Ashley Ahearn
Audio-obsessed science/environment journalist figuring life out in rural WA. New #podcast: Women’s Work: www.npr.org/podcasts/1071044252/women-s-work
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Articles by Ashley Ahearn
Local volunteers are education’s unsung heroes
They fill critical role in students’ development When Methow Valley Elementary School (MVE) faculty and staff waved the final student out of the building on the last day of school, they also said a temporary farewell to some of the people who play critical roles in enhancing the school experience for students and staff alike: the volunteers.
BirdNote®: The Crows' Night Roost
Air Date: Week of Crows are social creatures that can gather by the thousands in night roosts. BirdNote®’s Ashley Ahearn reports that these gatherings may provide benefits like warmth, protection from predators, and a chance to find a mate. Transcript O’NEILL: Crows are among the smartest animals around, with the ability to use tools and solve problems. And this all-natural intelligence may have evolved in part to help them thrive in complex social structures.
My Turn - A community comes together to support a friend
It was a hot spring day in early June when the pickup trucks pulled up, one by one, and people began unloading tools. A folding table was set out with assembly instructions, below it, a box of bottled water was tucked away in the shade. Dogs roamed around as neighbors talked over the plan and then got to work. They were assembling a metal barn for a friend, but the friend was not there.
Wild horses in the west: A look at America's mustang problem
Wild horses in the west: A look at America's mustang problem The carcass of a mule deer that likely starved last winter. Biologists warn that rising wild horse populations are wiping out the winter forage mule deer depend on for survival through the long, harsh Nevada winters. (Courtesy of Ashley Ahearn) The American West has a mustang problem There are tens of thousands of wild horses in the western U.S. The federal government rounds thousands of them from public lands each year.
Episode 3: Streamers
As 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. Caleb McAdoo is a biologist with Nevada Fish and Game. He's lived in sagebrush country his whole life — he loves this landscape — and now, he's watching it disappear before his eyes. What can we learn from wildfire? A transcript of this episode is available.
The rancher’s life: branding cows, bringing community together
If you’ve been out driving along Twisp-Winthrop Eastside Road recently you may have heard the loud mooing of cows or seen folks on horseback escorting herds into various corrals for the annual ritual of spring branding. It’s a special time of year, and a special part of this valley, that I have come to cherish. Before cows can be turned out to graze on the range, they must be branded and have their ears tagged. The males are castrated. The females are pregnancy-checked. They are vaccinated.
The complex world of wild horses in the West
The complex world of wild horses in the West The carcass of a mule deer that likely starved last winter. Biologists warn that rising wild horse populations are wiping out the winter forage mule deer depend on for survival through the long, harsh Nevada winters. (Courtesy of Ashley Ahearn) The American West has a mustang problem. There are tens of thousands of wild horses in the western U.S. The federal government rounds thousands of them from public lands each year.
8. The Sundance: From deep history, a way forward
Dr. Yvette Running Horse Collin is a Lakota scientist who studies the history of Native Americans and horses. Through her research, she is challenging the dominant narrative that horses went extinct on this continent in the last ice age and did not reappear until European explorers came to the New World. Ashley joins Dr. Running Horse Collin on her ancestral lands in the Black Hills of South Dakota during the time of the Sundance Ceremony.
7. Mustang: Mutt of the West
Mustangs do not come from a pure, traceable genetic line, unlike many domestic horses. Their genes are like those of our country: mixed and mingled, influenced by wave after wave of immigration. Mainstream science tells us the modern-day mustang is descended from horses brought over by the Conquistadors, who used them to subjugate the Indigenous peoples of Central America. Later on, horses belonging to the U.S. Cavalry, ranchers and settlers likely added to the wild horse genetic hodgepodge.
Managing and rehoming wild horses on tribal lands
Managing and rehoming wild horses on tribal lands Allison Burke walks along the shore of Lake Roosevelt on the Spokane Indian Reservation with Jack, an appaloosa mustang she rescued. (Ashley Ahearn) There are thousands of wild horses on Native American reservations in the U.S. As sovereign nations, tribal governments can choose how to manage those herds. On many reservations, tribal members can round up horses and do whatever they want with them, which can include sending them to slaughter.
6. Training horses, healing humans Original
Stefanie Skidmore runs Wild Horse Outreach and Advocacy, a nonprofit where she trains and rehomes troubled mustangs. She believes even the toughest mustangs can have productive, good lives in captivity, but we have to approach them with the same patience and empathy we strive to show our fellow humans. Stefanie is on the autism spectrum and says her unique brain gives her a special connection with wild horses who are learning to navigate the world of humans.
Troublesome wild horses share history with Nevada ranchers Original
If you’re a rancher and you want to graze your cows on public land, the government tells you when you can turn them out and when you have to bring them in. Wild horses, on the other hand, roam wherever they want and eat whatever they find, year-round. More than 80,000 wild horses roam the West. If you want to see them, Nevada should be your first stop. More than half of all the mustangs in this country live in Nevada, which also happens to be the driest state.
5. The Cowboy and the Mustang
For some ranchers, mustangs are seen as trash horses that litter the range, taking much-needed grass from cattle and destroying expensive fencing and water infrastructure. Ashley heads to Winnemucca, Nevada to talk to a fifth-generation rancher who runs his cows in wild horse country. But unlike many ranchers, Will DeLong doesn’t want the wild horses gone – they’re entwined with his family’s history – he just wants them better managed.
4. Native Mustang Management
Native American Nations across the West have long revered the horse as a cultural symbol as well as a weapon of resistance to conquest by European settlers. Today, thousands of wild horses live on Reservations and are managed by Tribal Nations. Ashley travels to the Spokane Reservation in Washington to meet a woman who is finding a new path for the horses rounded up there.
3. “Cruel and Unnecessary”
The BLM often uses helicopters to round up wild horses and get them off the open range. The images and videos are hard to watch: groups of horses racing through the sagebrush trying to escape, foals separated from their mothers. Some get caught in barbed wire or are injured and have to be euthanized. Activist groups say the roundups are cruel and should be stopped.
The Mustang/The Myth
For $125 the federal government will sell you a wild horse. So, that’s what Ashley Ahearn did – she bought a mustang from Oregon. What could go wrong? Wild horses have long roamed the open stretches of the American West and the American imagination. They are a powerful symbol that have made their mark on everything from Hollywood to the automotive industry.
BirdNote®: Pigeons Love Cities - But We Loved Them First
Living on Earth wants to hear from you! Living on Earth 62 Calef Highway, Suite 212 Lee, NH 03861 Telephone: 617-287-4121 E-mail: comments@loe.org Newsletter [Click here] Donate to Living on Earth! Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice. NewsletterLiving on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox.
Ranching for the birds as development in the West threatens wildlife habitats
Ranching for the birds as development in the West threatens wildlife habitats July 22, 2022 Ashley Ahearn, Boise State Public Radio A real life pig pile at the Kiowa Creek Ranch. The ranch is owned by the Audubon Society, which requires certain livestock management practices to support a healthy bird population as part of Audubon's Conservation Ranching Program. (Ashley Ahearn) Development is quickly overtaking open space in the West and devastating wildlife habitats.
Ranching for the birds as development in the West threatens wildlife habitats
Open space in the West is at a premium, as development continues at breakneck speeds. One of the casualties is wildlife habitats. But a conservation project is partnering with ranchers to protect birds and promote sustainable agriculture. Boise State Public Radio's Ashley Ahearn reports. This story is part of a podcast series called Women's Work from Boise State Public Radio. Adrienne Larrew, co-owner of Corner Post Meats outside of Colorado Springs, raises pasture pork and grass-fed beef.
One rancher created the meat company she wished she could have sold to
Sign up for the daily Marketplace newsletter to make sense of the most important business and economic news. Email address * While the price of beef at the grocery store has gone up, ranchers aren’t necessarily seeing a cut of those profits. Four major companies control about 85% of the meatpacking industry in the U.S. Most ranchers raise cows on their land for less than a year. Then, they’re sold into the feedlot system where they’re fed grain to fatten them up for slaughter.
This rancher believes her land was stolen from Native Americans. She’s making amends
The following story comes from Women’s Work, a new podcast from environment reporter Ashley Ahearn that explores how women ranchers across the West are changing how we raise meat. Listen to Women’s Work wherever you get your podcasts. Beth Robinette doesn’t care what the good ’ol boys at the local coffee shop say about her. “In cowboy boots, I'm 6 feet tall, and I'm covered in tattoos,” she says. “I got hairy armpits. And my husband crossdresses as a lady on the weekends.
Riding Shotgun - Transom
Intro from Transom: Ashley Ahearn was an environment reporter for KUOW in Seattle when she realized there was more to the job than she could grasp, living in the city. Now, she’s telling stories about women ranchers across the west in her new series, and learning how to listen to rural voices…sometimes while recording on horseback. It’s morning in camp and the Elzinga sisters are saddling up their horses and getting ready for another long day on horseback.
Storytelling critical for ranching industry, journalist says
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BirdNote Presents
Heid E. Erdrich Ojibwe writer Heid E. Erdrich is the author of seven collections of poetry. In our closing episode of poetry month, hear her poems about Northern Flickers, a Wild Turkey, and a Red-eyed Vireo. Listen Now Poetry Month - Timothy Steele Timothy Steele is an American poet who has received numerous awards and honors for his poetry. Steele is known for his love of rhyme, meter, and traditional forms of poetry. He loves birds, and has had a number of poems inspired by encounters with them.
Three Ranchers Battle Fire And Drought
September 06, 2021 This summer has seen record-breaking temperatures and relentless heatwaves across the west. Wildfires have burned hundreds of thousands of acres. The drought has forced the shutoff of irrigation water in a number of western states. The combo has ranchers struggling to keep their animals safe. Ashley Ahearn reports from north-central Washington State. Editor's note: This segment originally aired on Aug. 20, 2021. Find that audio here. This segment aired on September 6, 2021.
When A Drought Boils Over : The Indicator from Planet Money
The climate crisis is taking a real toll on the West, and ranchers are finding they're caught not just between crippling drought and raging wildfires, but also political protests and threats of violence. Today we meet some of those trying to fight for survival and restoration. We dig into some of the history that got us to this moment, and find that even in the midst of overwhelming odds, the people at the center of this struggle for survival aren't giving up yet. Music by Drop Electric.
Three Ranchers Fight Against Fire And Drought
August 20, 2021 This summer has seen record-breaking temperatures and relentless heatwaves across the west. Wildfires have burned hundreds of thousands of acres; the drought has forced the shutoff of irrigation water in a number of western states. As Ashley Ahearn reports from north-central Washington State, the combo has ranchers struggling to keep their animals safe. A rancher and her horse. (Photo by Ashley Ahearn) This segment airs on August 20, 2021. Audio will be available after the broadcast.
BirdNote®: The Oilbird’s Lightless Life
Air Date: Week of January 8, 2021 stream/download this segment as an MP3 file Oilbirds have excellent night vision, due to having the highest density of rods of any known vertebrate. (Photo: Roger Alham) Oilbirds live their whole lives in darkness, emerging from the South American caves where they live only at night. BirdNote®’s Ashley Ahearn shares how oilbirds use echolocation and night vision to forage, and how the bird got its unique name.
Grouse After Fire
BirdNote® Grouse After Fire Written by Ashley Ahearn This is BirdNote. I’d been working on a story about the Greater Sage-Grouse for over a year when wildfires broke out across the West. In Washington State, the Cold Springs and Pearl Hill Fires burned several hundred thousand acres in sage-grouse country. So I met up with biologist Michael Schroeder to see how things looked. He’s been studying the birds here for decades. He took me to the Mary Jane Hill lek, or mating site.
'Grouse' Podcast Host Ashley Ahearn Talks About The Sage Bird Behind The Mic
If you want to protect a species, understanding and protecting their habitat is essential. In Idaho, one of the creatures at risk of extinction is the sage grouse, named after the landscape they rely on for food and shelter. The science that’s conducted in the sage brush sea can inform the policy decisions by land managers at the Interior Department, and can protect hundreds of other species at the same time.
Episode 8: If Not Hope, Then Courage
In 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. We’re all looking for hope right now, but what we really need is the courage to keep fighting, loving and dancing, as the sage-grouse have shown us.
Episode 7: The Death Of Compromise?
In 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. It was a grand compromise that protected key sage-grouse habitat while allowing for continued access to sagebrush country for a diverse set of stakeholders — from ranchers to oil and gas to recreational users. There were pats on the back and photo ops with folks in cowboy hats next to folks in Patagonia.
Call of the Sage-Grouse
In the Red Desert of Wyoming, Erik Molvar takes us up close and personal with a Greater Sage-Grouse mating site, known as a lek. “Anybody who’s ever been to a singles bar will recognize this scene,” Erik says.
Episode 6: “Oil and Gas”
Western 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. Ashley Ahearn heads to oil and gas country to visit a lek with Matt Holloran, who did his PhD on sage-grouse and how natural gas drilling affects them. She also interviews Paul Ulrich, VP of Jonah Energy, who says there’s “more work to be done” and it will involve bringing people together to look for shared solutions to keep sage-grouse around.
An Annual Trek to a Lek
BirdNote® An Annual Trek to a Lek Written by Ashley Ahearn Ashley Ahearn: This is BirdNote. Matt Holloran has been studying sage-grouse for more than 20 years — and trying to assess how oil and gas extraction affects the birds. We visit his favorite lek, or mating site, not far from Pinedale, Wyoming. [Truck stops, door opens, footsteps in the quiet.] AA: HA! I hear them Matt. Matt: You can hear them. AA: The bubbling. Matt: Yeah. See the, kind of where there’s that clearing on the side of the hill.
Episode 5: The Story Of The Grieving Lady And The Sage Hen
The 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. Wilson shares a story from the Wasco Nation about a grieving woman who finds solace among the sage hens.
Wewa and the Grouse
BirdNote® Wewa and the Grouse Written by Ashley Ahearn Ashley Ahearn: This is BirdNote. Sage-grouse populations are declining across the West. The birds are known for their ornate displays at mating sites — or "leks," as they’re called. Wilson Wewa, an elder of the Northern Paiute tribe of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, remembers the first time he saw a sage-grouse lek: Wilson Wewa: My grandpa and I went to get some water from the spring.
Episode 4: "All I Want To Do Is Protect This Dirt"
There 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. Can we have beef and sage grouse? We meet scientists trying to answer this question — and a rancher in Idaho who grazes his cows in sage grouse country, and is finding ways to make it work.
Episode 3: Streamers
A 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.
Streamers on Apple Podcasts
18 min As the climate warms and invasive cheatgrass moves in, thousands of acres of sagebursh are burning across the West each year. And sage grouse are feeling the heat too, as the ecosystem shift destroys their habitat. Caleb McAdoo is a biologist with Nevada Fish and Game. He's lived in sagebrush country his whole life — he loves this landscape — and now, he's watching it disappear before his eyes. What can we learn from wildfire? 18 min Top Podcasts In Pets & Animals See All
Hornaday's Bird | BirdNote
There used to be millions of Greater Sage-Grouse across the West, but the birds’ numbers have been in decline since settlers arrived from the East. Today, scientists and environmentalists are sounding the alarm about the shrinking population, but they aren’t the first to do so. In 1916, William T. Hornaday wrote a bulletin titled “Save the sage-grouse from extinction: a demand from civilization to the western states.” BirdNote® Hornaday’s Bird Written by Ashley Ahearn This is BirdNote.
Fires turn sage brush habitat in Washington into a scorched ‘oblivion’
Wildfires in Washington state have burned hundreds of thousands of acres, including an important mating habitat for sage grouse. More than half of the fewer than 1,000 birds in the state may have been lost in the fires, according to leading grouse expert Michael Schroeder. Prospects for the species’ recovery here look grim, given that what little habitat they had was surrounded by fields and towns, leaving them no room for refuge.
Grouse
Episode 6: “Oil and Gas” By Ashley Ahearn • 5 minutes ago Western 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. Ashley Ahearn heads to oil and gas country to visit a lek with Matt Holloran, who did his PhD on sage-grouse and how natural gas drilling affects them.
You probably have eco anxiety. You just don’t know it | terrestrial
When I first heard the term eco-anxiety — a chronic fear of environmental doom — I brushed it off. It seemed like something for people who sit on yoga mats and worry about how the world is going to end because we’re not recycling enough. But it turns out there’s more to the relationship between our brains and the environment. This is the first episode of terrestrial, KUOW’s new podcast exploring the choices we make in a world we have changed. Subscribe to the show. And join our Facebook group.
Episode 1: Stranger In A Strange Land
A 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.
Grouse Tracking | BirdNote
Biologist Michael Schroeder and journalist Ashley Ahearn scour the freshly fallen snow for the footprints of Greater Sage-Grouse in rural Washington State. With fewer than 1,000 of the birds left in the state, they are a rare sight. Learn more about the history of the most controversial bird in the West on Grouse, a series on BirdNote Presents. BirdNote® Grouse Tracking Written by Ashley Ahearn This is BirdNote. I’m Ashley Ahearn.
Cold Springs Fire Threatens Homes And Sage Grouse
September 11, 2020 Smoke from the Cold Springs Fire in Washington. (Ashley Ahearn) More than 300,000 acres have burned in Washington state since Labor Day, when high winds and temperatures created perfect conditions for fast, destructive fire. Ashley Ahearn headed to Bridgeport, Washington, where the Cold Springs Fire has burned more than 170,000 acres and is still threatening homes and wildlife. A home destroyed in the Cold Springs Fire in Washington.
Grouse: A Podcast Coming Sept. 15
Grouse 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. An eight-part podcast series produced in partnership with BirdNote Presents, Grouse is distributed in collaboration with Boise State Public Radio. The Greater Sage-Grouse has eclipsed the Spotted Owl as perhaps the most controversial North American bird in the 21st century.
What long-dead whalers can teach us about climate change
Feb 27, 2016 9:37 AM EDT SEATTLE – When the steamship Belvedere left San Francisco in the spring of 1897, its crew members couldn’t have known what a treacherous voyage awaited them. Their life-and-death experiences would all be captured in the ship’s log, which started out with this unassuming entry: “Steamer Belvedere departed SF March 9, 1897.
Coronavirus Seeps Into Remote Areas Of Washington State
April 22, 2020 Ashley Ahearn's horse, Pistol. (Courtesy) Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says he hopes health modeling in the coming days will allow the resumption of some activities such as elective surgeries and outdoor recreation. But Inslee says he won't be able to lift many of the stay-at-home restrictions by May 4, the day the current directive is set to expire. The Seattle area saw the nation's first large COVID-19 outbreak back in January.
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