HOMEbound Nature News - ISSUE 7

Happenings in the Substack Ecosphere || Snow Leopard

This month’s issue of the HOMEbound Nature News is brought to you by the Snow Leopard.

Kazakhstani snow leopard; image: screen grab from camera trap video released by UNDP

It’s not all bad news these days. The Times of Central Asia recently reported the population of the critically endangered snow leopard—irbis—in Kazakhstan has rebounded to a level last seen in the 1980s. An estimated 152 to 189 leopards now roam the frigid highlands of this Central Asian republic. As a bonus, biologists have made a rare sighting of a female with two cubs in Katon-Karagai Park, one of many protected areas set aside by the Kazakhstani government.

Alexey Grachev, zoologist and head of the Snow Leopard Monitoring Center, says their recovery is “only thanks to the creation of specially protected natural areas—national parks and reserves. These measures made it possible to create safe living conditions for snow leopards, which contributed to a gradual increase in their numbers.”

Grachev says human activity remains the major threat to the species’ recovery, but notes that the support and region-wide strategies provided by the UN Development Program—including cross-border cooperation with Kyrgyzstan—have bolstered regional conservation efforts.

Beyond Kazakhstan, the snow leopard also lives in mountainous regions of Bhutan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, China, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. According to zoologist Grachev, Kazakhstan is the only country in the irbis’ range that has shown population recovery. He says there are 10 nature reserves, 15 national parks, 7 nature reserves, and 3 regional parks in his country, and a new nature reserve for leopards is in the works.

“The recovery of the snow leopard population in Kazakhstan is a rare and noteworthy example of successful conservation. By safeguarding this iconic species, the country is contributing significantly to global biodiversity, demonstrating the impact of focused and sustained environmental efforts.”¹

Here’s my strong recommendation to watch this quick video. Filmed by a remote Kazakhstani camera and released on the UN Development Program’s Youtube channel, this clip of a remarkable being surveying the highlands may give you chills.

[G]eese will pass by overhead, and you may not see them because the weight of grief won’t allow you to lift your eyes. . . . That’s why you need, during this flight through doom, to invite a poet to sit by your left, and a songwriter to sit by your right. That’s why you need a painter and photographer and filmmaker and sculptor and potter and landscape architect and novelist and dancer and playwright and architect to sit at your table and share your bread and tears.

And perhaps, as we are inspired by grief to eulogize what is being lost, we will also be inspired by love to save all we can still save.

~Brian D. McLaren, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart

Happenings in the Substack Ecosphere

🌿 Announcements 🌿

Many thanks to all the folks who sent in their items for inclusion in this month’s edition. What great work you are doing. Occasionally, I supplement these listings with items I’ve gleaned from around Substack myself. If I’ve included anyone’s information in error, please send your corrections to ourhome@substack.com so I can update the listing.

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Substackers Scudder Parker and Bryan Pfeiffer invite Vermonters to a very special event:

North Branch Nature Center Fundraiser - April 4, 2025, 7:00 PM to 9:00PM

Featuring poetry, essays, and live music.

Register HERE

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Essayist Jason Anthony’s book The Roast Penguin Chronicles has just launched at Compass Rose Press. It’s described as “a savory, eclectic stew unlike anything ever written about Antarctica. Part adventure tale, part cookbook, part engrossing history of doomed expeditions and food-fueled endurance, Anthony’s tale immerses the reader in the least habitable place on earth.”

It’s available at Bookshop.org HERE

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Image from The Listening Planet

Composer and songwriter Glyn Lehmann has released a new musical project described as “a collaboration with The Listening Planet who promote the lifetime’s work of nature sound recordist Martyn Stewart, who has been referred to as ‘the David Attenborough of sound’ by National Geographic and BBC.

This project extends the boundaries of my popular song for children ‘I Am the Earth’ with an audiobook and song remix, both of which feature Martyn’s recordings.

The audiobook is called ‘I Am the Earth (A Moment in Time)’ and visits children in eight distinct biomes as they play and develop a close relationship with Nature.”

The audiobook and song are available HERE and on all music streaming platforms.

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Writer Johanna DeBiase is announcing an immersive, online eco-writing course beginning May 8. Sliding scale, sign up HERE by May 1!

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Susannah Fisher has kicked off 21 days of community, intro-level nature journaling, exclusively on Substack Notes! She started on April 1, so you can still catch up. Day 1’s assignment is above: Find Your Sit Spot. Follow her HERE to join.

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Author David B. Williams’ newly updated book, Seattle Walks, is now available. Published by University of Washington Press, its subject is “One of America's most walkable cities, Seattle rewards urban trekkers with expansive scenery and architectural and historical riches. The second edition of this acclaimed guidebook offers eighteen walks chosen for interest and easy accessibility. Williams's compelling stories bring the city to life, revealing often-overlooked details of Seattle's past and present.”

It’s available HERE and at all the usual booksellers (ask your local bookstore to order it for you!)

🪺 Nature Discovery Series! 🪺

Each month, I highlight posts from five randomly selected Substacks listed in the Home | Nature Directory. Besides being fun, it’s one way to help raise the profiles of some of our newer and/or smaller publications.

Please, take a moment to click through and discover some of the wonderful work I’ve found while poking through the archives of these five nature-loving colleagues. Then, let’s support their work by sharing or subscribing, or both.

Featured most recently (my descriptions, not theirs):

• Hopecology | An ecologist tells stories of wise hope

• A Nest of Songs | A kaleidoscope of music, words, and images

• Psyche’s Nest | Healthy mind, healthy planet

• Het Oerbos Rewilding | Finding the wild in the Netherlands

• Dreaming in the Real | Nature walks us back to our inner home

🌱 Welcoming New Substack Nature Listings 🌱

Welcome to the following Substackers, added or updated since our previous issue was published. We are now at 310 nature-based publications here—what a wonder to be a part of this force of love and attention for the Earth!

• Falling in a Bog by Sarah E. Kelsey (United States)

• Today Things by Danielle (United States)

• Notes from Nature by Melissa Lee (Europe and UK)

• Big City Bird-o-dex by Juliano Zucareli (Brazil)

• Eat Wild by Jennifer Molidor (United States)

• A Nest of Songs by Heather Hardy (United States)

• The Soaring Pencil by Aria Vink (United States)

• Sheep | Song | Photograph by Dave Mead (UK)

• Exploring Animal Intelligence by Dawn M Smith (United States)

• To the Tree-Filled Glen by Julia Stoddart (Scotland)

• Random Photo Adventure Chronicles by Greg Noakes (United States)

• Everyday Mindful by Jen Johnson (United States)

• The Blue Hour by Jess Groenendijk (UK)

• A Nature Lover's Photo Essays by AngieDawn (UK)

• Diary of a rewilding entrepreneur by Jon Conradi (Wild Mosaic) (UK)

• Wildly by Cara (UK)

• Index of Mossy Rocks by Alice Weinert (United States)

• Earth and Air and Rain by Sara Hudston (UK)

• Landlubber by Russell Jacobs (United States)

• Ecology Adventures by RJ (UK)

• Chinquapins & Chickadees by Samantha Heller (United States)

• Folded in Two by Lisa John (United States)

• Nature Unveiled by The High Life Rangers (13 different writers) (Scotland and UK)

🐚 (I am still updating the directory pages for all these new folks, so if your listing isn’t live yet, don’t worry! It soon will be.)

🌲 Books and Book-Related Items 🌲

📚 Find books written by nature directory authors at Nature’s Bookstack:

And that’s a wrap for this month!

Please feel free to send me your news items for next month, or any corrections, at: ourhome@substack.com

See you all next month,
🦉🌲

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🐌 Treat yourself: spend some time at Homecoming, where Julie Gabrielli hosts NatureStack, gathering works of nature writing, interviewing Substackers, and more! It’s always a delight.

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The HOMEbound Nature News and HOME | Nature Directory are labo(u)rs of love. It is important to me that these resources remain free in perpetuity. And yet, they represent many long hours of work, so any contributions are received with great gratitude.

You can subscribe for free below, or choose a paid option. Alternatively, feel free to drop a tip of any size in the tip jar! Many thanks.

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1. https://timesca.com/kazakhstans-snow-leopard-population-reaches-near-historic-levels/

https://www.inform.kz/ru/chislennost-snezhnih-barsov-priblizhaetsya-k-istoricheskomu-maksimumu-v-kazahstane-25769b