This episode of the Altamont Enterprise podcast, Other Voices, interviews Grace Nichols who is a citizen scientist and also an activist. We like to call her Save the Pine Bush's Batwoman.

Grace is a former biology teacher and talks about a group she has formed to document the many species of bats that live in portions of the pine bush slated for development. In the interview she discusses the importance of the “Clunk, clunk — click, click” sounds heard on their bat detectors, the pitch too high for human ears to hear.  The recorders from a local bat expert have produced sonograms of various species — each as individual as a fingerprint. Standing near the fringes of green in the midst of suburbia, said Nichols. “You become more aware of how alive the whole world is.”

Grace Nichols was also instrumental in getting Albany County last year to pass a resolution to be pollinator-friendly. People have told her, “Grace cares more about insects than people.” Her response: “There are no people without insects.”

She also wrote a terrific letter to the editor in Altamont Enterprise, Suburban green space is vitally alive and hungry for our respect, which probably led to her being interviewed for the podcast.

We highly recommend that you both read her excellent letter and listen to this awesome interview with Grace.