, the Safe Drinking Water act, and the Endangered Species Act. Speaking of endangered species, the wall is also a major obstacle to the recovery of the largest predator in the Americas, the iconic jaguar. Serendipitously, not long after my episode aired, I would begin preparing my third border wall projection. In May of 2024 and alongside the Rewilding Institute's Jaguar Coordinator, Turtle Southern, we projected wildlife images onto a section of border wall near the Nogales, Arizona entry point. This was for Jaguar Rising, a multimedia performance and educational event co produced by the Rewilding Institute and the Madrian Archipelago Wildlife Center. Now, this wall in Nogales was very different from the wall in Douglas and Agua Preta. This wall was covered in loops of concertina, razor wire. Bits of clothing and dead vines hung from the blades. The images of the animal bodies wrapped in this razor wire made the installation visceral and ominous. It felt more like a warning than a celebration, but fear, like beauty, can be a revelatory emotion. My border wall projections ended the evening and hopefully set the stage for more Borderland collaborations and events to come. You can see images and videos from Jaguar Arising on my website www.laurenstrohacker.org. if any listeners in the Borderlands have location ideas or connections to do more of these projections, please feel free to contact me through my website. Thank you all for listening to this update. Until the border wall is no more, I and collaborators will continue to haunt the metal barrier with the spirits of a wild and free landscape.
- [17:26]
Jack
It was episode 130 when I met Emily Burns in August. We discussed the conservation challenges and successes amid increased border militarization in the Sky Islands. Here's what Emily and crew have been up to since.
- [17:40]
Emily Burns
Hello, this is Emily Burns, Program Director with Sky Island Alliance. So much has happened this fall since I was on the podcast and we're really excited about having published a paper in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution about the crossing rates of 20 different species at the US Mexico border in eastern Arizona. We learned that, unfortunately, There is an 86% decline in the number of successful crossings for animals trying to move back and forth between the US And Mexico when they encounter the bollard wall in comparison to when they are able to move through stretches of the border that are just marked with vehicle barrier. The bright spot here is that when small wildlife passages are installed in the border wall, the bollard wall, even if they're small, just the size of a piece of printer paper, eight and a half by 11, we do see a pretty significant increase in crossing rates for some large species, including mountain lion, javelina and coyote. So that's really helpful to know in terms of designing future sections of the wall that may invariably be coming in the next couple of years. We're also hoping and still advocating for more of these small wildlife passages, known as cat doors, to be installed in the existing wall. Any gap, really almost of any size that can be put into the wall makes it more permeable, makes it more approachable for animals and more of them can get through. We still have a really big challenge helping the largest species like black bear, pronghorn deer, most likely jaguar, able to cross through bollard wall. So solutions for the largest terrestrial mammals in North America still need a lot of help. In the meantime, we're going to keep our cameras rolling. We're going to be doing habitat restoration along the border in southeast Arizona, northern Mexico. We'd love to have volunteers come out and join us. Visit skyislandalliance.org to learn all about our upcoming volunteer opportunities. Thanks and happy New year.
- [20:03]
Jack
Borderlands Program Coordinator for Wildlands Network, Miles Trafigan appeared on the podcast in episode 126 to talk about Borderlands connectivity. We discussed the historical context of border wall construction, the politics and the ongoing efforts to create wildlife openings along the wall in critical wildlife crossing hotspots. In his update, Miles reports on another major issue affecting wildlife and people on the border.
- [20:31]
Miles Trafigan
So what's changed since the podcast? I did in April. I just arrived in Hermosillo, Sonora tonight, Christmas eve and passed 60 to 80 mining related trucks carrying chemicals of all different varieties, sulfuric acid and other codes that we're still trying to decipher after we took photos of the vehicles. Mining interest in Sonora, foreign and domestic, are going to be the destruction of basically the entire ecosystem. Here we are under water rationing tonight in Hermosillo. The other night my relatives were under water rationing in Kaananea, up in the northeastern corner of the state of Sonora. This is all a direct result of Grupo Meiko and other international mining companies coming in and raping and pillaging the water and mineral resources of this part of Mexico. And it's happening everywhere. So the people of Mexico need to rise up and expel these mining companies because they're going to, they're going to take all their water. The water is disappearing right now. We can't wash dishes tonight. And this is not a result of the drought which has been ongoing because there's plenty of groundwater resources here. It's because there is direct impact upon water resources in the state of Sonora. And what's going to happen is it's going to dry everybody up overnight and it's not going to be a pretty scene. So I would urge the citizens of Mexico to rise up and get out in front of this and repel this destructive force that only wants your copper for their profits and doesn't have you in mind. I wish I had something better to say at the end of this year.
- [22:26]
Jack
And now to the Pacific Northwest with an Update from Paula McKay, who joined us in episode 120 with her husband Robert Long, also a major conservation hero in the Pacific Northwest. And this update is a big one. Paula updates us on work with wolves, fishers, wolverines, Canada lynx, and gives us eagerly awaited news on grizzly reintroduction.
- [22:48]
Paula McKay
Hi everyone. As we approach the New Year, I'm happy to report that the rewilding story in the Washington Cascades continues to unfold. Recent efforts to reduce protections for our recovering wolf population fortunately failed and these wide roaming canids remain state endangered at the current time. Meanwhile, fishers continue to repopulate the Cascades after reintroductions in the north and the south. In other news, the Cascades Carnivore Monitoring Program launched our first field efforts for wolverines and Canada lynx this summer. More than two dozen organizations, including agencies, tribes, nonprofits and academic institutions participate in this highly collaborative program which is co led by Robert Long and me at Woodland Park Zoo and Dan Thornton at Washington State University. Our crews are using camera caps and automated scent dispensers to document these rare carnivores at stations deployed throughout the Washington Cascades with a goal of generating a long term data set to help us evaluate how climate change, recreation and other human impacts are affecting our wolverine and lynx populations. We're in the process of reviewing some of the photos we retrieved in the fall and have been thrilled as always, to see images of our study animals as well as many other carnivores, including a wolf carrying a young fawn in her mouth. Last but never least, grizzly bears are slated to be reintroduced to the north Cascades in 2025 after the fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service announced their decision in April to actively recover this extirpated species by relocating grizzlies from the Rocky Mountains or interior British Columbia. Agency biologists are Planning to translocate three to seven grizzly bears per year for a period of five to 10 years to establish an initial population of 25 bears. Grizzlies are the last missing piece in the rewilding puzzle here, and their return will have rewilding advocates, including me, dancing in the trails. As we all know, there will be many challenges in the months and years to come, but I hope we can continue to celebrate the Cascades as a rewilding flagship. May 2025 bring peace to my fellow humans and our wild kin. Thank you.
- [25:18]
Jack
Our last update comes from Michael Kellett, who joined me again in episode 131 to talk about the growing movement toward 100 new US national parks. Momentum is building and Michael has an update on laying the groundwork to put a national park within reach of everyone in the United States.
- [25:36]
Michael Kellett
This is Michael Kellett from Restore the North Woods. I interviewed for the Rewilding Earth podcast in September 2024 regarding our campaign to create 100 new national parks across the country. So here's a year end update on our campaign. President Biden has been considering several of the areas of our hundred areas as national monuments, and we'll see what happens with that. But the election of Donald Trump as president has complicated the issue of national monuments. He's not only unlikely to designate any new monuments in the next four years, but he may well try to weaken or shrink existing national monuments. But this hasn't changed the trajectory of our campaign for new national parks. It's mainly focused on convincing Congress to pass legislation, which is what you need to create new national parks. National monuments are also a part of that strategy, but not the only part of it. And we can't let up on the pressure for new national parks. In fact, they're more important ever as the climate, biodiversity and public health crises continue to grow. And we've always envisioned that this is going to be a long term campaign toward protecting 30% of the US by 2030. 2025 is going to be a big year for new national parks. We have a new national parks website that will be online any day now@newparks.org we're building a network of groups across the country who support new parks. We're expanding public awareness and support for new parks. We're developing new national parks legislation and seeking congressional sponsors. Our goal is to be ready to hit the ground running when we have a more sympathetic Congress and or President in office in 2026 and 2028, and we're going to be working until then at full speed. If people are interested in more information, you can go to restore.org or as I say, newparks.org will soon be up and running. We're a membership organization so I hope people will join and help support our cause. Thanks again. Happy New Year.
- [27:59]
Jack
If you were inspired by this or any episode in 2024, please consider supporting the Rewilding Institute and this podcast with a year end donation@rewilding.org donate and if you think others would like to hear about the inspiring work all of our guests are doing on behalf of nature, please share rewilding.org pod to spread the word. We have big plans for 2025. Several guests are already scheduled to start the year. I wish you a happy new year and I thank you for listening to and supporting the Rewilding Earth Podcast. Thanks for listening to the Rewilding Earth Podcast Podcast. We do what we do because of you. This podcast is supported by listeners like you who long to live in a wilder world. Please consider donating@rewilding.org and subscribe to our weekly News and Article Digest while you're there to go the extra mile, you can follow and share Rewilding Earth on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Bonus points for sharing this podcast with your friends. To listen to past episodes, go to rewilding.org pod that's rewilding. Org pod.