Kathy Turco

Kathy Turco began recording Native people and wildlife on Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait in 1986 as a gift to villagers in appreciation for their generosity during her graduate thesis research. Following completion of her Master of Science degree, this initial recording project grew into a continuing passion for recording wildlife, natural sounds, and the people who live embedded in nature. This led to the establishment in 1992 of Kathy's business, Alaska's Spirit Speaks: Sound & Science, and its mission to give voice to nature and share what people have to say about the natural world in their own words. Kathy's audio productions use voice recordings of Native peoples and scientists, intermixed with natural sounds in a storytelling style, to reconnect and educate the public about the natural world. Her scientifically accurate and elaborately mixed audio programs have been aired on national and international radio, and are posted on a variety of scientific web sites as education outreach. Alaska's Spirit Speaks: Sound & Science also supplies natural sound effects from its extensive audio library for ethnographic and wildlife documentary films, radio programs, and exhibits in museums, heritage centers, and at aquariums.

Originally trained as a zoologist, Kathy earned a Master of Science degree in marine science from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1991. The subject of her thesis was the thermoregulatory physiology of the Pacific walrus. She summarized her research findings in an entertaining and engaging audio piece called “What makes the walrus blush?” which was aired on National Public Radio's All Things Considered in 1994. Kathy has several peer-reviewed scientific publications to her credit. She has special expertise as a field biologist working on the ecology of marine mammals and seabirds, and as a laboratory biologist working on the diet composition of a wide variety of marine vertebrate predators. She continues to contribute to our scientific understanding of marine ecosystems through her work in these areas.

After completing her graduate studies in marine science, Kathy received training as a natural sound recording artist and radio producer. This led to a number of award-winning productions for radio that were aired on National Public Radio, and to work as a sound person on 22 wildlife documentaries. Currently, most of her energy is directed toward designing, writing, voicing, and producing audio science programs. Her programs are designed for national and international radio, for science education web sites, and usually include Native knowledge. Kathy is committed to producing programs that are collaborations with the individuals who contribute spoken dialog for each program. Kathy also provides natural sound effects from an extensive audio library of over 700 hours of digitally-recorded natural sounds for ethnographic and documentary films, radio series, museum exhibits, visitor and heritage centers, zoos and aquariums, and collaborative productions with other sound designers and musicians world-wide. Her audio library includes more than 2,000 high-quality bird, mammal, and habitat sound effects from Alaska and around the world.

Kathy's audio production company is dedicated to recording the highest quality natural sound effects possible, and to creating programs that give voice to nature and the people who live embedded in the natural world, especially in Alaska. Kathy's recordings of natural sounds are so unique and diverse that they have been sought after for use in a number of feature films, including Dinosaur, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park III, Winged Migration, and Alaska: Spirit of the Wild, which was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Documentary. Kathy has licensed her sound effects for the radio and film industries to produce elaborate audio programs and soundtracks for a wide variety of educational, governmental, and commercial institutions. Her natural sound recordings have been featured in 29 documentaries, 13 soundtracks for museums and visitor centers, 10 commercial CDs of natural sounds, and 9 radio programs. Her science education programs have been featured on the web sites of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the University of Tennessee, the National Science Foundation, NOAA Fisheries, the University of Alaska, the University of Texas, the North Slope Borough, and Pulse of the Planet.

As a tribute to the remarkable biodiversity of our planet, Kathy dedicates her work to the creatures of the Arctic and Antarctic, which are most threatened by the current rapid change in global climate. The extraordinary stamina and endurance of the denizens of these polar realms, both animal and human, serve as her inspiration. Examples of Kathy's audio programs and education projects can be seen and heard at the web site www.alaskas-spirit.com. Kathy is an extraordinarily dedicated, hard-working, and caring individual who is completely devoted to conservation science and education.