Nancy Smith & Austin Rempel - A Surprisingly Simple, Effective, and Scalable Approach to Riparian Restoration
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Release Date: 07/30/2024
Sara Domek – The Science and Story of Wyoming’s Wildlife Migration
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
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, and boots-on-the-ground conservation, makes her uniquely suited to lead TNC’s efforts to protect Wyoming’s world-renowned wildlife migrations. If you’ve spent any time driving through Wyoming, you’ve probably cruised...
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Cody Wellema – After the Fire, Before What’s Next
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Cody Wellema is a master hatmaker and the founder of Wellema Hat Co., a highly regarded, California-based custom hat business. For over a decade, Cody built a reputation as one of the country’s premier craftspeople in the art of traditional hatmaking, creating heirloom-quality hats by hand, using vintage tools and techniques that harken back to a slower, more intentional era. His work has been worn by artists, ranchers, musicians, and everyday folks alike, and his shop became not only a destination for finely made hats, but a gathering place rooted in community and craft. On January 8th of...
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Live at SXSW - Farmer-Founded Brands Will Save American Fashion
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
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, that might sound like a bold claim, but these two are actually doing the work to make it real. Cate is a designer, hatmaker, and regenerative rancher whose company, Range Revolution, is turning discarded cattle hides into regenerative high-end leather goods. Daniel...
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Elliot Ross: Where Landscape, Justice, and Storytelling Meet
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
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 water access on the Navajo Nation or tracing the contours of Glen Canyon as it reemerges, Elliot brings a rare mix of artistry, empathy, and precision to every assignment. Born in Taiwan and raised on the eastern plains of...
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Aaron Citron: Crafting Conservation Policy in a Changing West
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
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 efforts with the legislative and regulatory frameworks that support them. He also helps shape TNC’s strategy around climate and energy policy, working to ensure a rapid but responsible transition to...
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David Cronenwett - Lessons from Jiu-Jitsu, On and Off the Mats
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
David Cronenwett is the owner of Helena Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a third-degree black belt under American Jiu-Jitsu legend Rafael Lovato Jr. David started his Jiu-Jitsu journey in Seattle in 1996, back when finding a place to train was like stumbling upon a secret society. Over the years, he’s not only refined his own game but has shared this art with hundreds of students in Montana’s capital city since opening his academy in 2016. But David’s path to Jiu-Jitsu wasn’t exactly a straight shot. He grew up in New Jersey, made his way west to study classical guitar at Cornish College of the...
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Helen Augare Carlson & Dylan DesRosier – Land, Language, and Stewardship in the Blackfeet Nation
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Helen Augare Carlson and Dylan DesRosier are leaders, community builders, and proud members of the Blackfeet Nation. Helen, the Chair of the Piikani Studies Division at Blackfeet Community College, has dedicated over two decades to education, cultural preservation, and building pathways for future generations. Dylan, the Blackfeet Program Manager with The Nature Conservancy, brings a wealth of experience in conservation work rooted in respect for Indigenous knowledge and long-term community collaboration. In addition to their official roles, they both wear many hats when it comes to serving...
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George Hodgin Returns – Risk-Taking, Leadership, and the Future of Cannabis
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
George Hodgin is a former Navy SEAL turned entrepreneur who is revolutionizing the world of medical cannabis research. George is the founder and CEO of BRC - Biopharmaceutical Research Company, one of the only federally legal cannabis research organizations in the United States. His company is leading the charge in developing safe, regulated, and scientifically-backed cannabis-based therapeutics—offering alternatives to opioids and other pharmaceutical treatments. This is George’s second time on the podcast—our first conversation was almost exactly five years ago, back when his company...
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Ivan McClellan Returns - From Behind the Lens to Center of the Arena
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
is a photographer, writer, and storyteller who’s shining a light on Black cowboy culture in a way that’s never been done before. When we first talked back in 2020, Ivan was in the early stages of immersing himself in this world—capturing rodeos, meeting cowboys, and telling stories that had largely been overlooked. Now, nearly five years later, he’s once again forging his own path by creating , an electrifying, high-stakes event that’s bringing some of the best cowboys and cowgirls in the country together to compete for serious prize money, all while celebrating a rich and important...
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Betsy Gaines Quammen Returns - Myths, Curiosity, and Human Connection (Live at the Old Salt Festival)
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
is a Montana-based historian and writer whose work explores the history and myths of the American West and how those stories have endured and shaped life in the region today. Betsy joined me on the podcast several years ago to discuss her amazing book, , and since then, she’s published another must-read: . In True West, Betsy meets face-to-face with a wide range of folks here in the West– from militia members to hardcore environmentalists– and seeks to understand why they believe what they do. Combining these conversations with her deep understanding of history, Betsy is able to...
info_outlineNancy 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 to wildlife habitat, climate resiliency to ecosystem health.
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If you’ve listened to many of these TNC-focused episodes, then you’ll know that TNC works extensively throughout the Colorado River Basin on a wide range of conservation issues that affect people, wildlife, and landscapes. In this episode, we’re going to zoom in on one very specific, very simple, and very effective process that has the potential to have massive positive impacts on ecosystem health throughout the West.
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The process is called “low-tech process-based restoration,” which is the practice of adding simple, low-cost structures made of natural materials like rocks, wood, and posts to simulate natural processes like beaver dams in streams and wetlands, kick-starting natural cycles of recovery. These structures require minimal permitting, can be built quickly by hand without heavy equipment, use locally sourced materials, and can be installed by local workers who do not need extensive training. The end result creates surprisingly effective outcomes that can be scaled quickly across vast stretches of the West.
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We recorded this conversation the day after Colorado River Day, which was a fitting time to highlight such an important project and process. We started out by discussing how this project came to be, which involved a significant amount of funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. We discuss how rivers have historically looked in the West versus how they look now, as well as the ecological complexities of riverscapes and riparian corridors. We then dig into the details of “low-tech process-based restoration”-- timelines, challenges, opportunities, partnerships, and measuring success. We also talk about beavers, shifting cultural norms around conservation, overlaps between forest and riparian restoration, favorite books, and much more.
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As you’ll hear, Nancy and Austin provide such an excellent overview of several varieties of low-tech process-based restoration. But for those of you who want to dig deeper into details of the various processes and case studies, they’ve provided me with extensive additional resources that you can access in the episode notes. I’d also encourage you to check out the short film embedded on the episode’s webpage, which will give you a visual overview of the process and its results.
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A big thanks to Nancy and Austin for the fun conversation, and thank you for listening.
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- Nancy Smith
- Austin Rempel
- Riparian Restoration short film
- Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/nancy-austin/
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This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Colorado chapter of The Nature Conservancy and TNC chapters throughout the Western United States. Guided by science and grounded by decades of collaborative partnerships, The Nature Conservancy has a long-standing legacy of achieving lasting results to create a world where nature and people thrive.
On the last Tuesday of every month throughout 2024, Mountain & Prairie will be delving into conversations with a wide range of The Nature Conservancy’s leaders, partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, highlighting the myriad of conservation challenges, opportunities, and solutions here in the American West and beyond.
To learn more about The Nature Conservancy’s impactful work in the West and around the world, visit www.nature.org
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TOPICS DISCUSSED:
4:00 - Nancy’s intro
5:26 - Austin’s intro
7:15 - The impact of wet upland meadows on the Colorado River (Nancy)
10:00 - How the Inflation Reduction Act has funded TNC’s important partnership work (Nancy)
13:30 - Defining the low-tech, process-based, restoration (LTPBR) involved in this project (Austin)
16:30 - What meadows have historically looked like in the American West (Austin and Nancy)
21:00 - Describing more of the structures TNC uses in this work, like beaver dam analogs (Austin)
26:30 - What kind of land TNC does this restoration work on (Austin)
29:30 - How long this work takes (Austin and Nancy)
33:30 - What success will look like for this work (Nancy)
37:30 - How LTPBRs help empower crucial work by being simple
40:45 - What could make or break this project (Austin and Nancy)
44:00 - TNC’s ability to balance innovation with responsible stewardship of funding (Nancy)
46:30 - Overlaps between river and forest restoration (Austin)
50:30 - What would make a good staff member for this work
55:45 - Nancy’s book recommendations
57:00 - Austin’s book recommendations
59:18 - Nancy’s parting words of wisdom
1:00:10 - Austin’s parting words of wisdom
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