Every Map Tells A Story: 90MFN

This will be a short email newsletter this week, as I am preparing for a day spent in a routine quasi-surgical procedure tomorrow. It's nothing serious, but I am fasting today and my blood is running a significant sugar deficit.

But before I go back to bed I did want to share a couple things with you. And both things are good news!

Thing One!

We have a new episode of 90 Miles from Needles out. It's not bad news this time! I spend a bit of time reflecting on the fact that species range maps are best thought of as a snapshot of a species' range at a particular time, that that range is certain to shift and grow and diminish and split and merge, because that's what populations of living things do.

And that raises the obvious question "if this colored area on my range map is just a snapshot of a constantly changing habitat, then why is it this shape and not some other shape?" In other words, every range map tells a story.

I tell what we know of one pair of stories told in range maps: the home territories of the sister species the Mohave gound squirrel and the round-tailed ground squirrel.

You can listen to the episode here, or via your favorite podcast app.

Thing Two!

We've gotten a couple donations that put us over the top of our initial fundraising goal for the Fellowship for Desert Reporting. That means we're accepting applications for fellow positions. We're looking for eloquence and passion and creativity in prospective fellows; journalistic training or experience is helpful but not required. We especially encourage applications from people whose voices and communities have too often been excluded from environmental reporting and conservation. Stipend in the low four figures. We do not have a target age range, other than being old enough to legally fill out a W-2.

The baseline assumption for a Fellowship project would be an audio story to be included in the podcast, but we're open to other modes of expression as well: videography, storymaps, other mapping, article writing, and so forth. (Given the size of the stipend we do not expect Fellows to write a book or create a 90-minute documentary film!)

Prospective applicants can check out our application form here. By all means, share this with anyone you think might be interested!

Thanks so much, as always, for reading and listening! I'm off now to rejoin the Gatorade and apple juice binge I'm enduring rather than eating food.