U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center Podcasts

Mark Madison speaks with Tom Butler at the Sc3 in Shepherdstown, WV. Tom is the editorial projects director for the Foundation for Deep Ecology, and a long-time conservation activist focused on wilderness and biodiversity. He is a founding board member and current vice president of the Northeast Wilderness Trust, the only land trust in the northeastern United States focused exclusively on protecting forever-wild landscapes. His book Wild Earth: Wild Ideas for a World Out of Balance collected essays from the conservation journal Butler edited from 1997–2005.

Finis Dunaway, Professor Trent University, Canada

Mark Madison speaks with Peter Essic at the Sc3 in Shepherdstown, WV. For the past 23 years, Peter Essick has worked as a freelance photojournalist. His main client has been National Geographic magazine, and he has produced more than 30 stories for the magazine on many different topics. He first started at the magazine as a summer intern while studying photojournalism at the University of Missouri.

Mark Madison speaks with Buddy Huffaker at the Sc3 at the NCTC in Shepherdstown, WV. Buddy is the executive director of the Aldo Leopold Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, where he works on a variety of land management issues, including the integration of agriculture and conservation, technical and financial assistance programs, and the ethics of land ownership.

Author, Professor at University of Wisconsin In 1941 the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of diethylstilbestrol (DES), the first synthetic chemical to be marketed as an estrogen and one of the first to be identified as a hormone disruptor—a chemical that mimics hormones. Its residues, and those of other chemicals, in the American food supply are changing the internal ecosystems of human, livestock, and wildlife bodies in increasingly troubling ways. In this gripping exploration that forms her new book, Nancy Langston shows how these chemicals have penetrated into every aspect of our bodies and ecosystems. Nancy Langston, a professor in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology with a joint appointment in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was president of the American Society for Environmental History in 2007–9.

Phil Pister retired in February 1990 following 38 years as a fishery biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game. He studied wildlife conservation and zoology under A. Starker Leopold at the University of California (Berkeley) and has spent virtually his entire career supervising aquatic management and research within an area encompassing approximately a thousand waters of the eastern Sierra/desert regions of California, ranging from the 14,000 foot crest of the Sierra Nevada to the floor of Death Valley lying below sea level. He founded and serves as executive secretary of the Desert Fishes Council and is involved in desert ecosystem preservation throughout the American Southwest and adjoining areas of Mexico. He holds special interest in the fields of conservation biology and environmental ethics and has served on the Board of Governors of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and Society for Conservation Biology. He also serves on the President's Advisory Committee of the University of California's system-wide White Mountain Research Station. He conducts environmental ethics workshops at the National Conservation Training Center (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) in West Virginia, has lectured at 81 universities in North America and the United Kingdom, and has authored more than 80 published papers and book chapters.

Hear Steve talk about the replacement of the eagle cam, how the eagles are getting ready for nesting season and internet addresses for viewing the eagle cam.

Moyna Huda is a filmmaker from Bangladesh who screened his new film "A Tale of the Sundarbans." The Sundarbans are the biggest mangrove forest in the world and a unique repository of biodiversity in Bangladesh.

Jonathan Van Ballenberghe is the filmmaker for "In the Company of Moose." This film chronicles Biologist Vic Van Ballenberghe who has spent more time living with wild moose in Denali National Park, Alaska than any other researcher in the world.

Stephen discusses his presentation "Aboriginal America and the Potomac Frontier, 1607-1676"

John discusses Yellowstone National Park and the making of his film "Land to Life".

How did Case become a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator? Hear his background and other interesting stories.

Bigfoot is a legendary (some claim "imaginary”) ape-like human who has been reportedly sighted from California to Indiana. Battson will give a presentation on the facts and fictions of Bigfoot including analysis of recordings of Bigfoot and casts of his footprint. Battson’s background as a wildlife educator gives him a unique perspective on Bigfoot as someone experienced in wild creatures. Larry and Cheryl Battson have appeared on television shows and traveled around the country with their wildlife show. They have rescued animals ranging from baboons to snakes to large felines and travel to many schools and public events educating and entertaining children and adults on the natural history of wild animals.

Chuck Dunkerly is a Producer and Director for the National Park Service at the Harpers Ferry Center. He has delivered scores of award winning films for National Parks, on topics as diverse as on the Olympic National Park, Homesteading, Voting Rights and Leave No Trace. Currently Chuck is developing films for the USS Arizona Memorial, Lake Mead, and Zion National Park.

McCarthy’s pioneering work utilized historic photos and contemporary excursions to chronicle the significant changes occurring over the last hundred years in arctic landscapes. Forrest McCarthy has been a wilderness advocate and backcountry skier for more than 20 years. As Public Lands Director for the Winter Wildlands Alliance he couples his zest for backcountry skiing with his passion for conservation.