The Lost Rider Podcast with Herman Brune

The Charley Russel Museum is in Great Falls, Montana. Once a year the Western Art community gathers for an extended weekend to celebrate with "paintings in the park", a buffet and auction Friday night, and a banquet and auction Saturday night that includes pieces from eras gone by.

The last evening is when nationwide museums and collectors gather to bid on selected pieces of Charley Russel artwork. In this interview Brune visits with the museum executive director. 

The Coastal Conservation Assn. position on the discharge of desalination plants is to be in favor of deep water off shore discharge in the case of the Harbor Island seawater desal plant. As per the South Texas Water Authority's plans for a brackish aquifer desalination plant the CCA position is to use reinjection wells for the discharge. Brune interviews CCA Advocacy officer Shane Bonnet and asks, what happens when reinjection wells are no longer the answer? Are we ignoring current technology that eventually must be implemented? Will desalination bring relief to river systems and aquifers? 

Brune's commentary simplifies and seeks to make relative the geography and conservation interests that would benefit from seawater and brackish aquifer desalination. The technology to treat desalination plant's discharge is readily available and not new. Likewise, taking the pressure off freshwater aquifers, as well as, river systems is essential for municipalities, agriculture, wildlife, and the Texas Gulf Coast. Brune raises the question: Why aren't all the conservationists in Texas behind the desal projects, and why aren't they looking at such drainage basins as the lower Colorado River and standing at the state Capital with torches and pitchforks?   

Brune interviews Port of Corpus Christi Authority's Kent Britton. The discussion revolves around the largest planned seawater desalination plant in the U.S. They also talk about the amounts of oil and natural gas that are shipped out of Corpus Christi daily. One ship going to the Netherlands can power 1million homes in Europe for one month. Approximately one such ship leaves Corpus every day. The conversation also leans towards the future of desalination in South Texas. While frack water and desal discharge has historically been discarded down reinjection wells, there is  the strong likelihood that it will soon be treated and re-used as freshwater - and that this is congruent with the way major municipality's water is treated and recycled in the practice commonly known as "toilet to tap". 

In this insightful episode of The Lost Rider Podcast (and its broadcast version, News from the Camp House), host Herman Brune visits Texas A&M University to sit down with Dr. Ty Wardell, assistant professor in the Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management Department.

Wardell shares his fascinating journey from growing up in a ranching and rodeo family on the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota to earning his Ph.D. at Kansas State University and ultimately joining the faculty at A&M. His path includes years on the professional rodeo circuit, studying bighorn sheep in the Black Hills, and researching carnivore dynamics on the Great Plains.

The discussion explores the concept of Indigenous Knowledge — the accumulated wisdom of native peoples passed down through generations — and how it contributes to modern conservation and wildlife management. Wardell explains how traditional ecological perspectives can inform contemporary research, comparing a farmer’s lifelong understanding of his land to ancestral stewardship of native territories.

In the second half, the conversation shifts to Wardell’s award-winning teaching methods, including his hands-on fox squirrel tracking project on the A&M campus. Students capture and collar squirrels to study their behavior and habitat use, gaining real-world wildlife research experience. Wardell also discusses his lab’s broader research across Texas — from studying axis and white-tailed deer interactions to the impact of the border wall on wildlife migration.

The episode closes with reflections on mentorship, the importance of fieldwork, and the shared goal of cultivating a new generation of wildlife stewards and scientists.

🎙️ Key Themes:

• Indigenous ecological wisdom and modern science

• Wildlife field research and student engagement

• Conservation education at Texas A&M

• Bighorn sheep restoration and carnivore ecology

• The intersection of culture, land, and stewardship

   

Brune visits with Texas Outdoor Partners President John Shepard. They discuss the past session of the Texas Legislature, the system in which TOP operates, and the possible reemerging of the Sportsman's Caucus in Texas. Another topic of discussion was the Texas Parks and Wildlife budget. 

Water questions is a commentary from Brune. It showcases that lifelong "conservationists" in state agencies have the answers to questions that plague concerned citizens and NGO's. There is nothing new about water process technologies. When discussing water desalination: Water treatment for super saturated saline discharges was practiced in Texas, in the 1980's, during the creation of the strategic oil reserves. Likewise, major municipalities enjoy the recycling commonly known as "toilet to tap". So - why is the public unaware of the technologies that sustain the modern lifestyle? Why don't the lifelong agency "conservationists" serve the needs of providing public information? Why must we suffer the teeth-gnashing and hair-pulling caused by either the lack of information, or by false information? Is the public relegated into woeful ignorance purposefully by state agencies? Why?