Shepherds of the Wild Podcast

Tom Opre meets with noted author and scientist Dr. Stuart Marks. Dr. Marks is a biologist, ecologist, economist, and philosopher. A Fulbright Scholar and son of a missionary dentist, Dr. Marks spent much of his early childhood living in the Congo, Africa. He has spent over 60 years studying the Bisa people of eastern Zambia and their relationship with wildlife. They also cover wildlife management issues; culture; natural history; humanity’s adaptation of nature; and even Tom’s film Killing the

Tom Opre talks with Dr. Mark Boyce, Professor of Ecology for the Alberta Conservation Association (Canada) and a Fellow with the Royal Society of Canada. Dr. Boyce, with a doctorate from Yale and a post doctorate from Oxford, discusses the population issues for elk and mule deer. They also hit on game ranching; chronic wasting disease (CWD); high-fenced hunting; hunter recruitment; grizzly bear management; and social media issues related to wildlife conservation.

Tom Opre talks conservation; wildlife deserts; wolves; the fall of communism; ecosystem collapse, grizzly bears; Spanish conquistadors; and the human population collapse with world renowned wildlife biologist Dr. Valerius Geist.  Oh, they also get into big issues facing the Mule Deer, including chronic wasting disease (CWD).  Geist is a Canadian biologist and a professor emeritus in the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary. He is a specialist on the biology, behavior, and

Dr. Juan Herrero, Spanish biologist/ecologist, and Tom Opre discuss the wildlife and hunting management in Spain. His work is dedicated to applied research on large mammal conservation and management, including Pyrenean chamois, Iberian wild goat and feral goats. He is a professor of Ecology, Protected Areas, Zoology and Environmental Education at the University of Saragossa (Huesca, SPAIN).

Tom Opre has an eye opening and important conversation about sustainable utilization with Alaskan subsistence trapper and guide Nate Turner. They cover Nate’s early years growing up in New York and then moving to his father’s trapline in the Alaskan bush. Nate also discusses what it’s like to live off the land and raise his family in remote Alaska.

Tom Opre and world renowned photographer, Tony Bynum talk about the issues facing the iconic North American grizzly bear. They cover everything from human-bear conflict in Montana to management concepts and educating people on how to co-exist with grizzly bears.

Host Tom Opre sits down with Catherine E. Semcer. Semcer is a Research Fellow with the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) where her work focuses on rights and market based solutions to policy challenges in environmental security, conservation finance and sustainability. Catherine is the past COO of Humanitarian Operations Protecting Elephants (H.O.P.E.), a boutique NGO delivering training, advisory, assistance and procurement services to African counter-poaching programs. Prior to