One Newfoundland watershed, told through the people around it.
709 Watershed is an interview podcast rooted in Newfoundland's Indian Bay Watershed, where host Darren Sheppard talks with people who play a part in the area. Guests range from a Canadian Wildlife Service seabird biologist to a pair who restore old headstones and two operators renting backcountry cabins to people who want to unplug.
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709 Watershed is an interview podcast built around one stretch of Newfoundland: the Indian Bay Watershed and the local area around it. Darren Sheppard hosts. His guests are people whose work, businesses or cabins tie them to that landscape, and the range is wider than the local focus might suggest. Marilyn and Grant Kelloway, for one, now run the cabins at No. 2 Pond, once known as the Ibex Cabins, as Back Country Cottages. They talk about the challenges of operating a new business inside the watershed. They also describe visitors who came with no interest in fishing or hunting and simply wanted to unplug, and a bird watcher who counted 28 species while he was up there. Cell service is limited even with a booster, and the owners are upfront about it. Heritage work gets a hearing too. Robyn Lacy and Ian Petty of Black Cat Cemetery Preservation discuss their headstone projects in Greens Pond and how to hire them. Sheppard asks directly what a hundred gravestones would cost over a summer, and he gets a real answer. The science comes from Sabina Wilhelm, a Canadian Wildlife Service biologist who specialises in seabirds, whose work put her at the centre of the avian flu outbreak around the province, and who keeps a summer home in Greens Pond. Then come the community builders. Florence Cross, an environmentalist, youth advocate and former educator in Grand Falls-Windsor, traces how her wish to help others grew into two nonprofits, Karma Cafe and Textile Exchange, with donations for youth programs arriving from as far away as Alberta. Lori King recounts how Staycation NL, a Facebook group she started among friends, became a place people go to find hidden gems around the province. Lorne Welcher is a watershed cabin owner who calls himself a tree hugger. He is also a town councillor, a volunteer fire department member and a Canadian Coast Guard rescue specialist, and his conversation covers how he helped raise over $25,000 from the cabin one January weekend. Sheppard likes a wide-open opener, and more than once he simply asks a guest to say who they are. Some conversations are recorded in studio and others remotely. One episode's sponsor break features local hospitality businesses, including a restored vacation home and a tea room in an old saltbox house, which fits the show's neighbourly scale. What a listener comes away with is a working portrait of one small corner of Newfoundland and Labrador, drawn by the people connected to it.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants to meet the people behind one corner of Newfoundland and Labrador, from cabin operators and seabird researchers to nonprofit founders and volunteers, in friendly interviews that stay practical.
What sets it apart: Its beat is a single watershed and the towns around it, so a cemetery preservation team, a Canadian Wildlife Service biologist and the founder of a Facebook tourism group all share the same feed. The talk stays grounded in specifics, down to hourly restoration rates and patchy cell coverage at a backcountry cabin.
709 Watershed host Darren Sheppard guides you through interviews with guest that have a direct impact on the Indian Bay Watershed and "The Shore". These are the experts, storytellers, and decision-makers in politics, environmental topics, tourism, and business. 709 Watershed is based in beautiful Indian Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Co-Producer Paul Vincent. Ads recorded by Kaylene Stagg.
Headstone repair quotes meet storm petrels at 1 a.m.; your curiosity needs Newfoundland boots.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A remote cabin business becomes a grounded look at tourism, self-sufficiency, and watershed life.
Backcountry Cottages comes across as a remote getaway with a practical streak, shaped as much by the Indian Bay Watershed as by the appeal of cabins at No. 2 Pond.
A grounded conversation about the labor, pricing, and expertise behind preserving historic headstones.
Preserving a cemetery comes through as patient, practical heritage work, and 709 Watershed gives that work a useful shape. Darren Shepherd's conversation with historic archaeologist Robin Lacey and Ian Petty of Black Cat Cemetery Preservation moves from Lacey's path into…
D.C. business with civic stakes.
Missouri politics, measured down to the mechanism.
Marilyn and Grant Calloway tell Darren Shepard how Backcountry Cottages at No.
["Black Cat Cemetery Preservation says Newfoundland had a cemetery-preservation gap, and the company began within two and a half weeks of the founders' return in December 2020.", "Darren Shepherd speaks with Robin Lacey and Ian Pettin, who run the business together while doing graduate work and heritage jobs on the Northeast Avalon.", "Robin Lacey says she is a historic archaeologist in the fourth year of a PhD on burial ground development in North America, and Ian Pettin says he has about 13 years in heritage work.", "They describe how simple tablet stones are reset with crusher dust, how broken stones are rejoined with conservation-rated epoxy, and why Greens Pond work is split into 10-stone funding rounds."]
709 Watershed host Darren Shepard interviews Canadian Wildlife Service biologist Sabina Wilhelm about seabird colonies, avian influenza, and Leach's storm petrels at Cape Freels.
Florence Cross tells Darren Shepard how 27 years teaching in Grand Falls-Windsor led to community projects including Karma Cafe and Textile Exchange.
Lori King tells Darren Shepard how Staycation NL began during the early COVID-19 pandemic as a way to explore Newfoundland and Labrador and support local businesses.
Host Darren Sheppard interviews Loren Welcher, a cabin owner and community leader, about his roles in the fire department, town council, and coast guard, and a fundraising event.
Host Darren Sheppard interviews Minister Derek Bragg about his career in municipal government and current role as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment.
Host Darren Shepard interviews representatives from the Nature Conservancy of Canada about their conservation work in Newfoundland and Labrador.
This episode features interviews with two local ecotourism business owners discussing their adventure travel offerings in Newfoundland.