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 … hearing their otherworldly sound. “As a little boy of about five or six years old, I got scared!” Wewa says. “I didn’t know what it was.” [Hear…

Jordan Rabon and Tracey Johnson are researchers at Rinker Rock Creek Ranch in Idaho, and they study how this threatened bird interacts with cows. As part of their work, they capture and band the grouse, and they have an unusual way of gathering data. They use … a boombox. “It just kind of…

Jordan Rabon and Tracey Johnson are researchers at Rinker Rock Creek Ranch in Idaho, and they study how this threatened bird interacts with cows. As part of their work, they capture and band the grouse, and they have an unusual way of gathering data. They use … a boombox. “It just kind of…

Caleb McAdoo, Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist, takes us on a tour through disappearing sagebrush country. The Martin Fire, the biggest wildfire in Nevada state history, burned through 435,000 acres in 2018. After fires, sagebrush has to contend with a faster growing plant…

Caleb McAdoo, Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist, takes us on a tour through disappearing sagebrush country. The Martin Fire, the biggest wildfire in Nevada state history, burned through 435,000 acres in 2018. After fires, sagebrush has to contend with a faster growing plant…

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…

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…

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…

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…

In the season finale of Sound Escapes, acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton takes us on a whirlwind tour of nearly every habitat on the planet. From tropical forests to deserts to wetlands, you'll hear what the Earth truly is: music spinning in an otherwise silent space. Thank you for joining…