Land Ethic

Dylan Bagnasco

The Land Ethic Podcast features people who have dedicated their lives to conservation and stewardship of the natural world. Hosted by Dylan Bagnasco.

  1. #40 Jaden Bales

    21.03.2023

    #40 Jaden Bales

    Jaden Bales is a sportsman and western hunting tag expert from Wyoming. He’s written for outdoor media websites like Rokslide and Modern Huntsman, and has appeared regularly on podcasts such as Eastman’s Elevated and the Rich Outdoors. When he’s not hunting or talking about hunting, he’s advocating for wildlife as the communications director for Wyoming Wildlife Federation, an organization that provides leadership in conservation for Wyoming’s wildlife, hunters, and anglers through policy, education, advocacy, and habitat projects. We did a deep dive into western hunting, from some of Jaden’s personal stories, to how he helps people find good opportunities through his new venture, Hunt West. A few days after this recording, I hired Jaden for a consultation. He put a lot of effort into producing a custom package for me to help me achieve some of my hunting goals and understand where and how I need to be applying for tags. Well worth it for anyone from new hunters trying to understand the system to experienced sportsmen looking for some new opportunities or places to hunt. One aspect of this podcast is that it gives me an avenue to connect with people that I admire and can learn something from. I found Jaden’s early hunting stories to be very relatable to my own experiences so far, and he’s been able to advance as an outdoorsman to the point where he’s having consistent success and some amazing adventures, so it was nice to pick his brain a bit, and I hope you enjoy the conversation. Even if you aren’t into hunting, this is about growth and love for the outdoors. You can learn more at Huntwest.net, follow Jaden on Instagram at @HuntsWest, and see what the awesome team at Wyoming Wildlife Federation is doing by visiting Wyomingwildlife.org.

    1 Std. 7 Min.
  2. #38 Steph Williams

    02.12.2022

    #38 Steph Williams

    Stephanie Williams (her friends call her Steph) is a mountain guide, field biologist, and co-founder of the Cascades Wolverine Project. She has over a decade of experience in field science, and two decades in the outdoor industry. She first worked as a guide in 2003 on the glaciers of Alaska’s Wrangell Mountains. Since then, she has skied and guided in alpine wildlands of India, Iceland, Switzerland, New Zealand, China, Chile, and across western North America. I contacted Steph after seeing her appearance in a short film called Finding Gulo - Gulo gulo being the scientific name for wolverines. Finding Gulo is about the Cascades Wolverine Project’s efforts to monitor and share images of the elusive creatures as they attempt to recover in parts of their historic range. The film shows the immense effort that goes into finding wolverines, and the people who are passionately trying to support them through field monitoring, storytelling, and backcountry community science. We talked about what drew Steph toward living and working in the mountains, and the formative experiences that led to her backcountry skiing career. We covered wolverine behavior and characteristics and, finally, the recent film. You can watch Finding Gulo online at CascadesWolverineProject.org. It’s really concise and beautiful, and you’ll get to see Steph in her element trying to track down these critters. If you’re new to the podcast, welcome and thanks for listening. All I ask is that you please take a moment to rate and review the show on iTunes or wherever you listen. It takes less than a minute, and it really means a lot to me.

    1 Std. 3 Min.
  3. #37 Kenyon Fields

    18.11.2022

    #37 Kenyon Fields

    Kenyon Fields is a conservationist and rancher from western Colorado. His background is in conservation biology and landscape scale conservation planning. He worked for many years in Alaska for the U.S. Forest Service and as executive director of Sitka Conservation Society, before serving as western strategic director of Wildlands Network. Kenyon was one of the founding members of Western Landowners Alliance, along with Mary Conover. Now husband and wife, Kenyon and Mary own and operate Mountain Island Ranch, a generational 32,000-acre cattle ranch along the Utah-Colorado border entirely under conservation easement, with another 100,000 acres of grazing allotments on public land. We talked about Kenyon’s own “Green Fire” moment, a reference to Aldo Leopold and the experience that led him toward the ideas we now celebrate. Kenyon’s was a transformative summer spent working in forestry in Southeast Alaska. We also delved into Mountain Island’ Ranch's current operations, their restoration projects, and their approach to public grazing allotments. I’d encourage you to visit KenyonFieldsPhoto.com for some context of the landscape we're discussing. He does a great job capturing the drastic seasonal change, the diverse wildlife, and the everyday ranching scenes out there, along with stunning landscapes across the world. And, of course, you’ve heard about Western Landowners Alliance by now in some of the recent episodes. I hope you’ll go to their website and peruse some of their content as well.

    50 Min.

Info

The Land Ethic Podcast features people who have dedicated their lives to conservation and stewardship of the natural world. Hosted by Dylan Bagnasco.