Libsyn Directory

Paul Hendricks – The Conservation Alliance and the Future of Public Lands

Release Date: 09/23/2025

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,”...

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Paul Hendricks is the Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance, a coalition of more than 270 businesses working together to protect wild places across North America. Founded nearly four decades ago by Patagonia, REI, The North Face, and Kelty, The Conservation Alliance has grown into one of the most important forces in conservation—pooling dollars, influence, and a collective business voice to support grassroots campaigns that keep public lands and waters healthy for generations to come. At a time when those places are under constant pressure, The Conservation Alliance is showing that businesses don’t have to sit on the sidelines—they can be a powerful part of the solution.

Paul’s own path to this role winds through some of the most interesting corners of the conservation and environmental worlds. After earning a few advanced degrees, he started at Global Greengrants Fund, working with grassroots activists around the globe. He then joined Patagonia’s legendary environmental team, where he learned firsthand how a company can weave values into every decision. From there he helped build sustainability programs at Rivian, tackling the climate footprint of a car company from the inside. And woven through all of that is a through-line of humility, service, and adventure.

In this conversation, Paul and I talk about the roots of his love for the outdoors, the mentors and lessons that shaped his career, and what it’s like to step into the hot seat as a first-time executive director. We dig into The Conservation Alliance’s mission and why business advocacy matters, the current threats facing public lands, and how Paul stays grounded in turbulent times. We also talk about family, leadership, failure, and why hope is not just possible but necessary. It’s a candid, thoughtful conversation with someone who’s not only shaping the future of conservation, but doing it with humility, persistence, and just enough humor to keep it human.

I’ve had the privilege of knowing Paul for almost 15 years–we met when he first moved to Colorado, became running and climbing partners, and have logged more hours together in the mountains and had more meaningful conversations than I can count. Watching him grow into this role has been inspiring, both for the positions he’s held and for the way he’s carried himself along the way.

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Paul Hendricks
The Conservation Alliance
Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/paul-hendricks/

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

2:37 – Intro, Ed’s one running partner
4:03 – How the outdoors has shaped Paul’s career
6:48 – Plan post-college
12:41 – Sunk-cost fallacy
14:22 – Global Greengrants Fund
17:05 – Learning from Rick Ridgeway
20:23 – Lessons from Patagonia
24:25 – Ready for a new challenge
30:00 – Laid off at Rivian
36:02 – Being in charge
38:01 – The Conservation Alliance history
43:07 – TCA within public lands threats
48:58 – What’s missing from the public lands story?
51:49 – Paul’s role as a leader
56:14 – Role models
59:04 – Getting outdoors now
1:01:10 – Book recs
1:03:09 – 1% for the Planet collab
1:05:14 – Wrapping up

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