Designated in December 2024, the new Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary is America’s 17th national marine sanctuary, the sixth off the U.S. West Coast, and is one of the largest in the National Marine Sanctuary System. The success of the 20 year effort was due to tenacious leadership by numerous indigenous tribes, including a key leadership role taken by Violet Sage Walker, the tribal chair of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council.

The sanctuary encompasses 4,543 square miles of Central California’s beautiful coastal and ocean waters, providing protection to nationally significant natural, cultural, and historical resources while bringing new opportunities for research, community engagement, and education and outreach activities. The project is demonstrating a balanced effort to restore the extraordinary marine biodiversity--some of which has been lost only in the past 40 years or so---with benefits to people such as the local indigenous fishing industry that has witnessed precipitous declines in salmon populations in recent times.

Learn More :

Northern Chumash Tribal Council Site

Interviews/Talks with Violet Sage Walker:

Women Mind the Water

Offshore Wind California Summit

Article from Park Stewardship Forum

This episode was produced by Chrissie Bodznick with music by Trace Ketterling.

Learn more about The Answers Are Out There Podcast at www.theanswersareouttherepodcast.net or on instagram. You can also sign up to receive email updates here.
Email us at sean@theanswersareouttherepodcast.net

Frans and Sean talk further about the future of rewilding. Topics include what holistic rewidling will look like as the field matures, and also expanding rewilding efforts through engaging younger generations as effective leaders and changemakers in this exciting space.

This episode was produced by Chrissie Bodznick with music by Trace Ketterling.

Learn more about The Answers Are Out There Podcast at www.theanswersareouttherepodcast.net or on instagram. You can also sign up to receive email updates here.
Email us at sean@theanswersareouttherepodcast.net

Rewilding is a growing phenomenon around the world but getting a new project launched and keeping it going through the early phases can be exceedingly challenging. There is always seemingly too much to do and not enough resources to do it all. Frans Schepers, CEO of Rewilding Europe, talks about how he and his team assist rewilding entrepreneurs from all across Europe. They provide important tools and ongoing connection with others so that no rewilding project is ever alone and each one has the very best chances of success and longevity.

Learn More About Rewilding Europe:

Rewilding Europe's website

Frans's Interview with the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute

Article on Bison Herds in the Southern Carpathians

This episode was produced by Chrissie Bodznick with music by Trace Ketterling.

Learn more about The Answers Are Out There Podcast at www.theanswersareouttherepodcast.net or on instagram. You can also sign up to receive email updates here.
Email us at sean@theanswersareouttherepodcast.net

This episode was produced by Chrissie Bodznick with music by Trace Ketterling.

Learn more about The Answers Are Out There Podcast at www.theanswersareouttherepodcast.net or on instagram. You can also sign up to receive email updates here.
Email us at sean@theanswersareouttherepodcast.net

The Klamath River 4-Dam Removal project is the largest such effort going on anywhere in the world. For decades advocates for letting the river run free to benefit salmon and all other associated riverine biodiversity assumed the corporate and government entities that had built and managed the dams were too powerful and closed off to the idea of removal. But in recent years certain conditions changed and the stars somehow aligned— just long enough— for more open discussions of possibility to take place. Six indigenous tribes, agencies, politicians and corporate interests engaged in dialogues that led to a decision and a plan to bring the dams down. By the end of 2024, this portion of the mighty Klamath River will flow freely once more.

Learn More About the 4-Dam Removal Project:

NPR: No turning back: The largest dam removal in U.S. history begins

American Rivers: 6 Things You Need to Know About the Klamath River Dam Removals

Oregon Public Broadcasting: Researchers, tribes, residents prepare for a century of sediment released from the Klamath dams

This episode was produced by Chrissie Bodznick with music by Trace Ketterling.

Learn more about The Answers Are Out There Podcast at www.theanswersareouttherepodcast.net or on instagram. You can also sign up to receive email updates here.
Email us at sean@theanswersareouttherepodcast.net

In a reflective quest aimed to align her emerging interests with a vocation, Andreia Pawel tent-camped in the Southern Namibian Savana for three years. Then, one day she unexpectedly received the chance to start a new one-million acre wildlife reserve: The Orange River-Karoo Conservation Area. As CEO of this fast-moving project, she looks back on falling in love with a vast landscape and its wildlife inhabitants, and the rewards of watching a newly protected place begin to thrive once again.

Learn More About Andreia Powel and ORKCA:

ORCKA Website

Trailer Video

Conservation Namibia Article: Investigating a Little Known Biodiversity Hotspot

This episode was produced by Chrissie Bodznick with music by Trace Ketterling.

Learn more about The Answers Are Out There Podcast at www.theanswersareouttherepodcast.net or on instagram. You can also sign up to receive email updates here.
Email us at sean@theanswersareouttherepodcast.net

This episode picks up Sean's conversation with Shane Gero from last week. In addition to sperm whales, the two discuss new ways to teach and communicate science, using storytelling as a conservation tool, and how every single job can be done with purpose.


Learn More About Shane Gero and the Dominica Whale Project

TedEd Video on Whale Talk:
How Advanced is Whale Talk? with Shane Gero and David Gruber

Shane Gero: https://www.shanegero.com

The Sperm Whale Project: https://www.thespermwhaleproject.org

Talks by Shane:

*Bioneers: Preserving Animal Cultures: Lessons from Whale Wisdom

*TEDxOttawa: The Lost Culture of Whales

Articles:

*New York Times: Scientists Find an 'Alphabet' in Whale Songs

This episode was produced by Chrissie Bodznick with music by Trace Ketterling.

Learn more about The Answers Are Out There Podcast at www.theanswersareouttherepodcast.net or on instagram. You can also sign up to receive email updates here.
Email us at sean@theanswersareouttherepodcast.net

Shane Gero is a marine biologist and renowned expert in the acoustic complexity and social behaviors of marine mammals, such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. He is a Scientist-in-Residence at the Department of Biology at Carleton University in Canada. Importantly, he is also an activist and staunch advocate for providing meaningful sanctuary for these species in the world oceans.

His most recent work in the Caribbean Ocean, centered around Dominica, included thousands of hours of field work and has played a role in finally establishing what will soon be the largest marine sanctuary ever created in the Caribbean and the world's first ever large protected area for Sperm Whales.

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Learn More About Shane Gero and the Dominica Whale Project

* Watch this TEDEd Video first!
How Advanced is Whale Talk? with Shane Gero and David Gruber

Shane Gero: https://www.shanegero.com

The Sperm Whale Project: https://www.thespermwhaleproject.org

Talks by Shane:

*Bioneers: Preserving Animal Cultures: Lessons from Whale Wisdom

*TEDxOttawa: The Lost Culture of Whales

Articles:

*New York Times: Scientists Find an 'Alphabet' in Whale Songs

This episode was produced by Chrissie Bodznick with music by Trace Ketterling.

Learn more about The Answers Are Out There Podcast at www.theanswersareouttherepodcast.net or on instagram. You can also sign up to receive email updates here.
Email us at sean@theanswersareouttherepodcast.net