Ndow Presents The Nevada Wild Podcast

Game Warden Reserve Lieutenant James Kocijanski, our most recent NDOW Volunteer of the Month, will be retiring at the end of the year. Kocijanski, better known to most as “Kozz,” has been an essential member of the NDOW Law Enforcement Division for the last decade. As one of two Reserve Game Wardens in the state, Kozz has been instrumental in assisting with patrols, promoting the Operation Game Thief program, training fellow law enforcement officers in TECC (Tactical Emergency Casualty Care), and training civilians in the lifesaving Stop the Bleed course. In this week’s Nevada Wild, Aaron Keller and Ashley Sanchez sit down with Kozz as he looks back at his 10 years of service for NDOW. To get involved in NDOW’s Game Warden Reserve program, scroll down to the “Volunteer Game Warden section here: https://www.ndow.org/learn-discover/get-involved/ Learn more about Stop the Bleed trainings here: https://www.stopthebleed.org/

The Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Nevada State Parks, and their partners recently announced the launch of Nevada Trail Finder, a FREE web-based map featuring thousands of miles of outdoor recreation trails and waterways statewide, tools to keep track of your outdoor adventures, and much more! In this week’s Nevada Wild, NDOW’s Ashley Sanchez, Aaron Keller, and Bobby Jones sit down with one of the main forces behind the creation of Nevada Trail Finder, Janice Keillor with Nevada State Parks. Janice explains how the project started and walks us through the Nevada Trail Finder website. She also shows us why, no matter how you enjoy spending your time outdoors whether it’s biking, hiking, paddling, snowmobiling or more, you’ll want to put this tool to use! Check out Nevada Trail Finder here: https://www.nvtrailfinder.com/

In honor of Bat Week and Halloween, this week's Nevada Wild looks at some of the projects NDOW is working on to learn more about bats, extremely misunderstood, but important animals to the ecosystem! Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with NDOW Wildlife Diversity Biologists Mackenzie Jeffress and Michael West to talk about the different bat surveys they're working on. This includes a new effort for the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), an international interagency program designed to monitor bat distributions on public and private lands. NDOW’s effort with NABat includes acoustic work involving specialized detectors that record bat calls to help us determine which bat species live in which parts of the state. On top of explaining their work, Mackenzie and Michael also share some of their favorite bat facts!

Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller, hosts of The Nevada Wild Podcast teamed up with Tim Akimoff and Beth Quillian, hosts of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Beaver State Podcast at the 6th International Human-Bear Conflicts Workshop in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada. We take you on a journey around North America to look at solutions to human-caused problems for bears in places like Arviat in Nunavut where the mayor, Joe Savikataaq Jr., talks about efforts to reduce polar bear conflicts by redirecting bears away from town as they wait for sea ice to form each year. We also talked to Chris Servheen, retired USFW national grizzly bear recovery coordinator, about how work to reduce conflicts between humans and bears is going and finally to Mexico with Dr. Diana Doan-Crider, Executive Director at Animo Partnership in Natural Resources, who talked about incorporating indigenous knowledge into black bear management in northern Mexico.

Upland game hunters have a lot to look forward to! Tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 15, statewide chukar and quail seasons open! In this week's Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with NDOW's Upland Game Staff Specialist Shawn Espinosa, who breaks down the 2022 Chukar Forecast, explains the best locations for hopeful hunters, and gives us an update on other upland game species. Buy your license at ndowlicensing.com so you can join in on the fun. Make it a combination license so you can do some fall fishing while you're on your hunt!

In this week's Nevada Wild, we introduce you to NDOW's new Western Nevada Fisheries Biologist Sam Sedillo. Sam fills Nevada Wild hosts, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller, in on his background and passion for fish! He tells us about the projects he's been working on since beginning his position at NDOW in March. He also highlights a major project near Wall Canyon Reservoir to protect a unique Nevada species called the Wall Canyon Sucker, which is only found in the Wall Canyon watershed.

In celebration of Elk Week, we're featuring special guest, Randy Newberg! At his core Randy is a hunter, an advocate for public land, and uses a variety of platforms to advocate for hunters and public land access! Some of his platforms include Fresh Tracks (TV/YouTube), Hunt Talk Radio (Podcast), RandyNewberg.com (Website), and Hunt Talk (Web Forum). In short, Randy is a leading voice for public land hunters across the nation! In this week's Nevada Wild, he joins hosts Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller, and NDOW Big Game Biologist Cody McKee on Zoom from a Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation event in Park City, Utah. He explains his deep connection to Nevada, why it is so important for him to connect people to conservation and our landscapes through hunting, and shares some elk hunting experiences he's had in the Nevada! Learn more about Randy Newberg, his shows, and podcast here: https://randynewberg.com/

Tomorrow, Saturday 24, is National Public Lands Day (NPLD), a celebration that brings out thousands of volunteers to help restore and improve public lands around the country. In this week’s Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with Bureau of Land Management Archaeologist Alicia Jensen, who fills us in on an NPLD cleanup volunteer opportunity at the Fernley Swales. This site a mile north of Fernley, is the only place where emigrant wagons and oxen left deep sand swales as they traversed the California Trail. Alicia fills us in on the history of the site, the cleanup event, other NPLD events, and how critical these events are in protecting Historic Preservation sites, like the Fernley Swales. Find information on the Fernley Swales Cleanup here: https://www.neefusa.org/npld/fernley-swales/fernley-swales-cleanup Find a map of all NPLD events here: https://www.neefusa.org/npld-event-search

In this week's Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with Nevada Department of Wildlife Veterinarian Nate LaHue to talk about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a transmissible neurological disease that is always fatal to animals in the deer family. Currently, CWD is found in 34 states and provinces but not in Nevada. Nate explains the state's efforts to prevent the disease from entering Nevada, and explains what hunters can do to help. Find more information and a list of the check stations mentioned in this podcast here: https://www.ndow.org/blog/chronic-wasting-disease/

With dove season opening yesterday, we thought it was the perfect time to sit down with NDOW Migratory Game Bird Staff Biologist Russell Woolstenhulme to get an update on populations and tips to be more successful. In this week’s Nevada Wild, we cover everything you need to know if you’re interested in hunting dove. We switch gears and talk about banding projects, including the state's first ever band-tailed pigeon banding project and annual duck banding efforts, which help agencies across the nation track migratory birds. We also discuss what hunters should know about the avian influenza outbreak that has been detected across the nation since December 2021 in multiple wild bird species.

In this week’s Nevada Wild, we sit down with Miranda Crowell. As part of her PhD work for University of Nevada Reno, Miranda has been working on a collaborative project for over five years to learn more about pygmy rabbit populations in Nevada and how they are changing over time. She explains how she got involved in working with pygmy rabbits, the work she's doing for her study, and why it’s so important to learn about this species! See the posts/photos we refer to in the podcast here: https://www.facebook.com/NvDOW/posts/pfbid037XrP3gWQNhfdTcX7VD46k3vopFG8UjxY9WdSmeE6CMGRmzTo3Mq6N4KfqMCmokn2l

NDOW's Conservation Education Division has a wide variety of educational programming free for classrooms, homeschoolers, after-school programs, and really anyone interested in learning more about Nevada's wildlife. In this week's Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with NDOW Statewide Wildlife Education Coordinator Julie Bless to talk about a variety of education programs available to teachers, students, and the public. She covers award winning classroom programs, like Nevada Kockout and Know Your Nevada, brand new programs available to teachers, and take home educational kits available to anyone for free! If you interested in NDOW's Wildlife Education programs, learn more here: https://www.ndow.org/learn-discover/outdoor-education/ If you want to receive our educator newsletter email Julie Bless at jbless@ndow.org.

In this week’s Nevada Wild, Aaron Keller and Ashley Sanchez sit down with NDOW Biologist Heather Reich to talk about bears! Heather corrects some common misconceptions surrounding Nevada’s black bear populations and explains some steps to take as bears get more active due to hyperphagia, the phase they go through to build up calories before spending the winter in their dens. She also tells us why these tips apply to anyone in Nevada, not just those who live or spend time in northern Nevada. Find more resources on living with bears and other wildlife here: https://www.ndow.org/learn-discover/wildlife-discovery/living-with-wildlife/

Take your best guess! How much money do you think big game and upland game hunters spend on hunting in Nevada per year? In this week’s Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez, Aaron Keller, and Bobby Jones dive into the dollars and cents details of hunting in Nevada with UNR Research Scientist Alec Bowman. Alec lets us know just how much Nevada hunters support our state’s economy using an in-depth report he worked on detailing Nevada hunting expenditures. View the report: https://www.ndow.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Nevada-Hunter-Expenditures-Summary-Report.pdf

Have you ever been interested in learning how to shoot a bow or rifle? NDOW offers learn-to shoot classes throughout the state to teach safe and responsible shooting practices to youth and adults. In this week's Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with NDOW’s new Statewide Recreational Shooting Coordinator, Adam Kavanagh to talk about the shooting programs NDOW offers. Adam also explains his hopes of getting the National Archery in the Schools Program into more local schools to expand the opportunity to more kids. Find a shooting range near you or sign up for an NDOW class at ndow.org.

As animals get more active in the late spring and early summer, NDOW sees an increase in phone calls from community members asking questions about wildlife they come across in their neighborhoods, whether they've found an injured animal or they have an unexpected visitor in their yard. Those are the calls that keep our Urban Wildlife Coordinators busy. In this week's Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with NDOW’s new Urban Wildlife Coordinator Raquel Martinez and former Urban Wildlife Coordinator, now Wildlife Educator, Jess Wolff. They explain the urban wildlife and wildlife education positions, list the common calls NDOW receives this time of year, and explain the best steps to take if you come across wildlife in your neighborhood. You can also find species-specific information on living with wildlife here: https://www.ndow.org/species-information/

In this week’s Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with NDOW Wildlife Diversity Biologist Mackenzie Jeffress to talk about North America’s cutest mammal, the pika, and the new Nevada Pika Atlas. The atlas is a compilation of information from researchers across the west shows where pika can be found across the state! Mackenzie explains why this is important in helping us learn more about pika and protect the species. She also explains how she found her love of researching pika and how she hopes the Pika Atlas is used moving forward. Learn more about these tiny, mountain dwelling animals and where you can spot one and view the Nevada Pika Atlas here: https://www.ndow.org/species/pika/

In this week’s Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with Wildlife Education Coordinator Julie Bless and Conservation Education Division Administrator Chris Vasey to talk about the Nevada Department of Wildlife's "Conserve Wildlife" license plate, which is available at any Nevada Department of Motor Vehicle office. They explain how proceeds from the sale of this license plate featuring a mule deer, sage-grouse, and cutthroat trout against a classic Nevada landscape, benefits different NDOW education and volunteer programs. To Learn more about ordering a "Conserve Wildlife" license plate, check out the Charitable & Collegiate Plates section of the Nevada DMV website: https://dmv.nv.gov/platescharitable.htm

Nevada's Free Fishing Day is tomorrow, Saturday, June 11. This is the one day of the year you can fish any public water in the state without a fishing license. If you have never been fishing, Free Fishing Day is the day to get out and try it! In this week's Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with NDOW Angler Educators Jan Nemec, Julie Gabrielson, and Abbey Czarnecki to talk about all of the fun Free Fishing Day events happening across the state, the annual Free Fishing Day Poster Contest, fishing conditions, and what to do next if you get hooked on fishing! Find a Free Fishing Day event near you here: https://www.ndow.org/blog/nevada-free-fishing-day/ Find fishing reports, stocking updates, the FishNV tool, and more resources here: https://www.ndow.org/get-outside/fishing/fishing-stocking-reports/

Boating season is here! We encourage you to prepare before you head out on the water, so you can be sure to have a safe and fun boating experience with your friends and family. In this week's Nevada Wild, Ashley Sanchez and Aaron Keller sit down with NDOW's Statewide Boating Education Coordinator Aaron Meier to talk about the steps to take to prepare your boat and stay safe while boating or paddling, and they highlight some of the great waters to explore! Find boating education courses on ndow.org here: https://www.ndow.org/learn-discover/outdoor-education/ Now is also a good time to make sure your boat registration is up-to-date. Register your vessels today at ndowlicensing.com.