A founding member of Indigenous Women Outdoors and coach with ILSA, Sandy Ward is an avid snowboarder, mountain biker and climber from the Lil'wat nation working to carve out a path for more Indigenous folks to get into the outdoors in a safe, welcoming space, and to see their ancestral lands from new a perspective through sport. Her and I sat down to talk about her journey in the outdoor sports world as a coach, athlete and mentor, how mindsets have shifted towards these recreational acti...
Jan 29, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Chelsea Greer is the Wolf Conservation Program Director at Raincoast Conservation, and we sat down one Autumn morning in the woods to chat all about wolves! In this conversation, we delve into the concept of conservation ethics, different monitoring approaches, population dynamics, and their relationship with endangered mountain Caribou, as well as the history of wolves in Western Culture and how outdated misconceptions has lead to controversial Wolf culls throughout BC and beyond. The tak...
Nov 20, 2022•2 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Siginaak Court Larabee is an incredible human who also happens to be the director of the Indigenous Life Sport Academy, a non-profit which works to provide Indigenous youth access to outdoor sports as a means of healing, and to build culture and community. In this Podchat, I sat down with Court to chat all about the work he is doing as a leader within these communities, the recent growth they've had, his recent appearance on TV & in the Amazing Race Canada, and some intricacies surroun...
Oct 23, 2022•2 hr 39 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast The Oceans are an incredible feature of this planet that we all share, connecting not only coastal communities and ecosystems to one another, but all of the various inland ones that are impacted by and impact our oceans, from deserts in Africa to the temperate rainforests of Turtle Island. My first repeat guest, Julia Huggins is a biogeochemist, forest ecologist, PHD student and microbe expert who is currently working to collect data on microbes in our oceans, so we sat down on a rugged co...
Sep 19, 2022•2 hr 33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dr Rachel Holt is a forest ecologist based out of Nelson BC, and one of the authors of the infamous 'BC's Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity' Report that was published in 2020, which created a huge wake throughout Canada regarding forestry practices and our diminishing old growth forests. The report and work she did also contributed to the BC Government's Strategic Review of Old Growth Forests which helped outline our current state of affairs and the direction the province ne...
Sep 02, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Leslie Anthony is a good friend of mine from the ski industry with a wide variety of skillsets. Not only is he an outdoor travel and sports author, but a biologist who wrote a book called 'Aliens Among Us' a few years ago that's all about different invasive species, so I sat down with him alongside some train tracks to chat about it all! Here we talk about different types of invasive species, what makes them invasive in the first place, how great they are at adapting, how they get ar...
Aug 16, 2022•2 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Worthing is the Coastal Projects Lead for Sierra Club BC and is an incredibly well-spoken, intelligent, and inspirational guy doing some really important work for our forests, indigenous nations, and the world at large. He & I sat down to chat about the connections between forests and politics, and in this chat we cover quite a bit - Government / Industry ties that create forestry policy and the hype behind deferrals, the shortcomings of conservation groups in the past, what indig...
Jul 10, 2022•3 hr 46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Julia Huggins is a forest ecologist, microbiologist, National Geographic Naturalist, PHD student and huuuuge nerd who specializes in the tiny world that makes up the big world we all share - microbes! Her & I sat down amongst some Alders to chat about the role microbes play in our forests and the biogeochemical processes across the globe, and even got our hands dirty digging for microbial root nodules. From bacteria to lichen, you're gonna love this chat! Here's that TED talk fro...
Jun 14, 2022•2 hr 57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Diane Rudge is a natural textile artist & one of the co-founders of The Den, a small refillery on the coast of Vancouver Island that focuses increasing access to organic, natural and locally made products. Her and I sat down and chatted about the way that us humans use and consume products (often mindlessly) and all that she's doing to re-envision and re-educate folks on the way that we use household, cleaning, self-care, travel products & more in our day-to-day lives for a more su...
May 31, 2022•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tom Balfour is a fish ecologist and fish program manager at Redd Fish Restoration Society, working to restore habitat for Wild Salmon out on the coast of Vancouver Island. He & I sat down in a creek and weathered a few little rain showers to chat all about these amazing fish, from their history in these Cascadian waters to all the factors that impact their populations today, and finding positive action in such dire times. Learn more about Redd Fish Restoration Society at ht...
May 17, 2022•2 hr 50 min•Transcript available on Metacast I sat down with Jessica Hutchinson amongst some ancient Redcedars and Salal to chat about forests and how they've been affected by modern logging practices, how that then impacts Salmon and the broader ecosystems in which we live, and all the good work she is doing at Redd Fish Restoration Society to help fix these problems created by our past. Learn more about Redd Fish Restoration Society at https://www.reddfish.org Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support fr...
May 01, 2022•2 hr 43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Indra Hayre & I took a drizzly day to sit down and chat about diversity, equity & inclusion in the outdoor world, and all that she's learned through her experiences growing up as a brown girl in a world often dominated by white men. Learn more about Indra's project, Inclu-SKI-vity, at https://www.instagram.com/incluskivity Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you! If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, please don’t hesitat...
Apr 10, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Transcript available on Metacast I sat down with Myia Antone on the banks of the Squamish River to chat about Language, Land, and our ever-changing relationship to it as we, as a society of both settlers and Indigenous peoples, move forward together. Learn more about Myia's project, Indigenous Women Outdoors at https://www.indigenouswomenoutdoors.ca/ Learn more about the Snichim Foundation & support Squamish Language speakers at https://snichimfoundation.ca/
Apr 03, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hello there, fellow nature nerds! Welcome to the Nerdy About Nature Podcast! After tons of feedback from all of you, I've decided to step into this unknown realm of audio for a whole new medium that's sure to have it's fair share of ups and downs, but all in good fun, right?! Here's just a little introduction to my mindset for creating this series, as well some detail on the first few shows I have planned in a new series of 'podchats' where I sit down with various folks and talk abo...
Mar 29, 2022•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
