Jason Gardner Returns – Fire, Leadership, and What Really Matters
Jason Gardner is a retired Navy SEAL who now works as a top-level leadership instructor with Echelon Front. Over his thirty-year career in the SEAL teams, he served in combat operations in Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, later becoming Command Master Chief of SEAL Team Five and Training Detachment. Since retiring from the Navy, Jason has …
Todd Ulizio – Farming, Attention, and a Life Well Rooted
Todd Ulizio is the co-owner of Two Bear Farm, an organic vegetable farm in Whitefish, Montana, that’s quietly become a cornerstone of the Flathead Valley’s local food community. Alongside his wife Rebecca, Todd has spent nearly two decades growing food, building soil, and figuring out how to make a small, values-driven farm work in a …
Carli Kierstead – Wyoming Forests and the Work of Keeping Water Flowing
Carli Kierstead is the Forest Program Director for The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming, where she leads efforts to understand and restore some of the West’s most critical—and often overlooked—ecosystems. From beetle kill and wildfire to drought, Wyoming’s forests face a range of challenges that ripple far beyond the state’s borders. These high-country forests are the …
Yvon Chouinard – The Perpetual Pursuit of Simplicity
Yvon Chouinard needs no introduction. The founder of Patagonia, pioneer of clean climbing, co-founder of 1% for the Planet, and lifelong advocate for simplicity and wildness, he’s one of the world’s most influential environmental leaders. Now in his mid-80s, Yvon continues to live, work, and fish by the same principles that have guided him since …
Brad Johnson – Building Trust and Soil Health
Brad Johnson is the Senior Regenerative Agriculture Advisor for The Nature Conservancy, where he helps farmers across Idaho and beyond explore new ways of working the land that build healthier soils, stronger operations, and more resilient communities. Brad’s path into this work is deeply personal—he grew up on a multi-generational farm in northern Idaho, where …
Kelly Beevers – Connection, Collaboration, Conservation
Kelly Beevers is the Grazing Lands Partner Strategy Lead with The Nature Conservancy, where she helps guide collaborative efforts to support ranchers, strengthen communities, and conserve some of the most threatened ecosystems in North America. Based in Montana, Kelly has built her career at the intersection of real estate, land stewardship, and community-driven conservation—first working …
Cole Mannix & Andrew Anderson – The Hard Work of Building a Better Food System
This episode was recorded live on stage at the 2025 Old Salt Festival in Helmville, Montana, where I had the honor of sitting down with two of the people at the center of this ambitious experiment in food, land, and community: Cole Mannix who is the President and co-founder of the Old Salt Co-op and …
Celene Hawkins and Taylor Hawes – Navigating the Next Era of the Colorado River
Celene Hawkins is the new Colorado River Program Director for The Nature Conservancy, stepping into the role after years of impactful work in tribal water policy and place-based conservation across the basin. She’s taking the baton from Taylor Hawes, who led the program for nearly 17 years and is now serving as the Colorado River …
Helen Rebanks – “The Farmer’s Wife” – Live at the Old Salt Festival
This conversation with Helen Rebanks was recorded live and on stage at the 2025 Old Salt Festival, held on the Mannix Family Ranch in Helmville, Montana. If you were there, you know how special the moment was. If you weren’t—well, I’m glad you’re here now. Even though we were on a stage, in front of …
Sean Claffey – A Resilient Vision for Sagebrush Country
Sean Claffey is the Southwest Montana Sagebrush Conservation Coordinator at the Nature Conservancy, a role that places him at the center of one of the West’s most overlooked but critically important ecosystems: the sagebrush steppe. Based in Dillon, Montana, Sean works across public and private lands to protect and restore this sprawling, foundational landscape that …
Tony Bynum – Showing Up for the Land
Tony Bynum is a conservation photographer, scientist, and advocate who’s spent decades working at the intersection of public lands, Indigenous rights, and environmental storytelling. Based in Montana, his images have helped shape national conversations around energy development, landscape protection, and the cultural importance of the Northern Rockies. His work has been published widely and used …
Jackie Miller and Carlos Fernández – A Breakthrough Moment for Colorado Conservation
Jackie Miller is the Executive Director of Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), and Carlos Fernández is the Colorado State Director for The Nature Conservancy. Both are highly respected leaders in Colorado’s conservation community, and they’ve played pivotal roles in shaping the state’s approach to protecting land, water, wildlife, and outdoor access. While Carlos has joined me …
Sara Domek – The Science and Story of Wyoming’s Wildlife Migration
Sara Domek is Wyoming’s Migration Program Director for The Nature Conservancy. Sara grew up in the small town of Kemmerer and later moved to Pinedale, giving her a rare, firsthand perspective on Wyoming’s working landscapes— both from a natural resources and a conservation standpoint. Her upbringing, paired with years of experience working in nonprofits, agencies, …
Live from SXSW – Farmer-Founded Brands Will Save American Fashion
This is a special live episode recorded this past March at SXSW in Austin, Texas, and it features a conversation I had the honor of moderating with two powerhouse guests: Cate Havstad-Casad of Range Revolution and Daniel Mouw of Duckworth. The title of the panel was Farmer-Founded Brands Will Save American Fashion. At first glance, …
Elliot Ross: Where Landscape, Justice, and Storytelling Meet
Elliot Ross is a photographer and writer whose work focuses on the intersection of landscape, identity, and justice in the American West. His images have appeared in Time, National Geographic, and The New York Times, and he’s known for deeply researched, long-term projects that combine striking visual storytelling with a journalist’s rigor. Whether he’s documenting …
Aaron Citron: Crafting Conservation Policy in a Changing West
Aaron Citron is the Associate Director of External Affairs at The Nature Conservancy, where he leads state-level policy engagement across Colorado. His work spans a wide array of conservation priorities, including water management, healthy forests, renewable energy siting, and partnerships with private landowners and tribal nations. Aaron plays a key role in bridging on-the-ground conservation …
Chris Pague – Stories, Science, and the Southern High Plains
Chris Pague is the Senior Conservation Ecologist at The Nature Conservancy, and he is deeply involved in so many of the topics we discuss here on the podcast– grasslands, bison, endangered species, landscape-scale conservation, and more. For many decades now, Chris has been working on the frontlines of TNC’s science-based conservation efforts, and during his …
Hal Herring Returns – Live at the Old Salt Festival
Hal Herring is an award-winning outdoor journalist, fierce public lands advocate, and thoughtful, action-oriented conservationist. He’s also an accomplished podcaster and host of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers’ Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring. If you’re a longtime listener of Mountain & Prairie, you may remember my first episode with Hal back in December of 2019– …
Joe Whitworth – On Unrelenting Effort, Blazing Your Own Trail, and Taking Action
Joe Whitworth is the President and CEO of The Freshwater Trust (“TFT”), an innovative and action-oriented conservation organization whose mission is to preserve and restore freshwater ecosystems. With a focus on technology and an all-star staff made up of scientists, attorneys, GIS experts, systems analysts, and more, TFT is pioneering the next generation of conservation …
Jesse Smith – A Regenerative Approach to Land and Life
Jesse Smith is the Director of Land Stewardship at the White Buffalo Land Trust, which is a global hub for regenerative land stewardship, ecological monitoring and research, education, and more. Jesse brings a unique perspective and a diverse set of experiences to his work in regenerative agriculture– his early interest in architecture led him to …
Mark Easter – Food, Soil, and Our Planet’s Future
Mark Easter is a Colorado-based ecologist and author whose new book is titled The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos. If you care about food and you care about Planet Earth, The Blue Plate is a must-read. It explores the production, consumption, and disposal of many of our favorite foods– seafood, salad, …
Kelsey Molloy & Angel DeVries – Fortifying Grasslands and Communities on the Northern Great Plains
Kelsey Molloy is the Northern Great Plains Director at The Nature Conservancy and Angel DeVries is the Executive Director of the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance (RSA), and they both live and work on the Northern Great Plains in Malta, Montana. While they work for different organizations, Kelsey and Angel collaborate on a long list of critical …
The Partnership of Rangeland Trusts – 20 Years of Cooperation, Collaboration, and Conservation
If you’re a longtime Mountain & Prairie listener, then you’re already familiar with the Partnership of Rangeland Trusts, also known as PORT. But for any new listeners, PORT is an alliance of agriculture-focused conservation organizations dedicated to preserving working farms and ranches and conserving productive agricultural lands. PORT is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, and …
Mauricia Baca – An Empathetic Approach to Nevada’s Conservation Challenges
Mauricia Baca is the State Director of the Nevada Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. In this role, she leads TNC’s efforts in Nevada across a wide range of conservation issues that are familiar to Mountain & Prairie listeners– the Colorado River, the Sagebrush Sea, and renewable energy. But Nevada is also home to some very …
Heidi Redd & Sue Bellagamba – Tales from the Dugout Ranch
Heidi Redd is a renowned rancher, conservationist, author, and member of the National Cowgirl Museum’s Hall of Fame. Sue Bellagamba serves as Canyonlands Regional Director at the Nature Conservancy, and for more than thirty years, she has worked to protect the lands and waters of southeastern Utah. Heidi and TNC have been partners since 1997 …
Curt Meine – Aldo Leopold’s Life, Work, and Enduring Legacy
Curt Meine is a Senior Fellow at The Aldo Leopold Foundation and one of the world’s foremost experts on the life, work, and legacy of conservation icon Aldo Leopold. Curt is the author of the biography Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work, and he also works as a conservation biologist, a professor, a senior fellow …
Nancy Smith & Austin Rempel – A Surprisingly Simple, Effective, and Scalable Approach to Riparian Restoration
Nancy Smith is the Conservation Director for The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Program, and Austin Rempel is the Riparian Restoration Program Manager at The Nature Conservancy. Both Nancy and Austin are working on the front lines of some of the West’s most innovative water and habitat conservation projects– projects that benefit everything from groundwater supplies …
Dan Stellar – Bolstering Biodiversity in Arizona and Beyond
Dan Stellar is the State Director for the Arizona Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, where he leads the organization’s efforts across a wide range of cutting-edge initiatives, including forest health, water conservation, resilient cities, healthy grasslands, and more. Arizona is one of the nation’s largest and most biodiverse states, which creates a host of extremely …
Kristine Tompkins – Nothing to Lose
Kristine Tompkins is an iconic conservationist, the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, and the former CEO of Patagonia. For three decades, she has committed to protecting and restoring wild beauty and biodiversity by creating national parks, restoring wildlife, inspiring activism, and fostering economic vitality through conservation. Kristine and her late husband Douglas Tompkins have …
Dr. Emily Howe – The Interconnectedness of Mountains, Forests, Rivers, and Estuaries
Dr. Emily Howe is an aquatic ecologist with the Washington state chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and she holds a Ph.D. from the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. Her work integrates across ecosystem boundaries, investigating how landscape configuration and management shape cross-boundary relationships for food webs, organisms, and ecosystem …
