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Speaker 1: Welcome to Backwoods University, a place where we focus on wildlife,

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Speaker 1: wild places and the people who dedicate their lives to

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Speaker 1: conserving both. Big shout out to aax Hunt for their

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Speaker 1: support of this podcast. I'm your host, Lake Pickle, and Hey,

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Speaker 1: Happy New Year twenty twenty six. Already, man, who could

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Speaker 1: have seen this coming. With the new year comes all

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Speaker 1: kinds of exciting possibilities and opportunities. It's also around the

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Speaker 1: start of a new year that you always hear folks

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Speaker 1: making their so called New Year's resolutions. Well, today I'm

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Speaker 1: going to challenge all of us, myself included, to a

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Speaker 1: wildlife conservation mind in new Year's resolution. In this episode,

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Speaker 1: we're going to be focusing in on the conserving wild

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Speaker 1: places mantra of this podcast as we dive into learning

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Speaker 1: about how you, yes, you and me can make a

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Speaker 1: real intangible difference on the ground that we hunt, fish,

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Speaker 1: or recreate on by learning about things like conservation programs,

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Speaker 1: the farm bill, easy ways to get involved with both,

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Speaker 1: and learning from folks that have walked to this path themselves.

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Speaker 1: Let's dive in. It's a picture perfect winter day in

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Speaker 1: central Mississippi, bright clear, sunny skies, crisp air. It's the

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Speaker 1: kind of day that when you step outside and the

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Speaker 1: wind hits you, you immediately start thinking about how you

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Speaker 1: can get into the woods in some form or fashion.

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Speaker 1: And I'm with my longtime friend Josh Thrash. We're riding

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Speaker 1: through his property and he's showing me the various amounts

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Speaker 1: of wildlife habitat work that he's done on his place.

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Speaker 1: I'm asking about his prescribed burning and how the Bob

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Speaker 1: White quill have responded to it. It was around this

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Speaker 1: time that we pulled up on something that I don't

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Speaker 1: believe I've seen in my lifetime.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, those are long leaves, and we were assisted through

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Speaker 2: the EQUIP Program EQIP in planting and sight prepping and

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Speaker 2: planting those, and I just kind of had an inkling

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Speaker 2: that I don't know, I just always liked the story

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Speaker 2: of the long leaf because all this used to be

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Speaker 2: long leaf before the number companies came in and cut

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Speaker 2: it for timber and turpentine. And there's still some long

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Speaker 2: leaves around these perimeters, but it's been I guess a

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Speaker 2: couple of generation of lib lollies in here since, and

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Speaker 2: I've just always kind of thought it was neat to

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Speaker 2: see the long leafs on the property lines and stuff.

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Speaker 2: So I got to thinking about it, and I knew

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Speaker 2: you could burn long leaves at a young age, and

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Speaker 2: I thought, well, that'd be cool to have for wildlife.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I got to looking into it, and this is the

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Speaker 2: far northern end of the long leaf territory.

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Speaker 1: You don't that's I'm saying. If you hear about long

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Speaker 1: leafs in Mississippi these days, it's typically South Mississippi. You

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Speaker 1: don't hear about them this far north. And we're not north,

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Speaker 1: we're central, but it's north for long leafs.

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Speaker 2: But we decided to pull the trigger. And you know,

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Speaker 2: I won't probably won't ever see any monetary benefit from

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Speaker 2: these long leaves in my lifetime. But I also thought

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Speaker 2: it would be something unique for the next generation to

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Speaker 2: have here that a lot of people wouldn't have. It's

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Speaker 2: five hundred acres of yeah, plantation long leaf that had

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Speaker 2: been well taken care of. So what you see out

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Speaker 2: there right now is I would say ninety nine percent

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Speaker 2: ninety eight percent long leaf.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Man, that's uh, that's time machine type stuff out there.

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Speaker 1: It really is. The long leaf pine was once a

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Speaker 1: keystone tree in the southeastern US a tree that at

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Speaker 1: one time covered over ninety million acres, stretching all the

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Speaker 1: way from Virginia to Texas. They're exceptionally adapted to fire,

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Speaker 1: and they're part of critical habitat for all kinds of

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Speaker 1: native animal and plant species like gopher, tortoises, red cockaded woodpeckers,

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Speaker 1: bob white quail, and all kinds of grasses and wildflowers.

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Speaker 1: When you see a long leaf pine, it's almost like

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Speaker 1: seeing a relic, a lingering remnant of a time period

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Speaker 1: when open prairie and savannah was much more prolific in

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Speaker 1: this region of the country. They were heavily logged in

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Speaker 1: the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and were heavily reduced to

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Speaker 1: roughly five percent of their original range. That's why when

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Speaker 1: we came upon Josh's five hundred acres of planted long leafs,

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Speaker 1: it was pretty much a showstopper for me. What was

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Speaker 1: even better was hearing him talk about how positively he

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Speaker 1: had seen all the wildlife respond to it, the deer,

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Speaker 1: the quail, the turkeys, the incredible hunts he had been

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Speaker 1: able to enjoy with his kids out there. What an

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Speaker 1: awesome thing. One more thing to point out before we

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Speaker 1: dive back in. You heard Josh say that he was

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Speaker 1: able to get these long leafs planted through the EQUIP

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Speaker 1: program e q IP. Remember that we're going to dive

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Speaker 1: into that later on.

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Speaker 2: So I've killed turkey's in this, I believe it. I

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Speaker 2: killed a turkey right out there. Big turkey out there,

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Speaker 2: not this past spring, but spring.

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Speaker 1: Of twenty four, hanging out in this stuff.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he was.

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Speaker 2: I got a long lane that goes down through there,

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Speaker 2: and he was in that lane with a hen. But

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Speaker 2: after I burned this stuff in February, it's like a

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Speaker 2: big green field here and they'll get out here.

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Speaker 3: It's you, nayk.

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Speaker 2: I've it's ended up probably being more than I ever

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Speaker 2: thought it would be, far as your the ability to

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Speaker 2: use them, to manage and hunt in them, and all that.

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Speaker 2: It's really been. It's really been fun.

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Speaker 1: As I spent the rest of the time going through

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Speaker 1: Josh's property, it was really quite a sight to see

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Speaker 1: the amount of effort and care he and his family

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Speaker 1: have in that place is very evident. And the proof, well,

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Speaker 1: it's right there in front of you from the sites,

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Speaker 1: the stories of the good hunts, quail flushing off the

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Speaker 1: side of the road. It's good land stewardship in motion,

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Speaker 1: the kind of thing I want all of us to

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Speaker 1: think about as we move through this episode. We're going

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Speaker 1: to put a pause on the tour of Josh's property

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Speaker 1: and his conservation work, but I promise we'll come back

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Speaker 1: to it. For now, I want us to start getting

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Speaker 1: a better understanding of some of these conservation programs that

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Speaker 1: are out there, what they are and what they do.

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Speaker 1: We're going to start big and work our way down

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Speaker 1: to do these topics justice. I needed to call in

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Speaker 1: subject to experts, and I think we found the perfect folks.

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Speaker 4: My name's Aaron Field. I'm the director of Private Lands

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Speaker 4: Conservation for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. Live up here

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Speaker 4: in western Minnesota, but we're Washington, DC based national nonprofit,

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Speaker 4: and I cover the ag conservation portion of that portfolio,

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Speaker 4: so everything from farm built conservation programs especially, and then

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Speaker 4: looking for ways to get some private lands conservation work

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Speaker 4: done in ways that benefit the adjacent public lands as well.

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Speaker 1: The first thing I want Aaron to walk us through

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Speaker 1: is the farm Bill. I would wager that most of

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Speaker 1: you listening to this show have at least heard of

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Speaker 1: the farm Bil but how many of us out there

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Speaker 1: are actually tuned in to what impacts it can have

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Speaker 1: on wildlife and wild habitats, hunting quality even I'll put

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Speaker 1: myself on the chopping block here. When I was younger,

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Speaker 1: I didn't know the Farm Bill had impacts much outside

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Speaker 1: of commercial and row crop farming, so I didn't really

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Speaker 1: pay that much attention to it. However, we're about to

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Speaker 1: learn that in many ways it can shape the future

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Speaker 1: for hunters and outdoors men and women.

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Speaker 4: The Farm Bill is a huge package of the legislation

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Speaker 4: that we've been passing in this country for oh ninety

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Speaker 4: years or so, we could call it. And originally it

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Speaker 4: was purely a farming ranch egg policy in that package,

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Speaker 4: and in about nineteen eighty five Farm Bills when we

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Speaker 4: really added a big chunk of conservation to the bill.

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Speaker 4: And so the chunk of the farm Bill that I

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Speaker 4: pay most of my attention to is called Title II.

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Speaker 4: It's the conservation title, and the reason that hunters and

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Speaker 4: anglers should be paying attention to it are multiple. One

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Speaker 4: of the things I think people might not realize, or

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Speaker 4: maybe they do but haven't thought about as much as

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Speaker 4: they could have, is on private land in this country.

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Speaker 4: If we see good conservation work done on private land

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Speaker 4: in the United States, the reason that got done is

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Speaker 4: because the private landowner decided to do it. It's almost

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Speaker 4: never because a regulation forced them to. It's almost never

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Speaker 4: because somebody else had influence over It's because the private

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Speaker 4: landowner decided to do it. Farmer or the rancher, the

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Speaker 4: forest landowner made that choice, and oftentimes that choice is

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Speaker 4: pretty expensive. Takes time and money to get that work done,

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Speaker 4: whether it's you establishing native vegetation, whether it's controlling invasive species,

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Speaker 4: whether it's managing a forest so that is more productive

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Speaker 4: in terms of both timber and wildlife. And actions like that,

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Speaker 4: especially over a nationwide scale, make a big impact on

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Speaker 4: things that the rest of us benefit from, So things

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Speaker 4: like improving water quality, things like clean air air, things

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Speaker 4: like biodiversity maintenance or improvement, and then things like producing

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Speaker 4: healthy wildlife populations, which you know as a hunter and

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Speaker 4: I'm sure most of the listeners here hunters and anglers

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Speaker 4: really care about.

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Speaker 3: And so the.

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Speaker 4: System we've created in this country largely supported through the

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Speaker 4: Farm Bill, but also through various state and local programs

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Speaker 4: as well to encourage more landowners to do work like

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Speaker 4: that is a set of voluntary and incentive based programs

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Speaker 4: administered by the United States Department of Agriculture that help

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Speaker 4: offset some of the cost of doing good conservation work

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Speaker 4: on those lands and hopefully encourage more people to get involved.

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Speaker 1: So there's a whole lot to go through here, but

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Speaker 1: this is the main dot that I want to connect

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Speaker 1: right now. Remember Josh's long Leaf pine plantation that we

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Speaker 1: rode through and he said he was able to get

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Speaker 1: this planet through the EQUIP program. EQUIP stands for Environmental

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Speaker 1: qual Incentives Program, and in short, it's a USDA program

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Speaker 1: that provides financial incentives and assistance in helping landowners implement

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Speaker 1: conservation practices. Josh's long Leaf Pine plantation is a perfect

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Speaker 1: example of this, and EQUIP is not the only program

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Speaker 1: like this. There's also CRP, which I'm sure many of

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Speaker 1: you have heard of. It stands for Conservation Reserve Program

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Speaker 1: and CSP which stands for Conservation Stewardship Program. All of

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Speaker 1: these directly effect conservation being put back into the ground,

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Speaker 1: and all of these fall under the Farm Bill, which

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Speaker 1: is why it's in our best interest as hunters and

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Speaker 1: anglers and conservationists to pay attention to.

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Speaker 4: It where I live. If somebody drives past grass that

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Speaker 4: doesn't have cows on it, it's they're going to call

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Speaker 4: it CRP, whether it's actually enrolled in a program or not,

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Speaker 4: and that's just its testament to the influence that that

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Speaker 4: program has. So the farm bill is the vehicle that

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Speaker 4: one reauthorizes all the programs you listed so that they

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Speaker 4: continue to be funded and continue to function. Typically we

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Speaker 4: do that every five years. That we're ways off of

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Speaker 4: that right now, we're in a little different process currently,

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Speaker 4: but the Farm Build reauthorizes those programs so they can

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Speaker 4: continue to function, and it also provides the opportunity to

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Speaker 4: make policy changes within the programs. And so in the

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Speaker 4: normal process, what we would do is you'd pass a

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Speaker 4: farm Build and then over the next five years, we'd

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Speaker 4: be working with the agencies that are administering those programs.

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Speaker 4: We'd be talking to landowners, we'd be talking to ag

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Speaker 4: and commodity groups about the programs as well as other

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Speaker 4: groups in the hunt Fish wildlife conservation space, and we'd

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Speaker 4: be looking for ways that these programs aren't working quite

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Speaker 4: as well as they should be. And then we can

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Speaker 4: take that to Congress and say CRP the Conservation Reserve Program.

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Speaker 4: Awesome program. Here is five tweaks that you could make

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Speaker 4: to CRP that would make it work even better or

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Speaker 4: equips been great the Environmental Quality and Centives program, but

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Speaker 4: we'd really like to see some additional wildlife habitat happen

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Speaker 4: through that program. Here's some suggestions for how those programs

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Speaker 4: could be improved. And that's what would happen when we

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Speaker 4: pass a farm bill. We've been working since about twenty

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Speaker 4: twenty two here at TRCP to try to provide those recommendations,

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Speaker 4: but those changes don't happen unless a farm bill passes.

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Speaker 1: In short, the farm bill allows these programs to exist,

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Speaker 1: to stay funded, and to be tweaked and changed around

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Speaker 1: here and there if needed. And if you're listening to

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Speaker 1: this show and you're not fully bought in on how

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Speaker 1: this could affect hunting quality or even you directly, I

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Speaker 1: can assure you it does. But allow me to share

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Speaker 1: one example. Remember just a few episodes back, when we

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Speaker 1: were talking, Mallard Duck declines, I want to let er

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Speaker 1: explain from his perspective how the farm bill and conservation

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Speaker 1: incentive programs affect that directly.

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Speaker 4: So CRP specifically again Conservation Reserve Program. What that program

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Speaker 4: does is it provides an opportunity if a farmer has

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Speaker 4: a crop field that is eroding, that is vulnerable, that

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Speaker 4: is not very productive, typically that would essentially provide a

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Speaker 4: great a lot more good ecological goods and services, things

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Speaker 4: like clean water, clean air, habitat if it were planted

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Speaker 4: to perennial vegetation. This is a program that it provides

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Speaker 4: funding to do that, and it does that over a

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Speaker 4: ten or a fifteen year contract, which is another big thing,

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Speaker 4: because once we get that grass established or those trees established,

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Speaker 4: we don't want it to come out again in three years.

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Speaker 4: We want it to stick around for a little while.

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Speaker 4: But in the Prairie Pothole region, both the Conservation Reserve

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Speaker 4: Program as it as it sit, those enrollments in that

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Speaker 4: part of the country would have peaked somewhere in that

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Speaker 4: twenty ten to twenty fifteen range. And actually that's when

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Speaker 4: I was in college out in Jamestown, North Dakota, at

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Speaker 4: the peak of CRP and the peak of pheasant populations

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Speaker 4: in North Dakota, and I didn't even know how good

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Speaker 4: I had it. But yes, the enrollment in that program

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Speaker 4: has gone down a lot in that state. I'm speaking

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Speaker 4: specifically to North Dakota. That's just where I've got the

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Speaker 4: number in my head a little better. But that's a

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Speaker 4: bigger chunk of the Prairie Pohole region as you're aware. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: for a few reasons. One, there's been some tweaks to

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Speaker 4: the program in the twenty eighteen Farm Bill that made

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Speaker 4: it a little bit less attractive in terms of enrollment,

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Speaker 4: but also just broader, we saw corn and soybean prices

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Speaker 4: go way up during that period of time as well,

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Speaker 4: and so if you're making a business decision as a

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Speaker 4: farmer and a renal rate through CRP has gone down

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Speaker 4: and the amount of money I can make on corn

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Speaker 4: and soybeans has gone up, it makes it a little

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Speaker 4: harder to make the business decision to keep that in

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Speaker 4: grass and that definitely makes an impact on things like

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Speaker 4: waterfowl populations, upland populations. And then also for deer, if

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Speaker 4: you look at the number of deer tags that those

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Speaker 4: states in the PPR have been able to issue a

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Speaker 4: hunter's they've gone down precipitously, and I would lay a

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Speaker 4: lot of that at the feet of a loss of CRP.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, somewhere around like four point eight million acres lost.

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Speaker 1: And to quantify that, I mean the entire Mississippi Delta,

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Speaker 1: which is like if you live in Mississippi and you

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Speaker 1: duck hunt, I mean there's other pockets here and there

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Speaker 1: where you can do it, but the Mississippi Delta is

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Speaker 1: where you're going to go, you know, like that's the

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Speaker 1: most historically good area to do it. It's right around

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Speaker 1: four million acres. So it's like, imagine that just gone,

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Speaker 1: like no longer habitat. So it's like trying to paint

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Speaker 1: the picture to someone that you know, maybe doesn't in

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Speaker 1: this world how important these conservation programs are, like, how

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Speaker 1: how much it can affect wildlife and wildlife populations. It's

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Speaker 1: crazy to me.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, And right now we're right at the enrollment cap

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Speaker 4: for the CRP. We're at about twenty seven million acres

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Speaker 4: enrolled in CRP, and that program does look a little

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Speaker 4: different than it did years ago. We've got more acres

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Speaker 4: in something called grassland CRP than we've had in the past,

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Speaker 4: which has sort of shifted where that enrollment sits in

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Speaker 4: the country a little bit. But we're at the cap.

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Speaker 4: Commodity prices are not what they once were, and we're

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Speaker 4: starting to hear from farmers that, man, we could really

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Speaker 4: use some additional acres in this program, and we could

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Speaker 4: really use some improved incentives in this program. So what

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Speaker 4: we've got to do is get a farm bill pass

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Speaker 4: so that we can make those changes.

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Speaker 1: Believe me, I didn't ask Aaron to share that story

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Speaker 1: and information with us just so we could lament on

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Speaker 1: the days of more ducks, upland birds and even deer

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Speaker 1: in the prairie Pothole region. I asked him to share

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Speaker 1: it so we could all begin to understand how important

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Speaker 1: this stuff is. Here's the basic truth. If you want wildlife,

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Speaker 1: you have to have wildlife habitat. So understanding this stuff,

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Speaker 1: like the farm bill, these incentive programs like CRP, CSP

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Speaker 1: and EQUIP, I think it's very important both on public

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Speaker 1: and private land. I might add, we need wildlife conservation

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Speaker 1: happening on both.

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Speaker 4: You look at a state like Minnesota. We've got quite

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Speaker 4: a lot of public land, but it's concentrated in the

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Speaker 4: northeast part of the state. It's not where I live.

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Speaker 4: So if we don't have good habitsat on the ground

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Speaker 4: on private land, or access as well on private land,

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Speaker 4: or missing the boat. And then when you look further west,

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Speaker 4: even in a state like Nevada where you're something like

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Speaker 4: ninety five percent public, that five percent that's where the

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Speaker 4: water is, that's where a lot of the feed is.

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Speaker 4: It's incredibly important for wildlife in the West to have

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Speaker 4: those private lands in good shape and providing good habitat

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Speaker 4: as well, even if you've got tons of public land

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Speaker 4: that you can manage. There's a program called the Voluntary

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Speaker 4: Public Access and Habitat and Centives Program. It's the only

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Speaker 4: federal program that incentivizes hunting and fishing access on private land,

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Speaker 4: which is a big deal to folks like me in

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Speaker 4: the Midwest and especially in the East, but also touches

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Speaker 4: down in the West in some really really interesting ways.

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Speaker 4: There's lots of opportunities to make these things work better.

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Speaker 1: I've made this example about my home state of Mississippi

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Speaker 1: as to why conservation programs are important both on public

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Speaker 1: and private land. Mississippi is roughly ninety percent private land.

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Speaker 1: If we only did focused conservation work only available public lands,

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Speaker 1: then we would have really really good wildlife habitat ten

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Speaker 1: percent of the state, leaving the vast majority of the

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Speaker 1: rest of the state finn for itself. Personally, I want

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Speaker 1: wildlife habitat anywhere I can get it. There's also voluntary

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Speaker 1: public access and habitat incentive programs. These programs create public

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Speaker 1: access through privately owned properties. This includes some of the

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Speaker 1: walk in hunting access programs. And all of us know

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Speaker 1: we need all of that we can get.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and I mean all of us are doing. Hunters especially,

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Speaker 4: but anglers too. When you're driving across the country wherever

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Speaker 4: you're going, or even in your backyard, you're looking out

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Speaker 4: the window and you're looking at the landscape and thinking about, man,

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Speaker 4: that could be some really good turkey habitat, or that

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Speaker 4: could really do a lot more for deer if it

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Speaker 4: was X, Y and z, or whether you're thinking about

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Speaker 4: it on your own property, the same thing. And this

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Speaker 4: is a pretty powerful tool. These programs are a really

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Speaker 4: powerful tool to do more of that kind of work.

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Speaker 4: I think we get intimidated as just the average hunter

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Speaker 4: and angler. And you know, I don't know all the

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Speaker 4: details of that program. I don't know all the ins

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Speaker 4: and outs, and so I'm not gonna you know, I

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Speaker 4: won't speak up. I'm not going to get engaged in

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Speaker 4: the process. But honestly, a simple phone call that says, Hey,

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Speaker 4: I am a hunter, I'm an angler private lands conservation

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Speaker 4: ad Conservation makes my hunting and fishing better. I care

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Speaker 4: about this stuff. Can you please support it? Can you

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Speaker 4: please make it happen? It doesn't have to be Hey,

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Speaker 4: we need to tweak to page thirty seven US Code

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Speaker 4: thirty three point. You know it doesn't. That's we can

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Speaker 4: do that. I can handle that part. What we need

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Speaker 4: is decision makers hearing from people in their state, in

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Speaker 4: their district about why this stuff is important to them.

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Speaker 1: Hey, call your representative and tell them that you care

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Speaker 1: about this stuff. If we learned anything this past summer

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Speaker 1: after the public land sell off attempt, it's that our

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Speaker 1: voices do matter. Okay, we now have a better understanding

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Speaker 1: of the farm bill, the conservation programs. I feel like

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Speaker 1: we got that down. Now it's time to dig in

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Speaker 1: even further and learn how we can get in on

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Speaker 1: this ourselves. And for that, we're going to quickly return

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Speaker 1: to the tour of the Thrash property. So like when

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Speaker 1: you were going through the equip program to do the

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Speaker 1: long leaf, Huh is that a pretty easy process or no?

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Speaker 1: Not a easy process?

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Speaker 2: Nope, I don't see how the NRCS and the people

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Speaker 2: that do it keep it all together with all the paperwork.

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Speaker 2: But it is a world of paperwork, you know. It

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Speaker 2: wasn't It wasn't easy to me. If you were just

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Speaker 2: gonna do it by yourself and you didn't have an

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Speaker 2: extremely knowledgeable NRCS person helping you, the average person.

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Speaker 1: Couldn't couldn't get it done.

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Speaker 2: You probably could somebody, you know, younger with computer skills

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Speaker 2: to research everything.

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Speaker 1: You could probably get through it.

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Speaker 2: But I mean, I feel like the average person is

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Speaker 2: going to have to have some assistance. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 2: with some of these people that are out there now

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Speaker 2: that are assisting landowners to get these contracts.

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Speaker 3: And that's what we've done.

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Speaker 2: And I've done a lot of the work myself because

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Speaker 2: I started doing it before I actually had a contact

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Speaker 2: and had somebody helping me.

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Speaker 1: Gotcha, I'm gonna be real honest here. That's not what

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Speaker 1: I wanted to hear at all.

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Speaker 3: Really.

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Speaker 1: I wanted this part of the conversation to be like, yeah, man,

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Speaker 1: that was the easiest process I've ever been through. A

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Speaker 1: kid could do it. Putting conservation on my property has

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Speaker 1: never been easier. And you could do it too. Now

401
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Speaker 1: let's tie five and go dear honey. But obviously you

402
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Speaker 1: heard it. It didn't go that way. Josh said. It

403
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Speaker 1: was incredibly difficult, a very difficult and painful process just

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Speaker 1: to get enrolled in these conservation programs. And from my

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Speaker 1: perspective of wanting to motivate myself and others into getting

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Speaker 1: involved in some of this stuff, well that didn't sit

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Speaker 1: well with me. But fear not, my friends, all hope

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Speaker 1: is not lost. It's not lost at all. I have

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Speaker 1: found a solution. It's time for yall to meet our

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Speaker 1: next subject matter expert.

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Speaker 5: These conservation programs are very complex, I mean, more complex

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Speaker 5: than they should be. But I think I got a

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Speaker 5: little bit different viewpoint in that we spent some time

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Speaker 5: working for in r cs and now consult trying to

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Speaker 5: help people enroll in conservation program So I've kind of

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Speaker 5: seen it from both sides, and it's complex on both sides.

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Speaker 5: Even if you work for in rcs, things are constantly changing,

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Speaker 5: ranking process is constantly changing. But from the landowners perspective,

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Speaker 5: and it would just be hard to even know where

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Speaker 5: to start sometimes if you didn't have somebody helping you,

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Speaker 5: and you really are at the mercy of the people

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Speaker 5: that work in those offices and relying on them to

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Speaker 5: make sure you get the best deal available. And I

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Speaker 5: think a lot of people will just find value in

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Speaker 5: having someone represent them. That's kind of our goal that

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Speaker 5: Stewart Link is to take a little bit of that

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Speaker 5: burden and just unknown off of their plate and help

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Speaker 5: them find the right program and just kind of navigate

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Speaker 5: that whole process to make sure we achieve their goals

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Speaker 5: and put them in the best position to be successful

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Speaker 5: and just you know, hopefully find the right program.

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Speaker 1: The voice you just heard is a man named Nick Thomas.

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Speaker 1: I met Nick through my good friend and mentor, Will

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Speaker 1: Primo several years ago. Now, Will was going on about

435
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,399
Speaker 1: how Nick was just a wealth of knowledge about conservation programs,

436
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,040
Speaker 1: which eventually led to him founding Steward Link, a company

437
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:21,400
Speaker 1: that specializes in simplifying the conservation program enrollment process for landowners.

438
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,120
Speaker 5: You may have heard the story, but I go through

439
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,720
Speaker 5: a short version of it on how this got started.

440
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,520
Speaker 5: I did not have a grand vision for us to

441
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:30,240
Speaker 5: become what.

442
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:30,880
Speaker 3: We are now.

443
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:36,359
Speaker 5: You know, like you, I'm very passionate about outdoors, hunting

444
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 5: and fishing, and I left n rcs gonna sell crop insurance,

445
00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:44,240
Speaker 5: and obviously had a background of these conservation programs. I

446
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 5: knew things were kind of underutilized. I did not appreciate

447
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:51,320
Speaker 5: how much people wanted help to get enrolled in these

448
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:54,800
Speaker 5: programs or just get the right applications in the right paperwork,

449
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:58,480
Speaker 5: or understand more about what was available. So as I

450
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,080
Speaker 5: was talking to people, I tell them, like, you need

451
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:02,720
Speaker 5: to be signed up for the EQUIP program or the

452
00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:05,560
Speaker 5: CSP program, or you could you know, apply for this

453
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,320
Speaker 5: or that, whatever program it may be. And you know

454
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,240
Speaker 5: their initial response was, and would you help me do that?

455
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,680
Speaker 5: I'll pay you if you'll do that for me. And

456
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:16,760
Speaker 5: you know, light bulb went off in my head. You

457
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:18,520
Speaker 5: know this can be a side gig. I'll pay for

458
00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 5: a hunt trip. You know, my plan was to go

459
00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:24,479
Speaker 5: kill a Marriam's turkey somewhere with this side business. And

460
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 5: here we are, you know, now, almost exactly eleven years later,

461
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,800
Speaker 5: and you know, we got applications out there in thirty

462
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,480
Speaker 5: five states. You got twenty six full time employees and

463
00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:40,000
Speaker 5: growing like a weeds, certainly a demand for the service.

464
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 5: The analogy I use all the time is I compare

465
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 5: it kind of to the irs. I mean, if you

466
00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,919
Speaker 5: think about it, like and you may do this, but

467
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 5: you can do your own taxes. You know, you can

468
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 5: go online, you can file your own taxes, but most

469
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:58,480
Speaker 5: people hire a CPA, a professional that understands RS regulations

470
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,760
Speaker 5: policy to make sure it just don't correctly and that

471
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,760
Speaker 5: you're given the best deal possible. It's kind of the

472
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,840
Speaker 5: same thing for conservation programs again to what we were

473
00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 5: originally talking about. They're so complex. Everything has a code

474
00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:14,000
Speaker 5: or an acronym, and if you don't live in that world,

475
00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:17,959
Speaker 5: you don't even know what that means. So you have

476
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:20,600
Speaker 5: to kind of have all that background to really even

477
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,160
Speaker 5: know which programs it is that you're trying to get

478
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:29,240
Speaker 5: enrolled in to achieve your goals for your property. And

479
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,120
Speaker 5: that's what Stewart Link does is our kind of tagline

480
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,760
Speaker 5: or thing we put on our business cards. We want

481
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 5: to make conservation work for you. That's what we want

482
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:43,360
Speaker 5: to help people do, and that starts by understanding what

483
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:45,359
Speaker 5: are the goals for your property, what are you trying

484
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,320
Speaker 5: to achieve, and that it's our job to go find

485
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,399
Speaker 5: the right program to make sure that they get signed

486
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 5: up on time. All the eligibility paperwork and submit the

487
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,840
Speaker 5: highest ranking application possible. We don't want to get them

488
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,639
Speaker 5: into something that they don't want to do, obviously, but

489
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:04,800
Speaker 5: a lot of times they don't know everything that's available.

490
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:08,840
Speaker 5: An example may be maybe somebody's interested in planting cover

491
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,080
Speaker 5: crops on their farm. Well that's just one practice. You know,

492
00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,080
Speaker 5: you could also do nutrient management, pest management, maybe there's

493
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 5: some potential induce reduced tillage, or you know, plant some

494
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 5: native grass or flood for waterfowl, whole whole winter water

495
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 5: for waterfowl. Just so so many different things that are available.

496
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 5: The more conservation you apply for a usually the higher

497
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,400
Speaker 5: you rank. So we try to tell them everything that's available,

498
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,160
Speaker 5: make suggestions, and you know, improve their odds of getting

499
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:37,359
Speaker 5: a contract as well.

500
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 1: Do you have any sort of idea how many acres

501
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,840
Speaker 1: you've been able to put into conservation effort over the

502
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:46,119
Speaker 1: time that y'all have been doing this.

503
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 5: I do. I could take a stab at it. You know,

504
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:52,480
Speaker 5: it's been in the millions.

505
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,439
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been a lot, and that I don't know.

506
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 1: That just strikes a little bit harder with me now

507
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:02,359
Speaker 1: because it would in two episodes prior talking to that

508
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:05,439
Speaker 1: waterfall biologist, he was talking about how we've lost so

509
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: many acres and CRP over the years, and how the

510
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,159
Speaker 1: farm bill is kind of hanging in the balance right

511
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,359
Speaker 1: now and not knowing it's just so important that.

512
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:18,640
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's it's unfortunate, I think, and you know it's

513
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,480
Speaker 5: my opinion. Here we're still in the twenty eighteen farm Bill.

514
00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:24,600
Speaker 5: So here we are, you know, about to roll over

515
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,000
Speaker 5: into twenty twenty six, and we're still operating under the

516
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,399
Speaker 5: twenty eighteen Farm Bill. And you know, quite frankly, what

517
00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,240
Speaker 5: we've seen some conservation dollars take a down turn, and

518
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,679
Speaker 5: I hate that. I don't understand exactly why that is.

519
00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:41,920
Speaker 5: I'm obviously very passionate about land and hunting and fishing

520
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:43,439
Speaker 5: as well as I know you are, Lake and a

521
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,399
Speaker 5: lot of people listening to this podcast are. But we

522
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:50,080
Speaker 5: got to do a better job, I think of educating

523
00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:54,600
Speaker 5: people and making sure people understand the importance of conservation

524
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 5: and just good stewardship in general. You know, Natural Resources

525
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:04,360
Speaker 5: Conservation Service is the federal agency that administers conservation programs

526
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 5: through the Farm Bill. So what are our five natural resources?

527
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,879
Speaker 5: You know, soul water, air, plants, and animals, And you know,

528
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,200
Speaker 5: we're trying to conserve those, you know, leave those better

529
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,840
Speaker 5: than we found them, hopefully, And if you think about

530
00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,600
Speaker 5: who benefits from that, well, it's not just me and you, everybody.

531
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,560
Speaker 5: I mean, no matter where you live in New York,

532
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:29,080
Speaker 5: in a high rise apartment somewhere or wherever, if you

533
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:31,200
Speaker 5: don't hunt and fish, if you've never bought a hunting

534
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 5: license or anything, you depend on those five natural resources

535
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 5: to survive. Every single person does, and we've got to

536
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:40,560
Speaker 5: protect that, and we need to do a better job

537
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,000
Speaker 5: I think of telling the story of that. Just the

538
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 5: fact that the funding is trending down to incentivize people

539
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 5: to put good conservation on the ground tells me we're

540
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 5: not doing enough to educate the public on how important

541
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,880
Speaker 5: that is. I know our federal government has got a

542
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 5: lot of things that you know, they have to consider

543
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 5: when they figure out where tax dollars are going to

544
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:07,680
Speaker 5: be utilized, but I've got to believe protecting our natural

545
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 5: resources needs to be a little bit higher up the list.

546
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 5: The farming economy is not good right now. I think

547
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:17,760
Speaker 5: you could talk to farmers anywhere in the country and

548
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:19,760
Speaker 5: it wouldn't take you long to figure out that they're

549
00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,640
Speaker 5: struggling you know, commodity markets are not good right here

550
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:25,920
Speaker 5: in the Mississippi Delta. I mean it has been tough

551
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 5: for two or three years now, and you know it

552
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 5: doesn't look better for twenty six and you know what

553
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 5: a time to maybe get more conservation on the ground

554
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,680
Speaker 5: if there was funding. Conservation is not free. We all

555
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,480
Speaker 5: know that. I mean, we've got to have some way

556
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:49,560
Speaker 5: to incentivize people to put forth the effort and the

557
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,680
Speaker 5: time and the energy and the resources to get conservation

558
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,680
Speaker 5: on the ground. I mean it may take moving dirt.

559
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 5: I mean, native grass seeds are expensive, and all these

560
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,440
Speaker 5: different things. To put that habitat back out there costs money.

561
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:05,440
Speaker 5: But there again, every one of us depend on that.

562
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,400
Speaker 5: And it doesn't matter who you are or where you live.

563
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:12,920
Speaker 5: You need those five natural resources to survive, every.

564
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:13,360
Speaker 3: One of us.

565
00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 5: And I'm going to try to call it quote here, Lake,

566
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:18,080
Speaker 5: and I hope you don't mess it up. So all

567
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,600
Speaker 5: the Leipold quote, it's very famous, my favorite one. It says,

568
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:28,760
Speaker 5: conservation will essentially boil down to incentivizing the private landowner

569
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,840
Speaker 5: to protect the public's interest. And that's really what it is. Yeah,

570
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 5: that's conservation right there, and that's you know, once everybody

571
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 5: understands that, you know, hopefully we will realize the importance

572
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 5: and get some funding going back in a more positive

573
00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:49,360
Speaker 5: direction than what we've seen here recently. And that's one

574
00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:52,800
Speaker 5: thing I'm so proud of for Steward Link and one

575
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 5: thing that I don't know what all good Steward Link's doing,

576
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 5: but one thing I know we have been able to

577
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 5: do is prove their demand for conservation. Landowners are passionate

578
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 5: about their land. They love their land, and we've all

579
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 5: got different goals and maybe trying to produce more corn

580
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:13,320
Speaker 5: per acre, or have more ducks on the farm, or

581
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:15,360
Speaker 5: more deer or quail or whatever it may be, but

582
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,120
Speaker 5: they're passionate about conservation and they want to do stuff

583
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,400
Speaker 5: to improve their land. I mentioned earlier that we've got

584
00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 5: applicants now in thirty five states and continue to grow,

585
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,160
Speaker 5: and I've been in personally in most of those states

586
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,160
Speaker 5: and met with farmers, and I very seldom ever meet

587
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,600
Speaker 5: with a landowner that he doesn't sign up. I mean,

588
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,040
Speaker 5: he's either enrolled in a program, and a lot of

589
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 5: times even if he's enrolled, he still wants help. Because

590
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 5: we may be able to find a state program or

591
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:44,600
Speaker 5: private program or something else, and he just loves our

592
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 5: mission and what we're trying to do. And we've had

593
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 5: a very high success rate in signing people up to

594
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 5: help them find conservation programs and just pursue good stewardship.

595
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,320
Speaker 5: So that's exciting. We know the demands there, we just

596
00:31:58,360 --> 00:31:59,920
Speaker 5: need to find the funding for these people.

597
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 1: I heard Ryan Callahan say this once and I've never

598
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:08,320
Speaker 1: forgotten it. Conservation is not convenient. It's not. But conservation

599
00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,360
Speaker 1: is essential. That's a fact. And that's why I find

600
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:16,040
Speaker 1: it so encouraging to hear folks like Nick talk about

601
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,920
Speaker 1: it so knowledgeably and passionately, and also knowing that there's

602
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,960
Speaker 1: such a demand for this stuff from landowners, which is

603
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,200
Speaker 1: a perfect segue for this new topic. What could you

604
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:31,160
Speaker 1: be doing for conservation? Do you own property? Does your family?

605
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 1: Do you have it enrolled in any conservation programs? Maybe

606
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 1: it's time you looked into it. My wife and I

607
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 1: recently bought sixty acres closed to home, and I know

608
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,920
Speaker 1: I'll be looking into those programs real soon. Do y'all

609
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,560
Speaker 1: work a lot with smaller landowners or is it pretty

610
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,360
Speaker 1: good spread? Or do y'all work with mostly big acreage guys?

611
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 1: Or how does that work out?

612
00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:54,200
Speaker 5: You know, we get that question a lot, especially as

613
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,240
Speaker 5: we move into a different state when we may have

614
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 5: a referral partner or somebody we're working with and they'll

615
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,560
Speaker 5: ask us the eye deal size of a landowner, and

616
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,960
Speaker 5: always that the smallest contract we've had so far was

617
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:08,120
Speaker 5: one tenth of an acre, and that's ranged all the

618
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:11,040
Speaker 5: way to our biggest guys over forty thousand acres that

619
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:14,320
Speaker 5: he farmed, so everything in between. But if I just

620
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 5: had to guess at the average size on the road

621
00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:22,800
Speaker 5: crop farming Agg's side, probably you know, twenty five hundred

622
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,200
Speaker 5: three thousand acres if I had to guess, and timberland

623
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:28,520
Speaker 5: would be something smaller than that. But you know, we

624
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:31,239
Speaker 5: try not to turn anybody away. We want to, you know,

625
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:35,200
Speaker 5: bring value to anybody. We've added some new services. We're

626
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:37,960
Speaker 5: doing a lot of timberland work. We've got a guy

627
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:40,040
Speaker 5: we're working on right now. We've got two guys out

628
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 5: on his farm doing some hacking squirt treatment and he's

629
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:45,120
Speaker 5: paying for it out of his pocket. You know, he's

630
00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:47,120
Speaker 5: not and didn't have any contract. We got an application

631
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:50,440
Speaker 5: in he was disapproved or was not approved this past year,

632
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 5: and I mean, he you know, had the resources and

633
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,440
Speaker 5: he's that passionate about improving his land. He said, look,

634
00:33:57,600 --> 00:33:59,240
Speaker 5: i'll pay you guys, he's come to do it myself.

635
00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 5: I won't happen to that out there. So it's so

636
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:04,480
Speaker 5: fun to work with guys like that and just have

637
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:06,480
Speaker 5: a service to be able to help them get things

638
00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 5: done that otherwise they wouldn't be able to do.

639
00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 1: So part of the reason I asked that is selfishly

640
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,719
Speaker 1: because I just bought sixty acres and I'm like, well,

641
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:14,319
Speaker 1: I wonder how.

642
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:17,480
Speaker 5: I could deal with this. Look, we'd love to help you.

643
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 5: We'll get the Stewardlink app downloaded. We'll get you going, man,

644
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,640
Speaker 5: get you a forestry management plan. That's one thing that

645
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 5: is really important on the forestry side. It really needs

646
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:31,520
Speaker 5: to all start with a good forestry management plan. I mean,

647
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:35,880
Speaker 5: you've got to establish what's out there? Okay, what's the

648
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,879
Speaker 5: current you know, density, what species have we got out there?

649
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:42,000
Speaker 5: Is some different ages, what are the different stands? You know,

650
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:43,799
Speaker 5: what are our goals? How we're going to treat it,

651
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:45,360
Speaker 5: to improve it, to make it better? And that just

652
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,320
Speaker 5: helps us make good decisions. So, and we've got technical

653
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:51,840
Speaker 5: service providers and like I said, foresters that are certified

654
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,120
Speaker 5: to do those things for n r CS and help

655
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:56,239
Speaker 5: get a good plan in there that that hopefully makes

656
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,560
Speaker 5: n rcs's job better. I mean, that's one thing that

657
00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:02,840
Speaker 5: that we talk to our team about every day is

658
00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 5: trying to find ways to work better within RCS. Now,

659
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,839
Speaker 5: sometimes I can't tell if we're making progress or going

660
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:13,160
Speaker 5: backwards in that, but our effort from Stuart Link is

661
00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:15,600
Speaker 5: to get better at it and we want to do that.

662
00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,200
Speaker 5: We're going to continue to do that. The goal from

663
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:23,520
Speaker 5: everybody associated should be to get conservation on the ground,

664
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:27,320
Speaker 5: and however we can make that more streamlined an easier

665
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:33,880
Speaker 5: process for the applicant, the private landowner, the farmer, the individual,

666
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,560
Speaker 5: if you will, who's going to be putting that conservation

667
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:38,719
Speaker 5: on the ground. We should be trying to figure out

668
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:43,319
Speaker 5: how to make their experience as easy as possible and

669
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:47,200
Speaker 5: as pleasant as possible. Customer service, if you will. But

670
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:51,239
Speaker 5: la you're sixty acres, you can go to the NRCS

671
00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:54,919
Speaker 5: office FSA office and sign up on your own. Anybody can.

672
00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:58,680
Speaker 5: That office is their public ass access. I mean, it's

673
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:02,839
Speaker 5: a public service, so anybody can go in. But yet

674
00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 5: here we are applications in thirty five states, and I

675
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,840
Speaker 5: would venture to say that over ninety percent of the

676
00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:15,800
Speaker 5: people we talk to sign up. So that pretty clearly

677
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:20,960
Speaker 5: says that there's a demand for somebody to use a

678
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:25,000
Speaker 5: technical service provider or a consultant if you will, to

679
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:29,319
Speaker 5: help them navigate that process. So we need to, you know,

680
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,399
Speaker 5: in my opinion, just get over that a little bit

681
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:33,560
Speaker 5: and let's figure out how to help people and work

682
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:36,840
Speaker 5: together on this and do it for the right reasons,

683
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:39,320
Speaker 5: and let's conserve our natural resources.

684
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:40,879
Speaker 3: That's what we need to be focused on.

685
00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:43,480
Speaker 1: You know it. You know, it reminds me of and

686
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:45,960
Speaker 1: this will be I think this will draw some parallels

687
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,839
Speaker 1: because the folks that listen, I know they'll be able

688
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:53,000
Speaker 1: to relate with this one. There are services on extive

689
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 1: works of them like hunting fuls. One of them like

690
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:58,600
Speaker 1: hunting tag services. Anybody like I can go and apply

691
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:04,160
Speaker 1: for a help tag in Arizona or by a preference

692
00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:07,000
Speaker 1: point in Iowa. Do you know how many years it's

693
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:10,279
Speaker 1: almost embarrassing, you know how many years I would realize that,

694
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:12,719
Speaker 1: oh I missed the deadline and I didn't get to

695
00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:13,680
Speaker 1: get my preference point.

696
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:18,600
Speaker 5: That is a perfect comparison. Yeah, Like, I love to

697
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 5: hunt as much as anybody I know. I'm passionate about

698
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,240
Speaker 5: it and done it my whole life and just can't

699
00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:27,680
Speaker 5: imagine it any other way. I was at the Congressional

700
00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:32,319
Speaker 5: Sportsman's Foundation summit last week, and I was visiting with

701
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:35,399
Speaker 5: a friend, and one of the things the speaker said

702
00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:38,560
Speaker 5: was that about four percent of the population hunts. And

703
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:41,239
Speaker 5: maybe that's true. I don't know what the percentage is,

704
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 5: But if that's true, how fortunate am I that I'm

705
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,759
Speaker 5: in that four percent? Because I cannot imagine life any

706
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:51,520
Speaker 5: other way. Pretty Much everything I do in my free

707
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:55,319
Speaker 5: time or my enjoyment is you know, killing animal is

708
00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,440
Speaker 5: such a small part of it now for me. But

709
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:01,080
Speaker 5: I mean I'll be out here in July, I working

710
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:03,520
Speaker 5: on a duck field or a duck hole, or a

711
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:06,640
Speaker 5: duck blind, or hacking squirting trees. I mean, I'll have

712
00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 5: my ten year old son out here, my daughter, my wife,

713
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,880
Speaker 5: I mean the whole family. We're out here hacking in square.

714
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:12,960
Speaker 5: I mean we had blue dye over everybody. You should

715
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:13,760
Speaker 5: see some of the pictures.

716
00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:16,759
Speaker 1: Oh, I've been distracted this entire conversation because I keep

717
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 1: catching ducks in the window here, oh, landing out there, and.

718
00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 5: We've been so fortunate to have a camp here, you know,

719
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:25,279
Speaker 5: and by design because I want to. I want to

720
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,960
Speaker 5: be able to sit here and see the ducks going

721
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,960
Speaker 5: in in the evenings. And it's cut back on my

722
00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:33,399
Speaker 5: duck hunting because i like to sit here and watch them,

723
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 5: and I've just got so many memories tied to that.

724
00:38:36,719 --> 00:38:38,040
Speaker 3: Just so so fortunate to.

725
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:40,880
Speaker 5: Be in that four percent that hunt, because man, I

726
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:43,160
Speaker 5: just I don't know what I'd do if I hadn't

727
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:43,879
Speaker 5: grown up that way.

728
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:45,759
Speaker 3: I had no idea what I'd be doing right now.

729
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:49,239
Speaker 1: He really was distracted, you know, trying to focus on

730
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 1: the interview, but there's steadily Mallard streaking across the range

731
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:55,040
Speaker 1: sunset sky and contently landing just right there in view.

732
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,279
Speaker 1: But at the same time it was kind of a

733
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:01,280
Speaker 1: perfect testament to a guy like and what he cares

734
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:04,400
Speaker 1: about those ducks are there because he takes care of

735
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:09,319
Speaker 1: his place. And that's conservation, my friends. I want to

736
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:12,920
Speaker 1: round this conversation off by going over some practical steps

737
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:15,759
Speaker 1: on how you or really anybody could put some of

738
00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:17,360
Speaker 1: this conservation work in place.

739
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:23,120
Speaker 5: My advice to those people into everybody is understand for

740
00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:27,120
Speaker 5: conservation programs, it's not likely that anything is going to

741
00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:31,000
Speaker 5: happen fast. All of the federal programs, if you will.

742
00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:34,960
Speaker 5: In most conservation programs, you know, go through an annual cycle.

743
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,320
Speaker 5: There's an application period, a ranking period, a funding period,

744
00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:41,360
Speaker 5: and there's a lot of applications with a few people

745
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:44,719
Speaker 5: working on it. So it's a slow process. But kind

746
00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:48,120
Speaker 5: of just engage it with the mindset that this may

747
00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 5: take a while. It may take a year, two years,

748
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:52,200
Speaker 5: it may take three years.

749
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:52,680
Speaker 3: I don't know.

750
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:54,839
Speaker 5: We just got a guy funded this year for a

751
00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:58,240
Speaker 5: four hundred thousand dollars contract that this is the fifth

752
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:00,920
Speaker 5: year he's been with us. But I would advise for

753
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:03,440
Speaker 5: people to let's go in it with the mindset it

754
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,959
Speaker 5: may take some time, and let's formulate a plan. Let's

755
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,799
Speaker 5: get a forester out to the property if it's timberland,

756
00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:10,799
Speaker 5: and let's go ahead and get a forestry management plan,

757
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:14,719
Speaker 5: Let's get a wildlife management plan, and let's decide from

758
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:17,879
Speaker 5: a whole farm perspective, what can we do to make

759
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:20,160
Speaker 5: it better to achieve your goals. Let's look at what

760
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:23,359
Speaker 5: it would cost to maybe do a timber thinning, or

761
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:25,600
Speaker 5: what you would get out of the timber cells, or

762
00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:27,920
Speaker 5: maybe if you got into a conservation program, what it

763
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:31,080
Speaker 5: would pay to allow you to do that, whatever it

764
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:34,520
Speaker 5: may be for that specific property. Let's come up with

765
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 5: a good plan and rely on Steward Linker. I tell

766
00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:40,080
Speaker 5: people all the time, you know, if you don't feel

767
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:42,239
Speaker 5: comfortable using US, I still want you to go sign

768
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:45,080
Speaker 5: up for the program. Programs are there, they're available to

769
00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,799
Speaker 5: the public. Everybody should be signed up participating if they're

770
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:52,359
Speaker 5: interested in conservation at least pursuing the program. And you know,

771
00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:55,360
Speaker 5: go up there and talk to nrcs and try to

772
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:58,839
Speaker 5: build a relationship with them and get going down that road.

773
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:01,080
Speaker 5: And if you come back later if you need some help,

774
00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:03,799
Speaker 5: we'll still be here and happy to help you. And

775
00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:06,359
Speaker 5: we've had a few people do that, and a lot

776
00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:08,600
Speaker 5: of times they do come back and want help, and

777
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:11,680
Speaker 5: of course we're happy to do that. But I think

778
00:41:11,719 --> 00:41:15,360
Speaker 5: that's the best advice I could give is just to

779
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:19,719
Speaker 5: find some professionals, some wildlife biologists, foresters. Let's form a

780
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:22,680
Speaker 5: good plan and let's get some applications going. And there's

781
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:25,719
Speaker 5: a lot of paperwork associated with those applications, and it

782
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:26,600
Speaker 5: is timely.

783
00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:29,239
Speaker 3: You know, you have to have some help.

784
00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:31,719
Speaker 1: If someone wanted to go, you know, if they happen

785
00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 1: to be in one of the states that that y'all

786
00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 1: are in, Like, how would they what's the best way

787
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:37,120
Speaker 1: to get in touch with the off.

788
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:39,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, so a couple of ways. You can go to

789
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:42,640
Speaker 5: our website at stewardlink dot com. You know that there's

790
00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 5: a button on there to contact us and it'll send

791
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 5: us a short email and someone from the office will

792
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:50,200
Speaker 5: reach out to you within twenty four hours of business

793
00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:52,759
Speaker 5: days anyway, or you can just give us a call

794
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:55,799
Speaker 5: or our office number is six six two five three

795
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:59,919
Speaker 5: five zero two three three, And I mean we're there

796
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:02,920
Speaker 5: Monday through Friday, a lot of times on Saturday or

797
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:04,719
Speaker 5: sometimes maybe even Sunday afternoon.

798
00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:06,880
Speaker 3: But we'll be there and be glad to help you.

799
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:09,319
Speaker 5: And like I said, we've got employees scattered around the

800
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:12,680
Speaker 5: country and we'll get you assigned to the person closest

801
00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:16,880
Speaker 5: to you. And as we build applications and hopefully get contrasts,

802
00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:19,440
Speaker 5: I mean, we look to add more employees. So you

803
00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:22,600
Speaker 5: know what, we're hiring people steadily and continuing to grow.

804
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:26,520
Speaker 5: So you know, we've got two employees in Montana now

805
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,719
Speaker 5: and Montana Montana, come all the way over in the

806
00:42:29,719 --> 00:42:32,880
Speaker 5: northeast to New York. I believe we've got an application.

807
00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:34,960
Speaker 5: We're talking to a couple of people in New Hampshire,

808
00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:36,920
Speaker 5: so we may get a little bit further to the northeast,

809
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:38,680
Speaker 5: and then of course all the way down into Florida,

810
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,320
Speaker 5: and I guess southwest we go as far as Texas,

811
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:44,760
Speaker 5: so I don't think we have anything further west of Texas,

812
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,759
Speaker 5: kind of on the southern southwestern part of the country, so.

813
00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:49,520
Speaker 3: Not yet.

814
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:51,480
Speaker 5: I mean, we'll be in all fifty states for it's over.

815
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:53,520
Speaker 5: So that's the goal of ours, and I think one

816
00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:54,560
Speaker 5: that will obtain.

817
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:57,160
Speaker 1: I'm going to share with you all my New Year's resolution.

818
00:42:57,560 --> 00:42:59,720
Speaker 1: Like I told Joe earlier, my wife and I recently

819
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:02,720
Speaker 1: bought sixty acres and I could not be more excited

820
00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:06,360
Speaker 1: about it. My resolution is to have that place enrolled

821
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:09,839
Speaker 1: in some sort of conservation program within this calendar year.

822
00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's possible or not yet, but

823
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:14,560
Speaker 1: I promise you we're gonna make some progress, and I

824
00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:16,520
Speaker 1: encourage all of you to do the same if you're

825
00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:20,919
Speaker 1: able at least look into it. I want to thank

826
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:23,640
Speaker 1: all of you for listening to Backwoods University, as well

827
00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:26,640
Speaker 1: as Bear Grease and this country life. I can't tell

828
00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:28,959
Speaker 1: y'all how much it means to all of us over here.

829
00:43:29,239 --> 00:43:31,760
Speaker 1: If you like this episode, share it with a friend,

830
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:34,520
Speaker 1: or share it with someone that you know maybe has

831
00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:37,400
Speaker 1: some land that they want to put into some conservation programs,

832
00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 1: and stick around because it's a new year and we're

833
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:43,240
Speaker 1: all fully energized over here. There's a whole lot more

834
00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:44,000
Speaker 1: on the way.