This week on The Write Question, for a live, pledge week episode, host Lauren Korn speaks with Allison De Jong, the Montana Natural History Center’s Communications Coordinator and the editor of Montana Naturalist and Field Notes. Many Montana Public Radio listeners will recognize Allison’s voice, as she has voiced many of the nearly-one-thousand Field Notes that have aired on Montana Public Radio since its debut in 1991 (she started working for the MNHC in 2009).
In this conversation, Lauren and Allison talk about the history of Field Notes and the Montana Natural History Center, the craft and production behind this interstitial program, and they also feature/listen to a number of excerpts from the program‘s thirty-five-year history.
About Allison:
Allison spent her childhood in Iowa, where she climbed trees, splashed in streams and puddles, and explored the wildish green spaces scattered throughout her hometown. In between outdoor explorations, she spent most of her time reading and writing, which eventually led to a B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from Dordt College.
Allison has always been passionate about volunteering and doing work that gives back, spending several summers in high school and college volunteering for service projects in both the U.S. and abroad. After college, she spent a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Chicago, then canvassed for environmental issues with North Carolina PIRG, which inspired her to pursue an M.S. in Environmental Writing at the University of Montana.
About Field Notes:
For keen observers, a walk to the grocery store or a hike up a mountain can inspire questions. Where do magpies nest? Why doesn’t a spider stick to its own web? How do water striders keep from sinking? Every week since 1991, Field Notes has inquired about Montana’s natural history. Field Notes are written by naturalists, students, and listeners about the puzzle-tree bark, eagle talons, woolly aphids, and giant puffballs of Western, Central and Southwestern Montana. Field Notes airs two times per week on Montana Public Radio: Wednesdays at 3:53 p.m. and Saturdays at 11:53 a.m. Field Notes is also available as a podcast.
Interested in writing a Field Note ? Contact Allison at adejong@montananaturalist.org or 406-327-0405. Click this link to purchase the first anthology of Field Notes, edited by Caroline Kurtz, illustrated by Stephanie Frostad, and published by the Montana Natural History Center.
Field Notes excerpts featured in this episode, selected by Allison De Jong:
“Snow, Sky, and the Color Blue” by written and recorded by Becca Deysach
“Wooly Aphids…AKA ‘Blue Fuzzy-Butts’” written by Byron Weber, recorded by MNHC V.P. Caroline Kurtz
“Tree Swallows” written by Sue Reel, recorded by MNHC V.P. Caroline Kurtz
“Flowers & the Fibonacci Sequence” written by Cat Haglund, recorded by MNHC V.P. Caroline Kurtz
“The Fox and the Nighthawk: A Cautionary Tale About Curiosity” written and recorded by Ellen Knight
“How ‘Moon Dogs’ Are Made” written and recorded by Ellie Duncan
“100 Centuries of Squash Growers Can’t Be Wrong” written and recorded by Kara Cromwell
“Bull Snake Encounter” written and recorded by Edward Monnig
“Investigating Gizzard Grit” written and recorded by Kathleen Ort
“If It Doesn’t Have Leaves and It Isn’t Green, Is It Still a Plant?” written by Peter Lesica, recorded by Annie Garde
“Hunting Bison in the Place of Smokey Land” written and recorded by Aspen Decker
“Nature CSI: Wild Turkey Murder Mystery” written and recorded by Jim Greenway
“Sandhill Spring” written by Claire Voris, recorded by Allison De Jong
“Song of the Meadowlark” written and recorded by Rick Davenport
Allison De Jong recommends:
Anything and everything written by Alix E. Harrow, especially The Everlasting (Tor Books)
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green (Crash Course Books)
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brouwer (Volume 1 linked here; Rhysdon Press)
The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks (Flatiron Books)
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham (Avid Reader Press; Simon & Schuster)
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (plus the two other books in the series) by Heather Fawcett (Del Rey)
The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters (William Morrow; HarperCollins)
Lauren Korn recommends:
Halcyon Journey: In Search of the Belted Kingfisher by Marina Richie (Oregon State University Press); listen to Marina’s Field Note, “Belted Kingfisher Community Science: A Head-Pounding Discovery,” adapted from her book; and listen to Lauren’s conversation with Marina here!
Aligning the Glacier’s Ghost: Essays on Solitude and Landscape by Sarah Capdeville (University of New Mexico Press); listen to listen to Sarah’s Field Note, “Fireweed: A Colorful Reminder Of Change”; and listen to Lauren’s conversation with Sarah here!
Hush of the Land: A Lifetime in the Bob Marshall Wilderness by Arnold “Smoke” Elser and Eva-Maria Maggi (Bison Books; University of Nebraska Press); listen to listen to Eva-Maria’s Field Note, “Everywhere You Look, Birds Are Dropping Clues”; and listen to Lauren’s conversation with Smoke and Eva-Maria here!
On a Benediction of Wind: Poems and Photographs from the American West by Charles Finn, with photographs by Barbara Michelman (Chatwin Books); listen to listen to Charles’s Field Note, “Glaciers 101”; and listen to Lauren’s conversation with Charles here!
Raised by Ferns by Maya Jewell Zeller (Porphyry Press); listen to Lauren’s conversation with Maya here!
A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books)
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The Write Question’s 2025-2026 season is supported by a co-op of four independent bookstores, encouraging a lifetime of learning through storytelling and conversation: Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, Montana; Montana Book Co. in Helena, Montana; Fact & Fiction Books in Missoula, Montana; and Bookworks of Whitefish.
Additional funding for The Write Question comes from members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
