Orcasphere

No new orcas in late 2008

Posted by scottveirs
December 29, 2008

This is a pretty general treatment of endangered species with a nice from-the-field synopsis of prey/fecal sampling by KUOW intern Irene Naguchi, but it didn’t deliver what I expected — new information derived from the fecal sampling. The main news I caught from Brad was that they, Ken, and Mark haven’t noted any new calves in J, K, or parts of L pod this late fall/winter. Nice work getting an intern out on the water, Brad! (There is a link to the archived podcast at the bottom of the clipping…)

I was impressed with Pimm’s unwavering focus on delivering a positive message about the global extinction trend and with LaBorde’s careful statements about Northwest salmon recovery progress in 2008. Sara surprised me with the fact that 75% of Washington State is home to one of the 28 listed evolutionarily significant units of salmon.

(Thanks to Val for the head’s up about this programming.)

clipped from www.kuow.org

The State of the Wilderness in 2008

12/29/2008 at 9:00 a.m.

Weekday closes out 2008 with a survey of animals facing extinction. In the Pacific Northwest, the endangered include Orcas, salmon, grizzlies, and owls. Tune in to find out the state of the wilderness from the experts. Also, we take a boating excursion on Puget Sound to track Orcas. Which animals are struggling to survive? What does it mean for our future and what can we do about it?

Stuart Pimm is a professor of conservation ecology at Duke University. He joins us from the Florida Keys.

Chris Morgan is director of the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project, and producer of the feature documentary, “Beartrek.”

Sara LaBorde is a special assistant to the director of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. She works on salmon and Steelhead.