Landscape-Scale Management in a Private Land State
This is the second of two live episodes that were recorded at the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society’s 2023 annual meeting in Houston, Texas. The topic of this panel discussion was Achieving Landscape-Scale Management in a Private Land State. As you learned in the previous episode, Texas has very little public land compared to …
Equitable Access to the Outdoors in Texas
This is the first of two live episodes that were recorded at the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society’s 2023 annual meeting in Houston, Texas. The topic of this panel discussion was Equitable Access to the Outdoors, a subject that is timely and important in all areas of the West, but especially important in Texas, …
Taylor Hawes – Innovative Conservation in the Colorado River Basin
Taylor Hawes is the Director of the Colorado River Program for the Nature Conservancy. As the leader of the program, she guides TNC’s efforts to conserve the freshwater biodiversity of the Colorado River Basin while also meeting human demands for water– challenging objectives given the wide-ranging stresses facing the river today. But despite the challenges …
Cate Havstad-Casad, Part 2 – Building Businesses for the Greater Good
If you’ve listened to Mountain & Prairie since the early days, then I’m sure you remember Cate Havstad-Casad. She first joined me on the podcast in early 2018 for a conversation about her life and career as a hatmaker and farmer. In late 2019, she was one of the four amazing women who joined me …
Megan Torgerson – Storytelling from Rural America
Megan Torgerson is a podcaster and the creator of Reframing Rural, a narrative podcast whose mission is to “share stories of people and places in rural America in an effort to celebrate culture, preserve history and cultivate curiosity and conversation across geographic, class and cultural divides.” In just three seasons, Megan has grown Reframing Rural …
Bryce Andrews, Part 2 – “Holding Fire”
Bryce Andrews is a Montana-based rancher and writer, and he’s the author of the brand new book Holding Fire: A Reckoning with the American West. Longtime Mountain & Prairie listeners will remember my first conversation with Bryce back in 2019 when we discussed his writing, conservation work, ranching experience, and his first two books. I …
Cole Mannix – Building Community through Land Stewardship and Local Food
Cole Mannix is the President and Founder of the Old Salt Co-op, a new, purpose-driven company that “provides meat raised with integrity from Montana landscapes its customers know and care about.” Cole and his team partner with a growing number of Montana ranches, butchers, chefs, and businesses to connect customers and producers, while simultaneously encouraging …
Carlos Fernández, Part 2 – Creating Conservation Opportunities During Uncertain Times
Carlos Fernandez is the Colorado State Director of The Nature Conservancy, one of the most effective conservation organizations in the American West and around the globe. You probably remember Carlos from our first conversation back in August of 2020, in which we discussed his inspiring career trajectory, the importance of collaborative conservation partnerships, and several …
Jess Mudgett – Humble & Grateful
Jess Mudgett is an artist, skater, surfer, and occasional ranch hand who specializes in one-of-a-kind designs that appear everywhere from murals in the rural West to the Yeti offices in downtown Austin. Fans of Jess’s work can spot his art from a mile away– he’s known for bold, often-times big portrayals of western landscapes, horses, …
Francesca Claverie – A Borderlands Conservation Success Story
Francesca Claverie is the Native Plant Program Manager at the Borderlands Restoration Network. Based in the southern Arizona town of Patagonia, the Borderlands Restoration Network’s mission is “to grow a restorative economy by rebuilding healthy ecosystems, restoring habitat for plants and wildlife, and reconnecting our border communities to the land through shared learning.” Through binational …
Amber Smith – Creating Connection & Community
Amber Smith is a Montana-based rancher and the Executive Director of Women in Ranching, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to hold brave space, support courageous action, and champion rural women’s leadership on the land. Offering a blend of in-person and virtual events, Women in Ranching has filled a unique niche across a wide range …
Dr. Eric Arzubi – A New Approach to Solving the West’s Mental Health Crisis
Dr. Eric Arzubi is the co-founder of Frontier Psychiatry, a Montana-based medical practice that is accelerating and expanding access to high-quality psychiatric care for rural communities. By many metrics, Montana can be described as the epicenter of the United States’ mental health crisis. The large, mostly rural state is home to many vulnerable populations who …
The Life-Changing Magic of Living Strenuously, with Kate Kavanaugh
This episode is a little different– it’s me being interviewed by my friend and past Mountain & Prairie podcast guest Kate Kavanaugh. If you’ve been listening for a while, then I’m sure you remember Kate– she’s a farmer, butcher, and all-around interesting woman who co-founded Western Daughters Butcher Shop in Denver. Kate recently started an …
Brian Yablonski – Action-Oriented Conservationist
Brian Yablonski is the Chief Executive Officer of the Property and Environment Research Center (“PERC”), a Bozeman-based research institute dedicated to promoting conservation by exploring how voluntary trade can produce positive environmental outcomes. For more than 40 years, PERC has explored market-based solutions for major conservation challenges throughout the West, and its current initiatives focus …
Kate Mannix – A Legacy of Land Stewardship
Kate Mannix is a rancher who works alongside her family on the Mannix Ranch in Montana’s Blackfoot Valley. The Mannix family has been ranching and stewarding their family ranch since 1882, back when Timothy Benjamin Mannix purchased the land from the Northern Pacific Railroad. For generations, the Mannix family has served as loyal caretakers of …
Riddy Arman – Artistic Authenticity
Riddy Arman is a singer-songwriter who lives in Montana’s Mission Valley, a rural agricultural community in the state’s northwestern corner. Riddy’s self-titled debut album was released in 2021 and has received praise from renowned institutions such as Rolling Stone, as well as from many highly respected fellow musicians, including Colter Wall. Riddy and her music …
Matt Pierson – Finding New Solutions for Food Insecurity
Matt Pierson is a fifth-generation Montana rancher who owns and operates Highland Livestock Company alongside his wife and two sons. He’s also the founder and President of the Producer Partnership, a newly formed non-profit organization that brings together farmers and ranchers with the goal of ending hunger in Montana. Since its start in spring of …
Lesli Allison & Tuda Libby Crews – Durable Conservation in the West… and Beyond
Lesli Allison and Tuda Libby Crews join me to discuss the critical role of private and working lands in achieving durable conservation outcomes in the United States. Lesli is a founding member and the Executive Director of the Western Landowners Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advances policies and practices that sustain working lands, connected landscapes, …
Jason Gardner – A Life of Purpose & Service
Jason Gardner is a father, homesteader, leadership instructor, and regenerative agriculture devotee who lives with his family on a remote property in the mountains of northeastern Washington State. Jason is also a retired Navy SEAL Master Chief who spent nearly thirty years in the SEAL teams and is a recipient of the Silver Star, two …
Iris Gardner – Living with Intention
Iris Gardner is a writer, horse wrangler, mother, and former organic farmer who lives with her family on a homestead in northeastern Washington State. After many years of living and farming in southern California, Iris, her husband Jason, and their two children moved to their current home– a rural property located close to the Canadian …
NEW WEST DISPATCH: Matt Skoglund – Ranching in the Age of COVID
If you’ve listened to the podcast for a while, then you’re probably familiar with each episode’s general format: I have a long-form conversation with an interesting person who is doing important work in the American West. We usually spend about half of the time discussing their work and the other half discussing their personal backstory—a …
Chris Castilian – Community, Conservation, and Colorado
Chris Castilian is the Executive Director of Great Outdoors Colorado (also known as GOCO), an organization that has committed more than $1.2 billion toward preserving and enhancing Colorado’s parks, trails, wildlife, rivers, and open spaces. Founded in 1992, GOCO is truly a one-of-a-kind conservation funder—the organization invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds into a …
Carlos Fernández – The Power of Partnerships
Carlos Fernández is the State Director for the Nature Conservancy in Colorado, where he and his team build alliances that advance conservation outcomes both in Colorado and around the world. Building on his formal training as an attorney, Carlos has had a long and successful career in conservation that extends far beyond the American West. …
Rebecca Jewett, Part 2 – Conservation’s Role During Challenging Times
Rebecca Jewett is President and CEO of Palmer Land Trust, a conservation organization that works to conserve land and water resources in southeastern Colorado. Palmer Land Trust is one of the twenty largest land trusts in the nation based on acreage conserved, with over 135,000 acres of land protected in perpetuity. Rebecca has led the …
Daniela Ibarra-Howell – Healing the Land Holistically
Daniela Ibarra-Howell is the CEO and a co-founder of the Savory Institute, an organization whose mission is to regenerate the world’s grasslands through holistic management. By restoring and protecting grasslands– both in the American West and around the globe– Daniela and her team at Savory effectively address pressing issues such as climate change, economic well-being, …
Kate Kavanaugh – Regeneration & Restoration
Kate Kavanaugh is an entrepreneur and regenerative agriculture advocate who co-owns and operates Western Daughters Butcher Shoppe in Denver, Colorado. Along with her partner Josh Curtiss, Kate sells fresh, local, grass-fed and pasture-raised meats that are all raised and harvested within 150 miles of Denver. Although she has been featured in such notable publications as …
Matt Skoglund – Adventures in Bison Ranching
Matt Skoglund and his wife Sarah are bison ranchers and the owners of the North Bridger Bison Ranch, which is located in Montana’s iconic Shields Valley. The Skoglund’s bison operation is deeply rooted in Holistic Management and Regenerative Agriculture principles, and their goal is to produce healthy and delicious meat, while simultaneously improving the land, helping the …
Duke Phillips III – A Vision for the New West
Duke Phillips III is the founder and CEO of Ranchlands, a Colorado-based, family-owned ranch management company. If Ranchlands sounds familiar, that’s because last week’s episode was with Duke’s son, Duke Phillips IV. You may remember that the younger Duke referenced his father’s philosophies around business and leadership several times, so I thought it would be …
Duke Phillips IV – Living with the Land
Duke Phillips IV is the Chief Operating Officer of Ranchlands, a Colorado-based ranching and ranch management company that is widely celebrated for its deep conservation ethic. Duke oversees all operations across Ranchlands’ properties, which include the renowned 87,000-acre Chico Basin Ranch and the 103,000-acre Medano Zapata Ranch. Working closely with his father Duke III and …
Live in Bozeman!
Live in Bozeman! This episode is a special recording from a Mountain & Prairie live podcast in Bozeman, Montana. On August 30th more than 300 folks gathered at the historic Ellen Theatre in downtown Bozeman to watch, listen, and participate in a wide-ranging conversation with four amazing women of the West—hat-maker and farmer Cate Havstad; …
