Dedication Point is a podcast that features stories about the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in Southwestern Idaho.

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This week’s interview is focused on the Soda Fire. This megafire burned nearly 280,000 acres in Southwest Idaho and Southeast Oregon - just adjacent to the the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA - in 2015. This wildfire generated a historic response, with more resources put into restoration, emergency stabilization, and research than ever before. We’re most interested in the research that has been conducted in an effort to test the effectiveness of a variety of different restoration strategies, and our guest is USGS ecologist Cara Applestein. Cara has been conducting research on post-fire restoration at the Soda Fire site since 2015, and shares a wealth of knowledge on this topic in today’s interview.

What the Soda Fire Taught Us About Post-Fire Restoration with Cara Applestein

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This week’s interview is focused on the strategic challenges associated with restoring sage-steppe ecosystems in the Great Basin. Our guest is Chad Boyd, a Rangeland Scientist and Research Leader who has been based in Eastern Oregon and working on restoration projects since 1999. His work is focused on establishing strategic decision-making protocols for land managers looking to restore sage-steppe ecosystems across the Great Basin. Despite the enormity of the problem, Chad is optimistic about the future of these landscapes, and I hope this optimism rubs off on some of our listeners!

Strategic Conservation in the Sage-Steppe with Chad Boyd

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This is the first episode of Season 4 of Dedication Point! Season 4 will be focused on restoration in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA, and we&#39;re getting this conversation started with Matt Germino, supervisory research ecologist with USGS. Germino has been leading a research team focused on restoration strategies and techniques in the Intermountain West since 2011, and he shares his wealth of knowledge on this topic here in this episode!

An Introduction to Desert Shrubland Restoration with Matt Germino

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A panel discussion featuring Brandon Flack and Zac Hulling from the Idaho Fish and Game Department and Aaron Utz from Idaho Power discussing management strategies and the population status of waterfowl and upland game species in the CJ Strike Wildlife Management Area (which is encompassed by the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA).

Waterfowl and Upland Game Birds of the NCA and CJ Strike WMA

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Rita Dixon, the State Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator for the Idaho Fish and Game Department, discusses the diverse array of bat species that one can see in the NCA, as well as the the looming threat of white-nose syndrome, a devastating disease affecting bats across North America.

Bats of the NCA

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Boise State University Professor Ian Robertson discusses the role of insects in the ecosystems of the NCA, as well as his research on insect-plant interactions.

Insects of the NCA

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Herpetologist Kristina Parker discusses reptile surveys and rattlesnake research that she conducted in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA.

Reptiles of the NCA

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In this episode we’re talking about Jackrabbits, and how improved survey methods designed to assess their populations in the NCA hold the potential to benefit wildlife survey efforts all across the globe.Guests for this episode are Dr. Jen Cruz, Assistant Professor at Boise State University, and her graduate student, Leticia Camacho.

The Black-tailed Jackrabbit

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Welcome to Season Three of Dedication Point! We&#39;re extremely excited to bring you a new season of episodes about the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA. This season’s theme is prey. The Snake River canyon region was set aside as an National Conservation Area because of it’s uniquely high density of birds of prey - and while these raptors get a lot of attention - the prey species that the raptors rely on are often overlooked. We seek to amend this situation in Season 3 of this podcast - each episode will be focused on a different species, group or category of animals that serve as prey for the area’s raptors.We&#39;re starting with the Piute ground squirrel. This prey species lives in high abundance in the NCA and is a keystone species of this ecosystem. For this episode we spoke with Zoe Duran, a wildlife biologist who’s been involved with Piute ground squirrel research for close to ten years.

The Piute Ground Squirrel

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Danielle Murray and Andres Esparza from the Conservation Lands Foundation discuss their ongoing efforts to conserve public land through grassroots organizing, and how the new Climate Atlas mapping tool can help.

The Climate Atlas

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Former Utah State University graduate student Scott Zimmer discusses his research on climate models that predict vegetation and habitat changes in the Intermountain West. We discuss what these projections tell us about our rapidly changing landscapes, and how these findings can be used by land managers.

Climate Modeling in the Intermountain West

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Dr. Jen Pierce is an Associate Professor in the Geoscience Department at Boise State University. She is an expert on the impact of Climate Change on Wildfire, and is currently engaged in research about carbon sequestration in desert ecosystems. Dr. Pierce spoke with Dedication Point co-hosts about what the future may hold for sagebrush steppe ecosystems in Southwest Idaho.

Wildfire, Climate Change, and Carbon Sequestration on the Snake River Plain

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Patty Glick is the lead author of a new paper that lays out a framework for land management in our modern era of climate change. She explains how the framework was crafted and how it can help land managers adapt their practices to account for our rapidly changing climate.

Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) - A Climate-Conscious Approach to Land Management

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A panel of raptor biologists discuss the current effort to survey the Snake River canyon’s Prairie falcon population. As you’ll hear in the discussion, the Snake River canyon is a very special place for prairie falcons, and the full canyon survey that’s currently underway is part of a monumental effort to assess the size and health of this unique population.

The Full-Canyon Prairie Falcon Survey

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Amanda Hoffman is the current manager of the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA. She took over this role in March of 2016, having previously served as the acting associate monument manager at Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. We talked with Amanda about the challenges that she’s faced since becoming the manager of this NCA, and how she’s taken lessons from the unique history of the area.

NCA Oral History: Amanda Hoffman

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Dr. Julie Heath is a professor in the department of Biological Sciences and the Raptor Research Center at Boise State University. Her research lab is focused on addressing questions about how birds respond to large scale environmental change. She has conducted numerous research projects within the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA, working with a number of other researchers and graduate students. This research has documented how raptors are responding to some of the changes occurring within the NCA and the surrounding area.

NCA Oral History: Julie Heath

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Kent Carnie is a lifelong falconer, longtime board member of the Peregrine Fund, and the founder of the Archives of Falconry. His close friendship with Morley Nelson lasted for many decades, and Carnie played a central role in the decision to relocate the Peregrine Fund’s headquarters to its current home in Boise, ID. We discussed with Mr. Carnie the history of American falconry as well as the influence that Morley Nelson had on the sport. Carnie also explains the role that Morley played in the recovery of the peregrine falcon, and the influence that the Peregrine Fund exerted to support the establishment of the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA.

NCA Oral History: Kent Carnie

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Roger Rosentreter is a retired BLM botanist – he spent 35 years working as the Idaho BLM state botanist. During that time Roger worked throughout Idaho and the Intermountain West, but always maintained a strong connection with the high desert ecosystems of the sagebrush steppe, and has spent quite a bit of time working in the NCA. He has amassed a wealth of knowledge about the introduction of invasive species such as cheatgrass, and has conducted numerous research projects analyzing the effects of these introductions on native species. He has authored close to 100 scientific publications over the course of his career.

NCA Oral History: Roger Rosentreter

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John Freemuth is a professor of public policy at Boise State University, but he also serves as the Cencil Andrus endowed chair of Environment and Public Lands for the Andrus Center for Public Policy. During the Clinton administration, Freemuth served as the chair of the science advisory board for the BLM, so he has a vast depth of knowledge on how science can and should affect public policy. We talked with John Freemuth about the legacy of Cecil Andrus and how science should continue to affect policy in the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA.

NCA Oral History: John Freemuth

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Dean Hagerman is a historian, graduate student, and former National Guardsman who worked at the Orchard Combat Training Center within the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA. As someone with both direct experience working for the National Guard at their training area inside the NCA, and a graduate student studying the history of this very area, Dean is uniquely positioned to share the history behind this National Guard training center. And this history is quite unique – as Dean points out, there are no other examples on the planet of an active military training area operating from within an area protected for environmental reasons.

NCA Oral History: Dean Hagerman

A podcast featuring stories from the Snake River Canyon region.

Dedication Point is a podcast that features stories about the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in Southwestern Idaho.