When I was working in the capital, it was heartbreaking to see how agriculture, conservation and environmental issues worked against each other. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you have opportunities to make an impact for conservation. Don’t just be a consumer. Make sure you’re giving back.
— Brandon Butler
Brad Luttrell, the host of Restless Native and cofounder, CEO of GoWild, rolled into Wichita with the goal of getting as many quality guests on his podcast as possible. It's rare to find such a media-centric group, and the POMA conference makes for perfect podcast material.
The first of the podcasts released from the event launched today. Brandon Butler joins Luttrell to discuss his journey through the outdoor landscape as a writer, conservationist, and lobbyist. In doing so, he highlights many of the issues he uncovered along the way.
"Brandon Butler is one of the sharpest conservation communicators you will meet," Luttrell said in the opening monologue. "I admire him because while this guy understands the ugly side of the state of things, he doesn’t let that take away from his own enjoyment of the outdoors. I think that says something special about his character, given the state of affairs."
The "state of affairs" can look like gloom and doom if you're in the industry. And we do have a problem on our hands, in that the volume of hunters is shrinking overall. We pay for conservation through hunting, fishing and firearms dollars. And we have movements attempting to counteract these participant declines with messages about how hunting is conservation.
But if a person doesn’t advocate for conservation, can they be a conservationist? How about if they’re not even aware their act of hunting is contributing to conservation?
Few people I’ve ever met understand the ins and outs of what it means to be a conservationist and to wrestle with these questions better than Brandon Butler.
Listen to Restless Native, Ep. 71, Brandon Butler.
Join Brandon on GoWild, and join in the conversation around conservation.
Did you miss our interview with other POMA members? See who we've chatted with here.