Arctic White Geese: Snow geese and Ross’s geese make an almost unimaginable 3,000-mile migration each year. So it’s no wonder they enjoy spending a month or so in eastern Oregon, “bulking up” on tender grasses and nutritious bugs. The folks from Oregon Field Guide have captured the beauty of thousands of these birds on their stopover to the Arctic. Dedicated “citizen scientists” spend time during the birds’ respite to study them. Some say the sky is so filled with geese that it often looks like a snowstorm!
Veterans in the Great Outdoors: Some military veterans returning from combat have physical scars. Others have mental stresses that can also impact their families. We join the Sierra Club’s Stacy Bare, a U.S. Army veteran, on an adventure down the Colorado River, where veterans deepen their connections with the land, and one another. The camaraderie and the healing power of nature come through in this beautiful and rugged setting.
Tracking a Coral Killer: It’s a detective story that has unfolded in the waters off Key West, Florida. What’s been killing the Elkhorn coral? Biologist Kathryn Sutherland has identified human sewage as the source of the coral-killing pathogen that causes white pox disease. Elkhorn coral was listed for protection as an endangered species in 2006, largely due to white pox disease. Sutherland works with water treatment facilities in south Florida to try to make sure water is cleared of this pathogen before it goes back into the Atlantic.
The Colorado River brings drinking water, irrigation, recreation and livelihood to millions of people in the West. But it’s clear now that there’s not an unlimited supply of this precious resource. Business owners on and near the river are working to make sure their neighbors, and policy makers in Washington, get a complete picture of how critical this river is. Traveling through Arizona and northern Mexico, Bruce Burkhardt shows us there’s a lot that needs to be done to protect these waters now and for the future.
Different hikers get different inspiration from the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee. An artist takes photos that she will later paint; a woodworker studies how trees grow to get ideas for the furniture he builds; and a retired Marine gives back to his community by clearing fallen limbs from the trail. They all support a Congressional designation of this beautiful area as wilderness, so it will be preserved from development for future generations. From the amphibians to the wildflowers to the fishes—the array of diversity in the southern Appalachian forest is just astounding!
Shy, smart, curious and vulnerable: Manatees are slow-moving marine mammals that have not had it easy in recent decades. Diseases and red tide, but mostly strikes from boats and propellers, have killed and injured hundreds of them. Both Florida and federal authorities are stepping up protection of manatees, especially in their winter sanctuaries on the state’s west coast. Veterinarians and volunteers conduct physicals on these gentle giants to gauge their health and long- term outlook. Our host Caroline Raville swims with some manatees to bring us the story!
Removing a dam can cause big changes to a community, and to the environment. Before cities make the decision to take down a dam that’s either deteriorating or no longer needed, they must be prepared. Researchers at Dartmouth College use sophisticated tools to study river systems to help predict what will happen when the dam is gone. It’s all about “shoring up” what we know about how rivers flow, in order to make smart choices when it is time for a dam to come down.
A special episode on controversial plans for offshore oil drilling off Alaska’s Arctic coast. Two decades after the Exxon Valdez spill, lingering oil is still found on beaches in Prince William Sound. How could offshore spills affect the lives of Inupiat Native Americans who depend on subsistence hunting and fishing? Native Alaskans find kinship with those who suffered from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A passionate marine scientist uses a deep ocean submersible to study the impact of the Gulf spill
hidden in the depths.
Lingering Oil
Trans Alaska Pipeline
Plans for Offshore Drilling Worry Native Alaskans
Alaskans Visit Gulf
Hidden Oil Plumes
Facing spreading development, how can wildlife habitat be saved in Montana? In Kansas, researchers develop revolutionary ideas for growing perennial food crops that slow the degradation of cropland and offer greater food security in the face of everharsher climates. Is the Colorado National Monument the right place for a Tour de France style bike race? Counting tree rings, scientists solve history’s mysteries and predict our future. Just a few minutes from downtown Washington, D.C., a wildlife preserve is an oasis for hikers, bird watchers and anyone who needs a natural retreat.
Montana’s Wild Legacy
The Land Institute
Lord of the Tree Rings
Dyke Marsh
Friends of Dyke Marsh
Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve: An Injured Jewel
Volunteers clean up and restore a desert wilderness in Oregon. Local residents campaign to protect a mining-scarred but still spectacular landscape in Colorado’s San Juan Range. “Animal magnetism” guides loggerhead turtles across thousands of miles of open ocean. With a rich population of raptors, a conservation area in Idaho draws visitors eager to learn about hawks, eagles and falcons. Invasive insects destroy countless majestic hemlock trees in the southern Appalachians. A feisty bald eagle survives a horrific highway crash.
Friends of the Oregon Badlands
Heart of Oregon, Badlands
Alpine Triangle Recreation Area
Alpine Triangle
Sea Turtles
Dying Hemlocks
Hemlocks Threatened
Miracle Eagle
Some natural sights in Las Vegas will make casinos look just plain dull! Bats get a bad rap in the animal kingdom, but you’ve never seen them like this! And since bats and zombies often go together: “zombie subdivisions” are threatening what were beautiful, wide open spaces in the West. Good guys in Oregon use new technology to fight outlaws committing age-old crimes. The Colorado River serves a lot of needs, and that tug of war is getting critical.
Red Rock Canyon
Cattle Rustling
Zombie Subdivisions
Batty for Bats
White Nose Syndrome
Colorado River
We’ll take you to Colorado, and one of the most breathtaking places you’ve probably never heard of. More than 30 years after Mt. St. Helens blew, researchers witness an amazing rebirth. High fashion took a huge toll on America’s wading birds that have now recovered to face new threats. Loggers and environmentalists reach a “timber truce” that seems to be working. And moose, bears and elk are just not the same up close as they are on TV; what’s the National Park Service doing to keep humans and wildlife superstars at a safe distance?
Gunnison Gorge
Mount St. Helen’s
Wading Birds
Timber Truce
WIldlife Brigade
