Listen Now

In this episode, I talk with Kelly Taylor of the National Park Service. Kelly manages the Assateague Island National Seashore Visitors Center in Maryland, which sits at the foot of the Verrazano Bridge that takes visitors from the mainland to the national and state parks. It’s got everything you need to learn about the island’s inhabitants from the fish in the bay to the birds on the beach, plus touch tanks, film, books, and much, much more. Recorded May 2018 and produced January 2021. Episode 10: Welcome Visitors

We’re back! And with an episode two and half years in the making! In a previous blog post I mentioned that I was going to spend a few days in May, 2018, conducting interviews. This is the first of those interviews, and I’ll post an update soon. In this episode, we talk with Ashlie Kozlowski, Outreach Coordinator of the Assateague Island Alliance. AIA is the non-profit partner of Assateague Island National Seashore, and it contributes greatly to many of the park’s important programs such as the Wild Horse Management Program. Plus, if you want to name a foal, adopt a horse, practice healing yoga on the beach or ID a horse on your phone, AIA has you covered. Recorded May 2018 and produced January 2021. Episode 9: AIA

Dig the boss flag In today’s episode, I talk with Billy Weiland of Assateague Coastal Trust, about ACT’s #TrashFreeAssateague project, its genesis, and the upcoming TFA event at Assateague Island National Seashore on June 2 from 9am to 1pm. Read Billy’s May 8 blog post on Trash Free Assateague, “Be the Change,” for more information. We also talk about Hands Across the Sand, Saturday, May 19, to protest offshore oil rigs, at Assateague State Park. Plus: Plastic straws (bad), lessons of nature (good), his blog “The Marsh,” and big plans for the fall. A note on the production: I recorded Billy, at what has become my ad hoc recording studio at the Assateague Island Visitor Center, today, a rainy Thursday, May 17. I edited it in the comfy confines  of the Assateague Island Surf Shop, enjoying a superb Sunset sandwich and some fantastic coffee. (Thank you AI Visitor Center and AI Surf Shop!) Posting it today to make sure everyone has time to plan on attending Trash Free Assateague on June 2. #TrashFreeAssateague. Share it. Let’s go! https://assateaguevoices.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/trashfreeassateague.mp3

I’m taking a few days to talk to folks for upcoming Assateague Voices podcast episodes. This morning, I had the great good fortune to talk with both Ashlie Kozlowski of the Assateague Island Alliance, and NPS Ranger Kelly Taylor, who manages the Assateague Island Visitor Center. In the days ahead, I’ll speak with Billy Weiland of Assateague Coastal Trust, Keith Koehler of NASA (I’m interviewing NASA!), Gretchen Knapp of the Tom’s Cove Visitor Center, and Angela Baldwin of Assateague State Park. I hope to squeeze a few more in while I’m here, too. Stay tuned. So I got in yesterday around noon, clownishly struggled to put up my tent in a typically unrelenting Assateague SSE wind, put a tear in my rain fly in the process, and somehow drained my car battery. However, with the help of a neighbor the tent went up and stayed up through last night’s rain, masking tape from Rite Aid sealed the tear, and a resourceful Maryland DNR ranger helped me get the battery charged and and the car running again. Tide falls, tide rises. Speaking of last night’s rain, here’s a little audio from around 3 a.m. Nothing much beats the sound of rain and surf. And here’s a little file of my “Assateague alarm clock,” who strongly encouraged me to get up to greet the dawn this morning. You will have to turn it up all the way to get a feel for just how strongly my friend encouraged me. https://assateaguevoices.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/rain_and_surf.mp3 https://assateaguevoices.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/assateague_alarm_clock.mp3

Brains On! is a science podcast for kids from Minnesota Public Radio News and Southern California Public Radio. A friend of mine sent me a link to a podcast episode from the end of December, 2016, all about Assateague’s Maryland herd. The episode delves into, among other things, the science behind population control and protecting the island from an “exotic invasive species.” It’s all good science stuff, and best of all it features AINS rangers Allison Turner, Kelly Taylor, and Liz Davis. Give it a listen! https://assateaguevoices.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/161227_assateague_final.mp3  

https://assateaguevoices.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/strawberry-moon.mp3 If you stayed after the credits for Episode 6, “Native Son,” you heard Billy Weiland perform his guitar composition, “Muir.” Here’s another one of his picks from his collection of songs on SoundCloud. Okay, so here’s a challenge to Billy and all Assateague lovin’ musicians. When I would listen to Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” I always thought it was a day in the life of a stretch of the Appalachians, from sunrise to sunset. Yes, I know it’s a ballet piece, but that’s what the music always evoked for me. My challenge, then, is for someone to create a musical suite that captures a day in the life of Assateague Island. I think Billy’s got a good head start, with “Ghost Pines.” Go check it out. The prize is a premiere of your suite on Assateague Voices, recorded live at the venue of your choice. This could be fun.