Hi friends… welcome to the Wild Side…
The world of the Wild Side gives us a lot to love and learn.
We can enjoy the nature around us… but sometimes our knowledge may be limited.
It may be simple things… how many of the birds can we identify in the yard?
Or do we know what kinds of trees are growing up in your neighborhood?
If you want to learn more about the wildness… you might consider signing up for the Tennessee Naturalist Program.
Episode 4406
Andrea (Pandy) Upchurch has been an interpretive naturalist for nearly four decades at such places as the Nature Station at Land Between the Lakes, Dunbar Cave State Natural Area and the Warner Parks Nature Center. In 2003, she worked as the Outreach Coordinator for the Center for Environmental Education at Middle Tennessee State University. She was the Middle Tennessee Wildlife Diversity Coordinator for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency for 7 years and a planner for the State Wildlife Action Plan for Species of Greatest Conservation Need. She taught biology at Columbia State Community College for two years. She returned to TWRA in 2012 and served as the Instream Flow and Project WILD Coordinator for Tennessee for 4-1/2 years. She retired as TWRA’s Assistant Chief of Biodiversity and Endangered Species Coordinator. Past Coordinator and founding member of the Tennessee Naturalist Program, Pandy taught an elective class on Edible Natives.
Foraging for Wild Edibles The Tennessee Conservationist : Jan/Feb 2025
Bob English serves as State Coordinator for the Tennessee Amphibian Monitoring Program (TAMP) and is the webmaster for the WaterWorks program. In addition to consulting with the Center for Environmental Education, he and his wife Pandy work on a variety of natural history inventory projects in several states. He has over 20 years of experience in birding and his nature photography has been published in a number of books, magazines and CD-ROMS, including the National Audubon Society books, The Bird Garden and The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher. His frog and toad photographs and recordings are featured on the website for his environmental consulting service, Leaps . Other passions are flying (he received his diamond badge in sailplanes in 1985 and currently flies a 1949 Piper Clipper) and amateur astronomy.
