Episodes

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...

43 years is a long time to do anything, and Dennis Lewiston spent that long working in county conservation, spending 37 of those years in Jefferson County alone. The wealth of knowledge that these long-serving leaders bring r...

Shortly after Ray Delmege started his career at Polk County Conservation, he was assigned to Jester Park which was described to him as "a glorified cow pasture where motorcycle gangs and college kids came to drink beer and pa...

If you build it, but nobody knows about it, will anybody come? What's the "personality" of your organization? How do you build so much trust among your community that 81% of it votes to give you $65 million to further your pa...

When one county department sues another over a hog confinement issue, that's a story worth telling. But then again, over a 40-year career, you end up with plenty of stories to tell. Bob Etzel retired from Tama County Conserva...

In this podcast, I try to glean insight from those that have been in the industry for a while and this guest certainly fits that criteria. Rick Schneider served as director in Woodbury County for 43 years and shares some of h...

Adams County, Iowa is one of, if not THE, smallest counties in the state. Yet the county conservation department's main park, Lake Icaria, generates over $600,000 annually in direct revenue with a local economic impact of $3-...

Tom Hazelton is to County Conservation what Aldo Leopold is to the concept of a Land Ethic, or what Ding Darling is to political cartoons about environmental topics. Tom has been involved in County Conservation his entire adu...

Linn County is the third of four counties in Iowa where voters overwhelmingly approved funding to support parks, trails, water quality, and other quality of life improvements via the county conservation department. In this ep...

In 2008, voters in Johnson County passed the state's first county conservation bond referendum. In this discussion with Larry Gullett, Director at Johnson County Conservation, we go over how the bond came to be...and almost d...

Polk County voters have passed two bonds to be used by the county conservation department for park and trail development, water quality, and other quality of life improvements. The first bond passed in 2012 with over 70% supp...

I had a moment of insight while walking a trail today and couldn’t help but share it. Too often we parks and conservation leaders get lost in the job and the day-to-day grind that we forget why we do what we do (at least I do...

After more than 30 years in public service, the last six of which were spent as Deputy Director with Polk County Conservation, Doug Romig decided to leave Iowa to be closer to family and to pursue a new career challenge. Befo...

Daryl Parker officially retired in 2020 after 28 years leading the conservation department in Jackson County, Iowa. In this conversation, we discuss board relations and how we as leaders can manage them, catastrophic floods, ...