In this episode, I chat with John Fullbright who has one of the craziest life stories of anyone I know. A lifelong adventure guide currently residing in New Mexico, he recently led a nighttime whitewater rescue the likes of which belongs on one of those crazy "I shouldn't have survived" TV shows.

But that's not a fraction of what makes him so interesting. Among other things, he is now venturing into beekeeping as he is one of the most outspoken champions for the use of bee venom for intractable diseases such as Lyme disease.

This is definitely an episode you want to check out.

Some of us are lucky enough to have great mentors in our professional lives. This is the story of one of mine.

When I first became Director, I saw one of my board members, Jim Garnjobst, as difficult. Argumentative. Contrarian. "This guy's gonna be the death of me..." I remember lamenting to my wife back then.

Fast forward a dozen or so years and I saw Jim as one of the most important people in my professional life. A mentor. A friend. Jim passed away recently and the hole he leaves on my board on on my heart is palpable.

I wanted to honor him by talking about how important mentors are to high-achieving folks like us and how cultivating space for debate and contrarian approaches makes our boards and organizations stronger.

I'm joined by sustainability consultant Kenny Oleson for an insightful discussion on clean energy, energy efficiency, and sustainability.

This episode covers, among other things, the Clean Energy Districts of Iowa program, practical energy-saving measures for homes and businesses, and the benefits of long-term planning in construction. We also explore the vulnerabilities of power grids, the potential of renewable energy, and Earthships, whatever the heck those are...

Many of us in parks and conservation are building or planning future facilities. Many of us probably also maintain old, inefficient buildings. This is a good listen on both fronts.

Enjoy!

Lora Friest is no stranger to big goals. Early in her career, she played a key role in the state's largest watershed project - an effort to clean up the Upper Iowa River. Now as a tourism liaison with Travel Iowa, she's helping to change the nation's perception of Iowa.

One way she's doing that is by highlighting the incredible parks and natural resources that people like us manage everyday. It turns out that those outdoor amenities are one of the key things that inspire people to want to move to Iowa. So it begs the question, how do we as parks and conservation professionals contribute to telling this story to the world?

In this episode, Lora and I talk about what the state tourism office is doing to attract people to our state and how we play a big role in that.

To learn more, visit www.traveliowa.com

Warren County Conservation Director Zach Hall isn't afraid to explore the more esoteric side of our industry. After chatting with him at a conference this summer, I knew I wanted to get him on the show to do just that.

In this episode we explore the hard-to-explain and possibly yet-to-be-understood factors that draw people to natural landscapes. From that, we discuss possible innovative non-traditional marketing strategies, including art, as a means to connect people with nature and convey the emotional and psychological benefits of such experiences.

As tends to happen in my conversations, we have more questions than answers. But asking better questions is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to improve your thinking.

For the text of the poem Zach alludes to at the end of the episode, go to www.OutdoorExecutiveDad.com and find this episode there.

Enjoy!

The fight against invasive species seems to never end. Natural resource managers need to deploy every tool possible to stay ahead of the game (or catch back up, as the case may be). One tool in the toolbox is not man or machine, but goats.

In this episode, I talk again with Jeremy Yost, Natural Resource Tech in Pottawattamie County, IA about their experience using goats as a natural resource management tool.

While they're no silver bullet, goats can be effective when utilized as part of a multifaceted effort to restore native landscapes. Listen in to learn how.

After a couple month hiatus, Parks and Restoration is back!

In this episode, I chat with Adam Shirley, CEO of Iowa's County Conservation System. We talk about upgrades to the MyCountyParks.com website and the role we as park and conservation leaders play in community development and tourism.

We also discuss the possibility of seeing legislation to fund the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund, among other things.

This one is a good listen for those of us working in Iowa's County Park system.

I've heard that turfgrass is the most widely cultivated "crop" in the world. But at what value, and more importantly, at what cost?

In my community is a self-taught ecologist that is on a mission to re-wild the urban yard, starting with his own. Samuel Hollingsworth has become a fixture among our pollinator programs and a champion for all things wild and NOT monocultured.

In this conversation, we explore Sam's journey from native plant enthusiast to Lorax for the insects, so to speak. He's even gone so far as to launch his own native landscaping business, Prairie Roots Landscaping.

Enjoy this discussion with someone with a rather untraditional path into the world of ecology and land restoration.