The WildeBeat

Wed, Jul 26, 2006

Where's the July 27th show?

Posted at 22:45

/blog/news [link ]

Our edition number 51 for July 27th will be late. We normally post our show at 9:00 AM (Pacific time) on Thursday mornings, but we're not going to make that deadline. We expect to have the show up by mid-day on Friday, July 28th.

This has been a rough week in San Jose, California. We've had ten straight days of record heat, and six consecutive days over 100°F. That alone we could have managed, but then three and a half days without electricity has put us more than a day behind on our production schedule, as well as plenty of other work. Our power was restored last night, but now there's a lot of catching-up to do.

We apologize for missing our normal release time, and we thank all of our loyal listeners for their understanding.

Sat, Jul 15, 2006

Announcing: Fixing Your Feet, 4th edition

Posted at 14:25

/blog/skills [link ]

John Vonhoff, who we interviewed for Getting Fit Feet (our editions #40 and #41), wrote to announce the newest edition of his book:

…The 4th edition of Fixing Your Feet is available. The publisher got them this week. I put up a new website, www.fixingyourfeet.com and will be adding more articles in the months ahead.

Fri, Mar 31, 2006

Science News article about the Wilderness at Night

Posted at 12:15

/blog/wild_places [link ]

The March 18th issue of Science News Magazine included a story titled Night Light. This article includes interviews with Chad Moore of the National Park Service's Night Sky Team, and Dr. Travis Longcore of USC and the Urban Wildlands Group. The article also includes pictures taken by Chad Moore of the distant sky glow from cities, as seen from some of our most remote national parks.

We interviewed Chad Moore and Dr. Travis Longcore last September for two of our earlier editions:

• The Wilderness at Night, part 1 (program number 13)
• The Wilderness at Night, part 2 (program number 14)

We also posted our complete interview [MP3 format; length 31:14; 3,749,849 bytes] with Dr. Longcore, discussing the contents of his book The Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting.

Sat, Mar 11, 2006

Experiences with Dogs in the Wilderness?

Posted at 12:45

/blog/wild_places [link ]

For a future story we're working on, we'd like to hear about your experiences with dogs in the wilderness:

• Do you take your dog camping with you? How about a trip report?
• Have you had a particularly positive or negative experience doing so?
• Have you had a significant experience with someone else's dogs on your wilderness trips?
• Do you agree or disagree with park and forest policies regarding dogs?

If you have an experience to share, please call our comment line at 866-590-7373.

Sun, Dec 25, 2005

We want to hear from you...

Posted at 16:30

/blog/news [link ]

When we first conceived The WildeBeat, we wanted a big part of it to be listener participation. Thanks to those of you who sent us some good ideas. But we really want to encourage a lot more.

As an experiment, we'd like to launch a second podcast feed. This second feed, as yet unnamed, will consist almost exclusively of listener-contributions of news and ideas that you leave on our comment line, or e-mail to us as audio or text files. (Please see our contribute page for help on commenting by e-mail.) Shows based on these contributions will be published irregularly, whenever we collect at least a couple of minutes of usable content, or whenever that content contains important breaking news.

We need to hear from you!

Contribution ideas:

1. Tell us about your favorite, under-appreciated, wilderness or backcountry area.
2. Solicit volunteers for an organization that helps people discover wilderness recreation.
3. Announce an outing or other activity your club or group is sponsoring.
4. Tell us about a special outdoors skill you have or wish to develop.
5. Provide news about conditions or issues relating to one of your local backcountry or wilderness areas.
6. Add to, comment on, or correct anything you hear on our shows.

We're interested in any comments you'd like to make about the WildeBeat, or about wilderness areas or activities. When we have enough listener-contributed material, we'll announce the new feed.

Fri, Nov 25, 2005

Marijuana Plantation Pictures

Posted at 13:00

/blog/outings [link ]

In program 19 we reported on the clean-up of a former marijuana plantation in Big Basin State Park. The organization who provided the labor for that clean-up have posted some pictures:

• Marijuana Garden Pictures: Big Basin State Park

Fri, Nov 18, 2005

More about Drug Cultivation in National Parks

Posted at 17:50

/blog/news [link ]

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) published a press release titled, Congress Examines Drug Trafficking in National Parks. Here's an excerpt:

Illegal marijuana cultivation within Sequoia National Park, for instance… has had serious consequences on the safety of park staff and visitors, the experiences of visitors, and the park’s already-tight budget,” NPCA Central Valley Program Manager Laura Whitehouse testified before the Parks Subcommittee of the House Resources Committee. “The parks are in desperate need of increased backcountry patrols, and helicopter time to patrol and conduct surveillance of these hard-to-find growing areas. Without further investigation of marijuana activities within the parks, park resources—as well as visitors and park rangers—are in danger.”

It's interesting that the NPCA testified before congress on this issue on the same day we issued our edition on the subject.

Thu, Nov 03, 2005

Lightweight Backpacking Reading List

Posted at 17:48

/blog/letters [link ]

Ryan Jordan, who I interviewed for this week's show, wrote to remind me that he edited and published a more advanced book on lightweight backpacking techniques than any I mentioned in the show notes. Ryan's book is titled LIGHTWEIGHT BACKPACKING AND CAMPING: A Field Guide to Wilderness Hiking Equipment, Technique, and Style

If you want to read all of the books mentioned in this post and this week's show, I recommend doing it in this order:

1. Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backpackin' Book, by Allen O'Bannon
2. Lighten Up! by Don Ladigin
3. Beyond Backpacking, by Ray Jardine
4. Lightweight Backpacking and Camping, edited by Ryan Jordan

Mon, Oct 24, 2005

NEW! Our listener Comment Line

Posted at 14:00

/blog/news [link ]

You can now give us news tips and reports, or tell us what you think about the show, on our new toll-free listener comment line:

866-590-7373

To find out how to leave a message that we're most likely to play on the show, visit our Contribute page.

Tue, Oct 04, 2005

The WildeBeat Reviewed by Vox Monitor

Posted at 19:28

/blog/recognition [link ]

The WildeBeat was the subject of Episode 56 of Vox Monitor, a podcast review podcast. [Warning: Contains adult language]

Eric and Cohry, the hosts, have some fun at our expense. They say that the show is not their cup of tea (or pack of smokes?). But in spite of whatever they're smoking, they generally praised the show overall.

Tue, Sep 20, 2005

Correction to Trail Crew show #10

Posted at 13:36

/blog/letters [link ]

Ken Murray, the Public Information and Education Director for the High Sierra Volunteer Trail Crew wrote:

I wanted to follow up with a correction on the podcast: In it, you referred to the saw used as a "bowsaw". What we use is actually a different type of saw, referred to either as a "buck saw" or a "crosscut saw".

Thank you, Ken, for the correction.

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