The Wandering Naturalist

Gain perspective from a Three Rivers volunteer, Allison Weyer, who is making a difference with a Minnesota threatened species the Blanding's turtle.  Hear how efforts of monitoring during nesting sea…

The metropolitan Twin Cities area is home to more than half the citizens of Minnesota.  Despite this factor wildlife is still diverse partly thanks to progressive open space planning.  Minnesota Depa…

Wildlife supervisor of Three Rivers, Steven Hogg, joins hosts Brandon and Angela to discover at risk species that call our parks home.  Learn which species have found their own way to restored habita…

Take a journey out of our own local restored prairies of Three Rivers and expand to the entire state of Minnesota.  To think big picture guest Megan Benage with the Minnesota Department of Natural Re…

Wildlife staff from Three Rivers, Brian Fredlund and Mitch Haag, join to talk about using prescribed fire on restored prairies. Learn more on how managed fires help a prairie ecosystem and whether or…

Minnesota once was home to 18 million acres of prairie habitat but today only a little over 1 percent of native prairie remains.  Protecting and recreating grassland is one of the most critical envir…

How many species of spider are in Minnesota? Chad Heins, Professor at Bethany Lutheran college can answer that question, now thanks to help from citizen scientists and iNaturalist. Learn how you can …

Larry Weber, author of multiple books including "A Guide to Webs and the Spiders that Make Them", joins us to discuss his love of spiders, their webs, and even ones that stay alive and active under t…

Angela and Brandon share stories of getting up close and personal with spiders.  Monica Rauchwater from Richardson Nature Center joins to cover spider basics and to clear up their scary misunderstand…

Join us as Susan Storck from Gale Woods Farm talks about why they have a mushroom forest. She gives tips on how to start growing your own mushrooms to eat at home.

Angie Smith, Director of Natural Resources, and Dan Commerford, Forestry Supervisor, join us to talk about why harvesting wild mushrooms in our parks is discouraged, fungi with negative impacts on ou…

Aside from an amazing musical rendition by Brandon, we explore what makes fungi so unique. From acting as recyclers in nature to infecting hosts, and even connecting trees in a Wood Wide Web, we expl…

Gain cultural perspective on monarchs as Chicana Professor Karen Mary Davalos, Chair of the Chicano and Latino Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, shares how Chicano/Chicana/ChicanX ar…

Naturalist Jim Gilbert joins us to tell the story of how a monarch his students tagged confirmed for scientists where Minnesota's monarchs migrated. Arla Carmichael, Horticulture Operations Superviso…

One of the most recognized insects in the world sparks curiosity of its great multi-generational migration, the Monarch butterfly.  Join Angela and Brandon to learn how and why this mighty flyer make…

Join us as we talk with Tim Reese and Mellissa Hochstetler of Gale Woods Farm about what practices they use to make their farm sustainable and how you as a consumer can help farmers transition to mor…

Elise Bushard of Lowry Nature Center and Historical Interpretation Supervisor Bill Walker join us to tell the story of how one man created the dairy industry in the Midwest. Wendalin Grimm bred the f…

Brandon and Angela sit down with Seneca Elder Hope Flannigan to learn how Native farming was practiced before Europeans reached Minnesota. Hope explains the difference between the wild plants and dom…

Climate change may increase the number of species of fireflies in Minnesota as our growing season gets longer, but habitat loss, light pollution, and pesticide use are all making the number of firefl…

Professor Sara Lewis shares some of the knowledge she has gained from studying fireflies for over 30 years. We discuss a female firefly nicknamed a vampire that deceives male fireflies. Professor Lew…