Exploring your own backyard
On the next Outdoor Explorer, we’ll stay close to home and explore our own backyards. Jeff Lowenfels, author of a series of books on organic gardening and long-time Anchorage Daily News garden columnist, will talk about the changing gardening climate, sustainable yardening, and the amazing role bacteria plays in growing your plants.
Dog training
In Alaska, dogs can be team members with mushers and also with hunters, using their abilities to extend our own. But first, someone has to let the animals know how to do those jobs. Judging by the dogs we've seen around Anchorage, many of us are not very good at training-- but our guests on the next show are. They work with upland hunting dogs and sled dogs to create an effective dog/human team.
Thanks for listening!
Hunter Education
There's a lot to know to be a successful hunter or angler, and not everyone learns it from a parent or family friend. That's especially true for women, who may not have been treated as potential outdoors people as girls. As the fall season begins, we will explore the opportunities for hunter education, including classes created for women, and learn what it is that you really should know.
KSKA: Thursday, August 28, at 2:00 and 9:00 p.m.
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Summer public use cabins
On the next Outdoor Explorer, we’re revisiting one of our favorite shows on public use cabins. Now is the time to start planning your cabin trips for 2016.
KSKA: Thurs., Nov. 12, at 2:00 p.m.; repeating Thurs., Nov. 19, at 8:00 p.m.
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Birdwatching at the Coastal Refuge
In Anchorage you head for the mountains, but on the other side of the city there is another wild habitat to explore, summer and winter: the coastal wetlands that extend from Potter’s Marsh to Ship Creek. We’ll talk about the swampy, muddy shoreline of Anchorage, and the many birds and animals that live there.
KSKA: Thursday, May 8, 2:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
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Epic Alaskans: Mountaineering and sea kayaking with John Bauman
Alaska has thousands of unheard of world class outdoor men and women. On this show we'll hear from one, John Bauman, who completed numerous first winter ascents and sea kayaking routes.
Eating Disorders and Exercise Addiction
On this Outdoor Explorer, our guest is two-time Olympian and Licensed Professional Counselor, Holly Brooks. She recently released a documentary called “Winning at All Costs: Breaking the Silence on Athletes and Eating Disorders.” Her message to athletes of all ages and abilities is “You are more than your results, performance reviews and appearance.”
Noise and light pollution
KSKA: Thursday, April 20, at 2:00 p.m. One way of thinking about wilderness is to remember what’s not there. Wilderness is never crowded, or full of artificial noise or electric light. Noise and light would cover up the good qualities in nature - the delicate sounds and the bright stars and aurora of a winter night. On the next Outdoor Explorer, we’re looking at the problem of keeping the wilderness quiet and dark, which unfortunately takes some effort for us, in our bright noisy world.
LISTEN HERE
Bike fitting and the Texas 4000
We’re talking about cycling on the next Outdoor Explorer. We’ll chat with a physical therapist and a bike fitter to learn about getting the perfect fit for your health, as well as your performance. And we’ll have an interview about the Texas 4000, a cross-country bike ride for cancer arriving soon in Anchorage from the University of Texas in Austin.
Thanks for listening!
The outdoor life of Congressional Candidates
On the next Outdoor Explorer, our guests are congressional candidates, Nick Begich and Mary Peltola. They will answer outdoor policy questions from four leaders in the Alaska outdoor industry and share their own experiences in the Alaska outdoors, including the places that bring them the most happiness.
Peter Steele: A doctor on Everest
On this Outdoor Explorer, we’ll go to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, to visit with doctor, mountaineer, and author Peter Steele. He was the team doctor for the 1971 International Everest Expedition. We’ll discuss Peter’s adventures as a mountaineer, a husband, and a father, his friendship with Eric Shipton, and his observations about large Himalayan mountaineering expeditions.
Winter Camping and Snowshoeing
The summer season for sleeping outdoors is short, but there’s still a lot of Alaska out there in the winter with wonderful backcountry recreation and easy travel on snowshoes, when the rivers are frozen and it almost never rains. We’ll be talking about winter camping and snowshoeing. It’s not as crazy as it sounds. You can be comfortable, have great access to the backcountry, and sleep under the most amazing dome of stars.
KSKA: Thursday 1/23 at 2:00 pm and 9:00 pm
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Alli Harvey, outdoor writer, and artist in Anchorage
On this next Outdoor Explorer, our guest is Alli Harvey, outdoor columnist for the Anchorage Daily News.
Her columns often explore the connection between happiness and outdoor adventure. Alli is also a
landscape artist and is about to start her next adventure in her new mobile art studio and gallery, an
Airstream trailer that she will take on the road to the places she wants to paint.
Outdoor Explorer: Petra the Adventure Cat
On the next Outdoor Explorer our guest is Nicole Chamberlain and the Meowtaineer, Petra the Adventure Cat. Petra is a Siberian Forest Cat, well-adapted to the cold, and Nicole has taken her on many adventures on the snow and the water. They recently spent time at the Sheldon House in Denali and Petra became the first cat to ski on the Ruth Glacier.
Group Led Outdoor Activities
On this Outdoor Explorer we’ll talk about the outdoors as a social space. Some folks think that groups are the best way to experience natural places, to hike, ski, climb or bird. They’ve set up ways to get together and meet new people while exploring and learning. Have you ever thought about finding new friends for an outdoor adventure? Learn how.
KSKA: Thursday 3/28 at 2:00 pm and 10:00 pm 
Arctic Skiing
In rural Alaska, you don’t usually see a lot of skiers, but that doesn’t really make sense, because snow is something the Arctic has plenty of. On the next Outdoor explorer, we’ll be talking to Lars Flora, a former olympian who has dedicated himself to spreading skiing across Alaska like a Nordic Johnny Appleseed, Elizabeth Rexford, who is one of his volunteers, and Jim Vordestrasse, who started skiing in Barrow in 1973.
KSKA: Thursday, Feb 4, at 2:00 and Thursday, Feb 11, at 8:00 p.m. LISTEN NOW
Bristol Bay
KSKA: Thursday, March 23, at 2:00 p.m. In the whole world, there are just a few places where a confluence of environmental factors creates incredible abundance. One of those is Bristol Bay. On the next Outdoor Explorer, we’ll talk about the bay’s fisheries, the richest for commercial salmon and the regions' angling for enormous trout.
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Ocean threats, a conversation with two authors
KSKA: Thursday, Nov. 02, at 2:00 p.m. Dramatic changes have happened in the ocean in southcentral Alaska in the last few years. What’s causing them? On this next Outdoor Explorer, we hear from two authors who have done studies and written on the impact of climate change on the marine environment, from increasing acidity to rising sea waters.
LISTEN HERE
Ice Fishing
What goes on inside those tents you see on the frozen lakes around town? On the next Outdoor Explorer,we’ll find out. The topic is ice fishing. Folks do it on stocked lakes all through the city--that’s another unique thing about Anchorage--and in the backcountry they catch great big fish through the ice. We’ll find out how to do it and why. What’s the attraction of fishing in the middle of winter when the water is frozen?
KSKA: Thursday 1/30 at 2:00 and 9:00 pm
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Caribou migration
One of the most spectacular biological events in the world is going on in Alaska right now, the migration of hundreds of thousands of caribou from their northern calving grounds to wintering areas to the south. On the next Outdoor Explorer, we’ll learn how do they do it, and why, and what makes them change the routine sometimes, using new areas after many years on the same course.
Thanks for listening!