Grouse
10 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 months ago - ★★★★★ - 115 ratingsGrouse is a show about the most controversial bird in the West and what it can teach us about hope, compromise and life in rural America.Hosted by Ashley Ahearn, Grouse is an eight-part podcast series produced in partnership with BirdNote Presents and distributed in collaboration with Boise State Public Radio.
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Episodes
My new podcast you might like
October 10, 2023 16:38 - 3 minutes - 1.45 MBHey Grouse listeners, Ashley here with a podcast recommendation for you – it's my newest series, Mustang, and it explores the complicated world of wild horses. Here's a sneak preview.
Episode 8: If Not Hope, Then Courage
October 27, 2020 12:31 - 26 minutes - 36.2 MBIn the final episode of Grouse, Ashley returns to a lek in Washington with biologist Michael Schroeder and finds it scorched by recent wildfire. Michael cries as he looks out over an area that was once home to one of the largest remaining pockets of sage-grouse in the state. But he says he’s not ready to retire yet — there’s more work to be done.
Episode 7: The Death Of Compromise?
October 20, 2020 12:09 - 22 minutes - 31 MBIn 2015 the Obama Administration hammered out a deal with leaders and land managers across the west that avoided listing the sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act.
New Podcast 'Grouse' Looks At Efforts To Save Iconic Bird Native To Idaho
October 15, 2020 19:54 - 23 minutes - 1.4 KBThe sage grouse represents some of the biggest controversies in the Mountain West. From armed standoffs on public land in Nevada and Oregon, to explosive growth, wildfires, wild horses, big oil and fracking, every issue is connected to the sage grouse. This strange prehistoric bird is a hot button political issue.
Episode 6: “Oil and Gas”
October 13, 2020 16:29 - 19 minutes - 26.7 MBWestern Wyoming is home to many sage-grouse mating and nesting sites. And, in recent years, it’s also become a hub of oil and gas extraction.
Episode 5: The Story Of The Grieving Lady And The Sage Hen
October 06, 2020 12:38 - 21 minutes - 29.1 MBThe sage-grouse plays a big role in the cultural history of several western American Indian Nations. Wilson Wewa, an elder of the Northern Paiute of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, still remembers the first time he saw a sage-grouse lek while gathering medicine with his grandfather.
Episode 4: "All I Want To Do Is Protect This Dirt"
September 29, 2020 12:56 - 22 minutes - 31.4 MBThere are a lot of people who say cows are one of the biggest problems in the West — and are making life a whole heck of a lot harder for sage grouse. But cows are also a symbol of a way of life that many in sagebrush country feel is under attack.
Episode 3: Streamers
September 22, 2020 12:13 - 18 minutes - 26 MBAs the climate warms and invasive cheatgrass moves in, thousands of acres of sagebrush are burning across the West each year. And sage grouse are feeling the heat too, as the ecosystem shift destroys their habitat.
Episode 2: In Search Of The Bird, Through Time
September 15, 2020 15:14 - 18 minutes - 25 MBJoin Ashley on a frigid trek through the snow in search of sage grouse with a scientist who has been studying the bird for decades. Michael Schroeder takes us on a journey through the frozen sagebrush and back in time to learn some scientific and cultural lore surrounding this bird. Will we find any birds today? Why are they in so much trouble? Should anyone care?
Episode 1: Stranger In A Strange Land
September 15, 2020 14:52 - 18 minutes - 24.8 MBA few years ago, Ashley Ahearn burned out on the urban rat race, quit her job at a top NPR member station in Seattle, and moved to 20 acres of big sky and sagebrush in rural Washington state to try to better understand this country, and do better journalism in the process. And, along the way, she got curious about a weird, troubled bird known as the Greater Sage-Grouse, that is native to the sagebrush ecosystem — and fits in a whole lot better there than she does. What the heck is a sage grou...