Episodes

We've all seen the impact our parks and public lands have on the people in our communities. But how many people do those parks bring to the community from somewhere else? How many new residents chose to move to your community...

How do you take big ideas and turn them into community-impacting reality? These guys know. Confluence is the consulting firm that worked with the City of Burlington on a master planning process and then the ultra-inclusive de...

The Outdoor Executive Dad podcast is now called Parks and Restoration. The content is largely going to stay the same, but I wanted to rebrand the show to make it more reflective of the content, and less about me as the host. ...

The term "inclusive" gets thrown around a lot in the outdoor recreation industry but what does "inclusive" play really mean? In the city of Burlington, Iowa, park leaders are showing us exactly what it means as they construct...

Dr. Jim Pease is an Associate Professor Emeritus in the Natural Resources, Ecology, and Management (NREM) department at Iowa State University. He's been teaching people about the natural world for over 40 years in both formal...

As we head into the busy park season, many of us will be leading or working with seasonal staff and interns. Do you view them simply as “grunt workers” or are you actively investing in their professional development? In this ...

"I'm not against farming. I'm against pollution." ~Chris Jones Chris Jones is a research engineer at the University of Iowa where he manages the state's water quality monitoring system. But he is probably best known for his b...

Let's call this another installment of the County Conservation Legacy Society. Richard Erke retired last year after 39 years in Decatur County. I love having conversations with long-serving conservation leaders because the pe...

Wild turkey populations have declined in many places across their range and many parts of Iowa are no exception. Research is going on across the country studying various aspects of turkey population dynamics. In this episode,...

Why do we cut cedars out of prairies? Why do we thin trees in forests and oak savannas? Why do we burn? For many of us, the answers to those questions are fairly straightforward. But some people think about land management on...

What are effective ways to recruit new people to hunting when the "It's our heritage" statement doesn't resonate? How can we diversify our education programs to reach broader demographics? How can the DNR more effectively com...

It's Leopold Week where we celebrate the life and work of Aldo Leopold, the "Father of Wildlife Ecology" and no doubt a big influence on many of us in the conservation field. But how many of us stop to appreciate the fact tha...

Kody Wohlers has built a career around fire. Now he is ensuring that future generations of land managers have the skills and experience to properly apply this critical management tool to landscapes in their own communities. T...

There's a lot going on in the statehouse lately, notably a bill in the Senate that would fund the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund (aka IWiLL ) while making some significant changes to various other tax cod...

What if we gave every student in an entire 4th or 5th grade class a fully immersive, week long, multidisciplinary outdoor learning experience? That’s exactly what School of the Wild is doing in school districts across Iowa. I...

This is the first of what will likely be many legislative updates shared through this show. This is a snapshot of the status of the Iowa Legislature as it applies to the world of county conservation as of this day in time (Ja...

Here on day two of the Winterfest conference I chat with The Armless Archer, Matt Stutsman and try not to go too fan-boy on him. I also chat with some of the event’s presenting sponsors and Adam Shirley, the new CEO of Iowa’s...

Coming to you live (sorta) from the annual Winterfest Conference in Coralville. Here we dig into what goes into putting on the premier county conservation employee conference and get some insight into the event itself. This i...

It's the beginning of a new era for Iowa's County Conservation System. Adam Shirley just officially took the reins as CEO, carrying forward the work and legacy left by 47-year County Conservation veteran Tom Hazelton. But no ...

For the first post of 2023, I’m asking for your help. Over the break I determined that the scope of this podcast is, and will most likely continue to be, focused on county conservation. That’s the world I know and love and th...

In this episode, the tables are turned when the host becomes the guest. I recently joined Steven Brody, Director of the Chamber of Commerce here in my hometown of Burlington, IA for an episode of their podcast, All Things Gre...

Some business deals get done in bars. Others, as today's guest, Jeremy Hess, has discovered, get done in boats. On the river. While catching catfish. As the Director of Economic Development for the Greater Burlington Partners...

How do you build a strong, cohesive team? Drink beer and catch fish together! Okay, maybe that's not exactly the way today's leaders should operate, but early in Brian Moore's career nearly 40 years ago, it worked pretty well...

I wanted to know how important parks and outdoor recreation amenities are from a workforce recruitment perspective so I reached out to the recruiter for my county's largest employer - the local health system. KC Fleming is ta...