What if a robin-sized bird just flew 1,700 miles in 48 hours — and Iowa was a critical stop along the way?

That's not a hypothetical. It happened. And we only know because of the Motus Wildlife Tracking Network.

In this episode, Chris sits down with Anna Buckardt Thomas, avian ecologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Diversity Program, to dig into one of the coolest conservation science stories happening right now. Anna initiated the Motus network in Iowa, growing it from eight stations in 2021 to more than 40 — and the data coming out of it is rewriting what we thought we knew about bird migration.

Motus is a continent-spanning, collaborative radio telemetry system operated by Birds Canada. Researchers across the hemisphere tag wildlife on a shared frequency, and a network of receiver stations picks up those signals and feeds them into an open-source database. The result: for the first time, we can follow the individual journey of a Lesser Yellowlegs from Colombia to the Arctic and back, or watch a Wood Thrush return to the exact same Iowa woodlot two years running.

Key takeaways:

• What the Motus system is and why it's a game-changer for understanding small birds and bats that can't carry GPS units.
• Why Iowa matters at a continental scale: nearly a billion birds fly through the state each fall migration season.
• The Lesser Yellowlegs that traveled 1,700 miles in 48 hours — clocked at 100 mph between an Iowa station and the Mississippi River.
• A Tree Swallow that stopped over near Waubonsie State Park for 30 days fueling up before continuing south.
• Iowa's Wood Thrush tagging project: 14 of 15 tagged birds returned to the same exact Iowa territory the following spring.
• How Anna pitched the program internally by anchoring the ask to data that already showed Iowa's migratory importance.
• The education opportunity for parks and nature centers — and how Des Moines County Conservation is getting its own station at Big Hollow Recreation Area.
• What to do with all of this: plant native species, tell the stories, and give people concrete actions.

We often talk on this show about leading with vision and building on existing organizational strengths. Anna's approach to growing the Iowa Motus network is a masterclass in exactly that — she didn't start from scratch, she started with a billion data points on a radar map and said, we need to understand what's happening here. The rest built itself.

Explore the data yourself: motus.org — click on Explore Data, find Iowa stations, and go down the wormhole. You've been warned.

Connect with Anna: Search "Anna Buckardt Thomas Iowa DNR" to find her contact info on the DNR website.

About Parks & Restoration

Parks & Restoration is the show for parks and natural resource professionals who want to be better leaders for their organizations, communities, and the lands and waters they steward. Every other Tuesday, Chris Lee shares practical strategies — grounded in ecology and culture-building — to help you become the leader your team needs.

Join the Next Level Leadership community at parksandrestoration.com for bi-weekly insights, free tools, and invites to exclusive meetups.

Subscribe, leave a review, and follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube by searching "Parks and Restoration Podcast."

What if your local conservation foundation didn't just sell raffle tickets at a banquet — what if it headlined a three-day riverfront festival that drew 12,000 people and netted over $20,000 for conservation?

That's exactly what happened in Burlington, Iowa. And it started with a half-baked idea about boat races on the Mississippi.

In this episode, Chris sits down with Chris Gram, Executive Director of the Greater Burlington Convention and Visitors Bureau, to tell the origin story of Burlington River Days — a three-day riverfront festival featuring live concerts, a barbecue competition, a boat parade, River Days Olympics, and a boat giveaway — all organized in six months by a committee of six people with no event experience, no security staff, and a VIP fence held together with zip ties and conduit welded by a financial advisor.

But more than a great story, this episode is a masterclass in what happens when you assemble the right people, refuse to say "can't," and let your local foundation be more than a pass-through for tax-deductible donations. It's also a direct follow-up to Episode 91 with Hannah Inman — and proof that the "don't be afraid" ethos applies just as much in Burlington as it does in Des Moines.

Key topics:

• The catalysts behind Burlington River Days and how it came together in six months
• Why "don't tell me what I can't do" is a leadership philosophy, not just a personality trait
• How to build a committee of people who default to "how do we make this work?"
• The role of tourism partners, local nonprofits, and community foundations in making big ideas real
• Why public agency leaders need a nimble nonprofit partner to take entrepreneurial risks
• How embracing your critics with humor can become one of your best marketing moves

Resources mentioned:

• Burlington River Days
• Partners for Conservation Foundation
• Greater Burlington Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Burlington Riverfront Entertainment
• Episode 91: Mindset Shifts That Grow Nonprofits into Fundraising Powerhouses with Hannah Inman

About Parks and Restoration Podcast

The Parks and Restoration Podcast is for parks and conservation professionals who want to become better leaders, because better leadership creates better ecosystems, stronger teams, and more meaningful impact. Learn more at: ParksandRestoration.com

What if the nonprofit that supports your park or agency did more than peddle firewood? What if its fundraising revenue had a few extra zeroes?

That's exactly what's possible with a few small mindset shifts. The Great Outdoors Foundation is proof.

In this episode, Chris sits down with Hannah Inman, Executive Director of the Great Outdoors Foundation, the nonprofit partner to Polk County Conservation that has grown from a scrappy, volunteer-led support group into one of the most impactful conservation philanthropies in the Midwest. To date, the organization has deployed over $250 million toward conservation, water quality, and outdoor recreation, including over $100 million raised for the ICON Water Trails project alone.

Hannah shares the three critical inflection points that transformed the foundation, the mindset shift that made it all possible, and what parks and conservation professionals at every level can learn about building donor relationships, scaling a nonprofit, and removing the barriers that keep great conservation projects stuck on a shelf.

The conversation also gets practical, with specific advice for foundations at three different stages: just getting started, stagnant and in need of new life, and ready to launch.

This episode is the recording of a live virtual call with members of the Next Level Leadership Community in attendance. Be a part of future conversations by joining the community at ParksandRestoration.com.

Key topics:

• The three inflection points that turned a volunteer-led friends group into a $250 million organization
• Why "a 501c3 is a tax status, not a business plan" and what that means for how you operate
• The Conservation Acceleration Fund: $9 million deployed, $44 million in leveraged funds
• How to think about fundraising as relationship alignment, not sales
• How to approach corporate donors when you have no existing relationship
• Recommendations for foundations at three stages: starting, stagnant, and ready to scale
• Why the biggest pitfall right now might be being too risk-averse
• How AI could actually help a small foundation leap ahead faster than ever before

Resources mentioned:

• Great Outdoors Foundation
• Happy Disruptors Podcast
• ICON Water Trails
• Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation

About Parks and Restoration Podcast

The Parks and Restoration Podcast is for parks and conservation professionals who want to become better leaders, because better leadership creates better ecosystems, stronger teams, and more meaningful impact. Learn more at: ParksandRestoration.com

In this episode, Chris sits down with Brett Hoogeveen, co-founder of Better Culture and Mindset LLC, keynote speaker, TEDx speaker, and host of the Better Culture podcast. Brett’s work is built on a simple but powerful premise: culture is undervalued, underappreciated, and when done right, the most powerful lever any leader has.

The conversation draws rich parallels between organizational culture and ecological systems. Just like a prairie is not “done” after one prescribed burn, culture improvement is never finished. It’s an infinite game: ongoing, intentional, and worth every bit of effort.

Brett shares the origin story of Better Culture, rooted in his father’s work building QLI, a catastrophic rehabilitation center in Omaha that became a five-time best place to work. Their employee engagement scores were so high that national auditors flew in suspecting fraud. From those foundations, Brett unpacks what it really takes to build a culture where people want to show up, do great work, and stay.

This episode is the recording of a live virtual call with members of the Next Level Leadership Community in attendance. Join in future conversations by joining the community at ParksandRestoration.com.

Key topics:

• Why culture directly impacts profit, safety, turnover, and quality of life (not just “vibes”)
• Where executives, middle managers, and individual contributors should each start
• The concept of “you bring the weather” and why how you show up every day matters more than you think
• The 7 Principles of Leadership Brett’s father developed in 1991 and why they still work across every industry
• Why measurement is not the most important part of culture improvement (and what is)
• How to deal with the “invasive species” on your team and why high-frequency feedback is the key
• Why strengthening your appreciation muscle is the single best place to start as a new leader

Resources mentioned:

• Better Culture - betterculture.com
• Better Culture Live - Leadership conference, September 23-24, 2026 in Omaha/Bellevue, Nebraska
• Mindset Leadership Program - betterculture.com/mlp
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
• Radical Candor by Kim Scott
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek

About Parks and Restoration Podcast

The Parks and Restoration Podcast is for parks and conservation professionals who want to become better leaders, because better leadership creates better ecosystems, stronger teams, and more meaningful impact.

Learn more at: ParksandRestoration.com

Chris sits down with Dr. Nick Askew, founder and director of Conservation Careers, for a wide-ranging conversation that spans barn owl behavior, international wildlife management, and the future of the conservation workforce.

Nick shares how a career arc that began with childhood fishing trips and a breathtaking first barn owl sighting led him through Birdlife International, fieldwork in the Pacific, and eventually back to the UK to build Conservation Careers — a global platform now serving over 1.2 million visitors annually and listing some 50,000–60,000 jobs per year.

The conversation covers the surprising parallels between barn owl foraging energetics and how we think about habitat corridors, what employers around the world are actually struggling to find in conservation job candidates (hint: it's not technical skills), and why the sector may need to look outside its own ranks to grow its impact. Chris and Nick also dig into leadership development, the value of coaching over training, and why self-awareness might be the most underrated career skill in conservation.

Topics covered:

• How Conservation Careers grew from a side hustle to a global platform
• The barn owl research behind Nick's PhD — and what it teaches us about habitat connectivity
• What the Lower Derwent Valley nature reserve model looks like compared to US public lands
• Why soft skills and professional skills matter more than employers let on
• Bringing non-conservation professionals into the sector — and integrating them well
• The case for entrepreneurial, commercial thinking in NGOs and nonprofits
• Rewilding success stories, including the Knepp Estate and Isabella Tree's book Wilding
• Nick's one piece of advice for aspiring conservation leaders

Resources mentioned:

• Conservation Careers
• Wilding by Isabella Tree
• Birdlife International
• The Knepp Estate rewilding project

About Parks and Restoration Podcast

The Parks and Restoration Podcast is for parks and conservation professionals who want to become better leaders—because better leadership creates better ecosystems, stronger teams, and more meaningful impact.

Learn more at: ParksandRestoration.com

What if the way we’ve been thinking about leadership is fundamentally wrong?

This episode is the meetup Chris hosted with Dr. Kathleen Allen, author of Leading from the Roots, and it explores a completely different way of thinking about leadership—one grounded not in control, hierarchy, or efficiency… but in nature.

Kathleen’s work focuses on regenerative leadership—designing organizations that function more like ecosystems than machines. And as you’ll hear, the implications are massive.

Key topics:

• Why treating organizations like machines creates burnout, silos, and dysfunction
• The shift from extractive systems to regenerative ones—and why it matters
• How a simple change in perspective (seeing people as living systems) transforms culture instantly
• Why most org charts are backwards—and what a “tree-based” org structure reveals
• The three stages of ecosystem development—and how they map directly to organizations
• Why diversity and relationships—not control—create resilience
• What distributed leadership actually looks like in practice (and why it works)
• How organizations unintentionally create fragility through efficiency and monoculture thinking

One of the biggest takeaways:
If your system is producing poor outcomes, the answer isn’t to push people harder—it’s to redesign the system.

This conversation will challenge how you think about leadership, culture, and even success itself.

Connect with Dr. Kathleen Allen:
Website: KathleenAllen.net
Email: keallen1@charter.net

About Parks and Restoration:
Parks and Restoration is the podcast for park and conservation professionals who want to lead better—by building stronger teams, healthier organizations, and more impactful work. Through real-world stories and practical insights, we explore how to create environments where both people and ecosystems can thrive.

What makes people want to stay on your team for the long haul?

In this episode, Chris is joined by Des Moines County Conservation’s Environmental Education Manager, Marcus Nack, for a conversation about workplace culture, leadership, and the kind of organizational ecosystem that makes people want to stay, grow, and do their best work. The discussion starts with a real example: an intern who came to the team looking for clarity and left saying, “I want to do this forever.” From there, Chris and Marcus unpack what creates that kind of environment—and why great culture is never an accident.

Marcus shares his own path into conservation and environmental education, from growing up in suburban Illinois and hunting with his dad in Wisconsin, to college, grad school, camp leadership, and eventually landing in southeast Iowa during the chaos of 2020. Along the way, he reflects on the experiences that shaped his leadership style and why fun, play, reflection, and emotional awareness matter more than most managers realize.

The conversation also explores the overlap between leadership and ecology—a theme longtime listeners will recognize. Chris and Marcus talk about how creating a thriving workplace is a lot like creating habitat: when people feel supported, energized, and safe to grow, better outcomes follow. They also dig into Marcus’s approach to leading the education team, including how he uses reflection, after-action reviews, and curiosity instead of blame to help people improve.

They also touch on Marcus’s new podcast, Paid Time Outdoors (find it on YouTube and Facebook), which explores how people choose to spend the time they work so hard to earn. It’s a fun side conversation, but one that ties right back into the episode’s bigger point: people thrive when they stay connected to what gives them energy.

A few takeaways from this episode:
A great workplace is built on trust, fun, and genuine human connection—not just productivity.
Reflection matters. Teams improve faster when they regularly ask what worked, what didn’t, and what they can do better next time.
Play is not a distraction from growth. It’s often how growth happens.

About Parks and Restoration:
Parks and Restoration is the podcast for parks and conservation professionals who want to be better leaders for their teams, agencies, and communities. Through conversations on leadership, culture, personal growth, and the work of conservation, the show helps listeners build healthier organizations and more meaningful careers. Learn more at ParksandRestoration.com.

The fight against invasive species seems to never end. Natural resource managers need to deploy every tool possible to stay ahead of the game (or catch back up, as the case may be). One tool in the toolbox is not man or machine, but goats.

In this episode, I talk again with Jeremy Yost, Natural Resource Tech in Pottawattamie County, IA about their experience using goats as a natural resource management tool.

While they're no silver bullet, goats can be effective when utilized as part of a multifaceted effort to restore native landscapes. Listen in to learn how.