Joe Whitworth - On Unrelenting Effort, Blazing Your Own Trail, and Taking Action
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Release Date: 12/10/2024
Jason Gardner Returns – Fire, Leadership, and What Really Matters
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Jason Gardner is a retired Navy SEAL who now works as a top-level leadership instructor with Echelon Front. Over his thirty-year career in the SEAL teams, he served in combat operations in Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, later becoming Command Master Chief of SEAL Team Five and Training Detachment. Since retiring from the Navy, Jason has worked with hundreds of organizations as a leadership instructor and strategic advisor, helping teams apply high-stakes leadership principles to business and life. He now lives in a remote corner of northeastern Washington with his wife, Iris, and their two...
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Todd Ulizio – Farming, Attention, and a Life Well Rooted
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Todd Ulizio is the co-owner of Two Bear Farm, an organic vegetable farm in Whitefish, Montana, that’s quietly become a cornerstone of the Flathead Valley’s local food community. Alongside his wife Rebecca, Todd has spent nearly two decades growing food, building soil, and figuring out how to make a small, values-driven farm work in a world that doesn’t always make it easy. Todd’s path to farming was anything but direct. He grew up in Connecticut and followed a traditional educational and career path, eventually becoming an accountant at a prestigious Big 6 Firm. Experiencing success...
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Sammy Matsaw Jr. – Salmon, Sovereignty, and the Long Work of Healing
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Sammy Matsaw Jr. is the Director of the Columbia Basin Program at The Nature Conservancy, where he works at the intersection of salmon recovery, tribal sovereignty, and large-scale river restoration across one of the most complex watersheds in North America. In this role, Sammy helps guide conservation strategies that span state lines, political boundaries, and cultural histories—while keeping people, relationships, and responsibility at the center of the work. Sammy grew up on the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation, surrounded by salmon stories, land-based learning, and a deep sense of...
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Ed’s Appearance on “My Favorite Things”
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from the usual format. I’m re-sharing a recent conversation I had on my friend Brendan Leonard’s new podcast, . I’m sure most of y’all are already familiar with Brendan’s work, but for those of you who aren’t, he’s an author, illustrator, filmmaker, and creator of . Brendan’s new podcast is built around a simple but fascinating premise: conversations about the books, films, art, and creative works that have helped shape a person’s life and career. In this conversation, we spend less time on what I do, and more time on what’s...
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Mike Schaedel - Restoring Balance to Fire-Adapted Landscapes
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Mike Schaedel is the Western Montana Forest Restoration Director for The Nature Conservancy, where he leads some of the most ambitious and collaborative forest restoration work happening anywhere in the West. Based in Missoula, Mike works at the intersection of science, community partnerships, and land stewardship—helping restore fire-adapted forests, reduce wildfire risk, and improve the health and resilience of landscapes across the region. Mike’s career path is super interesting and anything but traditional. He grew up in Portland, fell in love with the mountains through rock climbing,...
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SHED SESH: September & October 2025 Book Recommendations
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
This month marks ten full years of my bimonthly book-recommendations project—a decade of weird little paragraphs about the books that grab my scattered attention. Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or signed up five minutes ago, thank you. I’m still baffled anyone reads these things, but I’m grateful all the same. To mark the occasion, I recorded a late-night solo episode from The Shed, diving deeper into each of my September & October picks: why I chose them, what stayed with me, and the sometimes-unexpected lessons I gleaned from each of them. Or you could just describe...
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Devon O’Neil — On Nature’s Power and the Price of Adventure
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Devon O’Neil is a journalist, author, and longtime friend of mine whose new book "The Way Out: A True Story of Survival in the Heart of the Rockies" is one of the best pieces of outdoor nonfiction I’ve read in years. The book tells the harrowing true story of a backcountry ski trip near Leadville, Colorado, that turned tragic—and the years-long process of understanding what really happened, and how a mountain town wrestled with loss, resilience, and the complicated relationship we all have with risk and wild places. It’s gripping, deeply reported, and beautifully written—equal parts...
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Carli Kierstead – Wyoming Forests and the Work of Keeping Water Flowing
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Carli Kierstead is the Forest Program Director for The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming, where she leads efforts to understand and restore some of the West’s most critical—and often overlooked—ecosystems. From beetle kill and wildfire to drought, Wyoming’s forests face a range of challenges that ripple far beyond the state’s borders. These high-country forests are the headwaters of several major river basins, providing water to millions of people across the American West. In this conversation, Carli and I dig into the past, present, and future of Western forests—how management...
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Bex Frucht — Story Wrangler! Vibe Steward! One of a Kind!
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Bex Frucht is a force of nature—a storyteller and community builder whose work blends performance, land, and small-town life in the American West. Based in Livingston, Montana, she’s the founder of TMI Live, a storytelling series that celebrates vulnerability, humor, and human connection, and for the past three years, she’s been the “vibe steward” of the Old Salt Festival, where her talent for bringing people together has become legendary. Whether she’s hosting a show, coaching storytellers, or emceeing a fundraiser, Bex radiates generosity, intelligence, and positivity in a way...
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Yvon Chouinard – The Perpetual Pursuit of Simplicity
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Yvon Chouinard needs no introduction. The founder of Patagonia, pioneer of clean climbing, co-founder of 1% for the Planet, and lifelong advocate for simplicity and wildness, he’s one of the world’s most influential environmental leaders. Now in his mid-80s, Yvon continues to live, work, and fish by the same principles that have guided him since his dirtbag climbing days: live simply, take responsibility for your impact, and keep finding meaning through deep, direct engagement with nature. His newest book, “Pheasant Tail Simplicity: Recipes and Techniques for Successful Fly Fishing,”...
info_outlineJoe Whitworth is the President and CEO of The Freshwater Trust (“TFT”), an innovative and action-oriented conservation organization whose mission is to preserve and restore freshwater ecosystems. With a focus on technology and an all-star staff made up of scientists, attorneys, GIS experts, systems analysts, and more, TFT is pioneering the next generation of conservation by focusing on quantifiable results. Back when I was a Conservation Director here in Colorado, I had the great pleasure of partnering with TFT on a project involving water rights and irrigated farmland, and I was blown away by the organization’s ability to quickly put complex ideas into action for the benefit of land, water, and communities.
Joe was born into a large midwestern family, and from an early age, his grandfather, who was a farmer, played a foundational role in his understanding of land, water, and conservation. After high school, Joe moved east to attend Dartmouth, where he played football, and then he eventually moved West to attend law school. Along the way, he began to focus his professional efforts on doing work that made the world a better place. After several stints at several different organizations, he took the reins of the organization that would eventually become The Freshwater Trust. Joe has now been at the helm of TFT for more than two decades and has grown the organization’s budget tenfold during his tenure. He’s focused, action-oriented, innovative, and very serious about solving big, complex conservation problems in the West and beyond.
As you’ll hear, Joe and I share many common interests in everything from history to reading to conservation to rivers, and, perhaps more importantly, I connect deeply with many of Joe’s core values around hard work, following your own path, and taking action. So, it’s no surprise that we had such a fun conversation. We start out talking about Joe’s grandfather, Joe’s journey from the Midwest to the Ivy League, and how he adjusted to life at Dartmouth. We talk about his early years working as a non-profit consultant and the series of events that led him to The Freshwater Trust. We discuss the ultimatum that led to TFT’s impressive growth, the type of people who thrive as staff members, and he gives an overview of their BasinScout technology. We discuss the future of environmentalism, technology’s role in solving environmental challenges, favorite books, and much more.
As I said, I’ve been a fan of TFT for many years, so I was so glad to finally have this opportunity to chat with Joe about his personal and professional operating systems. I hope you enjoy.
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- The Freshwater Trust
- Joe Whitworth
- Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/joe-whitworth/
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TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- 3:00 - Joe’s grandfather and his lasting influence
- 9:00 - Unexpected blessings from a broken femur
- 13:00 - Adjusting to the Ivy League culture
- 16:15 - Next moves after Dartmouth
- 21:30 - Living like a monk and figuring out next steps
- 25:30 - “The world is designed to make you shut up and get in line.”
- 28:45 - Law school and beginnings at the Freshwater Trust
- 29:00 - Revamping The Freshwater Trust
- 34:00 - The board’s reaction to Joe’s plans for the future
- 39:00 - The importance of making hard decisions
- 43:45 - The magic of The Freshwater Trust team
- 47:45 - An overview of BasinScout
- 51:15 - A foundational BasinScout case study
- 58:30 - Ideas and areas of focus on the horizon
- 1:01:00 - The importance of taking action
- 1:03:30 - Next phase of environmentalism
- 1:06:00 - How TFT’s values meld with Joe’s personal values
- 1:09:00 - Expectations of new team members
- 1:12:00 - The TFT model of handing off new ideas and innovation to partners
- 1:16:00 - Favorite books
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