Tune in and journey to the heart of conservation in Texas, guided by the fabulous Katie Spurgin and her passion for the outdoors. As the Engagement Manager for Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, Katie shares her story of transitioning from a high school journalism teacher to fostering the next generation of conservation leaders. Katie's story is a testament to the transformative power of nature and her love for the outdoors. We discuss private landowners' critical role in conservation and the significance of private and public lands in fostering outdoor engagement.
Cohost Davin, Whiskey T, Topel shares a little about the Hog's Knuckle cocktail he crafted for the show, and we have a large time in the BunkHaus.
As we wrap up our journey, we delve into the growth of the Stewards of the Wild program, bolstered by many dedicated conservationists. We also talk about the upcoming Stewards event and fundraising initiatives for TPWF.
From discussing the importance of multi-contact programs with ranches to reflecting on the love for the outdoors, signified by dirty hands, this episode is a treasure trove of passion, conservation, and outdoor joy. Get ready for an unforgettable adventure in conservation.
Find Josh on Instagram or Twitter.
Presented by:
Spoke Hollow Outdoors - find them on Instagram or Facebook.
For more great BunkHaus content, check out:
BunkHausPodcast.com | Youtube | Instagram
Tune in and journey to the heart of conservation in Texas, guided by the fabulous Katie Spurgin and her passion for the outdoors. As the Engagement Manager for Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, Katie shares her story of transitioning from a high school journalism teacher to fostering the next generation of conservation leaders. Katie's story is a testament to the transformative power of nature and her love for the outdoors. We discuss private landowners' critical role in conservation and the significance of private and public lands in fostering outdoor engagement.
Cohost Davin, Whiskey T, Topel shares a little about the Hog's Knuckle cocktail he crafted for the show, and we have a large time in the BunkHaus.
As we wrap up our journey, we delve into the growth of the Stewards of the Wild program, bolstered by many dedicated conservationists. We also talk about the upcoming Stewards event and fundraising initiatives for TPWF.
From discussing the importance of multi-contact programs with ranches to reflecting on the love for the outdoors, signified by dirty hands, this episode is a treasure trove of passion, conservation, and outdoor joy. Get ready for an unforgettable adventure in conservation.
Find Josh on Instagram or Twitter.
Presented by:
Spoke Hollow Outdoors - find them on Instagram or Facebook.
For more great BunkHaus content, check out:
BunkHausPodcast.com | Youtube | Instagram
I grew up outside. I grew up hunting, fishing, hiking, camping. You know, some of my favorite memories are me and my family camping and waking up in the morning and having coffee when I was eight years old, which is strange.
Speaker 3:You're doing coffee, not in Texas, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:But those are some of the most beautiful memories I have, you know, watching me and my brother watching the hummingbirds, you know, around our campsite and things like that. So it was always a natural thing for me to work in conservation. But I never put that together until a few years ago, I guess, when I got involved with stewards. So yeah, I mean it was in my entry point, stewards is my entry point. Now I'm, you know, a conservation leader.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Bunkhouse podcast broadcasting from the confluence of outdoor recreation and nature connectivity. I'm your host, josh Crompton, founder of Spokalo Outdoors and the Los O'Vallee Food Truck. My life as a rancher, guide, foodie and conservationist has provided the opportunity to meet some really great people, and the Bunkhouse is where we get to introduce them to you. In this episode of the Bunkhouse podcast, we talk with Katie Spurgeon, the engagement manager for Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and top steward of stewards of the wild, a young professionals program designed to foster the next generation of conservation leaders in Texas. I'm also joined by my cohost, the pro drink slinger, hunting, fishing guide and one of my best friends, the man with the shaker, davin Topol, aka whiskey tea. Together, we visit with Katie about the path she walked to find herself working for Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. We dive into the stewards programs and various activities hiking, hunting, fishing, conservation, education, big dove hunts and other great stuff, as always. With that said, let's get this thing started. We're here with Katie Spurgeon.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello, I'm the engagement manager at Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation Got my man whiskey tea. Hey, hey, on the red couch. And Katie, tell us a little bit about what you do on a daily basis with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.
Speaker 1:Sure, Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation is the official nonprofit of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. We raise funds, private philanthropy for the department and we try to support their mission and I am lucky and get to supervise the Stewards of the Wild program, which is we have the goal of trying to get young professionals aged 21 to 45 engaged in the outdoors. That's really cool, yeah, and it's a lot of fun On a daily basis. We got to go on a quail hunt spoke to all the outfitters. It was great.
Speaker 2:You know, dav and I have been working with the Stewards for a while and love the program. Can you hear some? Maybe hear some dogs munching in the background? Maybe you can't. We're in the bunkhouse.
Speaker 3:Routy.
Speaker 2:Routy dude. Hunt them up, Hunt them up my boys just the dogs. We've been fortunate enough to be able to work with the foundation and the Stewards for the past four years or so. I was pretty excited to be one of the untamed for the foundation it's. I feel like we're really lucky in Texas to have an organization like the foundation. We're a complicated state.
Speaker 1:Very.
Speaker 2:We've got a lot of private land here and our Parks and Wildlife Department has a very challenging task of managing the resources of Texas, while only 3% ish of the land is public, so that means that there's a lot of crossover that happens between communication between TPWD and Private landowners and exactly the foundation does definitely play a role. Oh yeah, oh yeah in bringing private funds to help further the mission right. And I think even beyond that, also a conduit for communication.
Speaker 1:Oh, I 100% agree.
Speaker 2:How long have you been with the foundation?
Speaker 1:I've been with the foundation for a year now a little over a year. Yeah it's been wonderful.
Speaker 2:What were you doing before Foundation?
Speaker 1:before I worked for the foundation, I taught high school journalism for about four or five years. It was wonderful, but the education system is is a difficult system to be a part of.
Speaker 2:Where were you teaching?
Speaker 1:it. I taught at Lake Highlands High School and Hebron High School up in the DFW Metroplex.
Speaker 2:But you were in Austin recently.
Speaker 1:I was. I moved to Austin when I got the job with the foundation. I loved Austin. I love it. I miss it. I moved back to Dallas to be close to my family and friends just recently right. Just two weeks ago.
Speaker 3:Which has its, you know, benefits. Oh yeah we moved to Texas to be closer to family and it's, it's I mean, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I have to say there's there's just nothing that can replace your people, you know? Yeah, so I have five kids.
Speaker 3:I sometimes try to move further.
Speaker 2:I'm just kidding, I love you. Before we get too far into this part of our show we've always got a little mixed up cocktail and Davin has whipped us up something special here and I want you to sort of tell us about it. Don't give us the recipe, just tell us the spirit of it, and then everybody can kind of tune in and find the you to, yeah, where the recipe will be.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so what we're drinking today is the hog's knuckle. This was Quite literally just made up on the fly for the show.
Speaker 3:No pun intended no pun intended, but it's a play on the bees knees. But it's made with totem, which is a spirit that I make from nuts, fruit, spruce, botanicals found around the Texas area, as well as the leg of a hog, and it's a very neat distillation Practice that I adopted from mohaca and I'll explain a lot more of that in the video. But it's, it's simple, that totem lemon, and then I made a honey syrup with cinnamon and a little bit of allspice.
Speaker 2:That's, it's a very you will not tell you the exact measurements. No, go, check out the video and, and that was recently you were at the howler brothers right before we recorded this, which this will probably air much further after that, but you did a cocktail for them too, right?
Speaker 3:That's right. Yeah, so they just recently again this was, you know, it's March right now. So they just really howler brothers just released their 2023 spring launch and asked me to make a custom cocktail for them for their launch party. One of their Themes for their clothing line was Aaron C, so I made an Aaron C foam Dacri. Yeah, I'll. I'll be doing a video on that as well, but it was kind of a neat play on a Dacri that had kind of a briny C foam on top.
Speaker 3:It's got some gastronomic Elements to it, it's, but it's just fun to, yeah, create cocktails for, you know, creative people. I really kind of thrive on, you know, just seeing what people are doing and just kind of feed off that energy and it's, it's. I love doing it.
Speaker 1:If you were a cocktail, what would you?
Speaker 3:be oh gosh.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm gonna start a podcast just based on that. So totem is Basically what I feel is a reflection of myself in a spirit right. So I distill totem. I'm an outdoorsman, I'm a hunter, I appreciate the outdoors, and so that's what totem kind of is is a reflection of myself in a bottle, and I was very lucky to work at a distillery that allowed me to put something as odd as that together. I'll be honest, the first time I brought it up to the board I get Crickets were playing in the background, so you're gonna put meat in the boo.
Speaker 2:Yes, meat booze, meaty booze.
Speaker 3:But they were, they were, they were okay with it, or maybe I just made it and they were okay with it. After you know the story and now you're gonna have to really dive in when we do the video of the cocktail.
Speaker 2:Now you're gonna have to really dive in why that spirit is you? Yes what would you be? What kind of cocktail would?
Speaker 1:you be.
Speaker 2:First one, you just gotta roll.
Speaker 1:A really dirty gin martini. It's spicy and it's direct.
Speaker 2:So I was thinking that, like, the first thing that came to my mind is probably not what I am, but I just like say, like stale beer, like. I'm still here, yeah, no no, no, that's not true, I'm champagne.
Speaker 1:Just, you are pretty bubbly, champagne, just bubbly, and I'll just go with it with anything.
Speaker 3:Whatever? Like fried chicken champagne, caviar champagne what kind of party you throw in doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:Champagne kind of celebratory, but also like good mix with a little orange juice, you know whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Howler Brothers has been integrated to the foundation on and off again.
Speaker 1:We. They are one of our partners. Yeah, I've actually just recently talked to Rick. We're just trying to figure out how best we can work together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, rick was kind of part of the original Untamed thing. That's what I've really appreciated over the years with the foundation is watching that crossover, that the foundation is where the conduit to sort of engage.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:With private companies.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:In a way that the text department of my life department can't legislatively do Right. And so what does that look like? Because you do get to work with some really cool people.
Speaker 1:You do get to work with a lot of brands and a lot of people that are great. I love it and that's kind of that's in my wheelhouse now. It's kind of one of my responsibilities, but it just depends on the brand and the partner. Like, for example, with you guys, you know you can offer us experiences where another brand might offer us product, where, like, for example, lone Star beer, we just partnered with them and they're selling a parks art line where they've got a print and a hat and a t-shirt and stickers and a Nalgene bottle with stickers Is that out right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it just came out actually this week.
Speaker 2:So you're putting the like pressure on the time to turn it on.
Speaker 1:I was like what? Like, we got like four more of these to record before we can release it, but now we have definitely like turned on the clock. Yeah, so all the proceeds from those purchases of the Lone Star beer merch will go to the foundation, which will go to parks.
Speaker 2:Is there anything cool coming up in the future that you can?
Speaker 3:tell us about that's the thing, is that you can actually talk about, oh yeah, the?
Speaker 2:stuff you can, you can tell us about.
Speaker 3:Hey, where's that hot lamp? Can we just like?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know that's a rough question right now. Maybe not the partnerships, but you got Dove stuff coming up oh yeah, well, with the stewards, we've got tons of good stuff coming up. In April we're doing a Devil's River trip Very excited about that with Patty's on the fly.
Speaker 3:Very good friends, ben Tabor also Very good friends, vars yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we're very excited about that. And then we've got the big Dove hunt coming up in September. It's our 10th anniversary of Stewards of the Wild this year. Wow, which is awesome. 10 years, yeah, one decade 10 years I know, you know, I've only been involved with it for half that, or maybe a little less than that.
Speaker 2:It's been about five years since you got involved.
Speaker 1:Four. I think it's been four, four or five years yeah.
Speaker 2:Was that your point of entry to the foundation?
Speaker 1:It was, it was. You know, I didn't even know what the foundation was when I first joined Stewards. My friend Lily Keys got me into it. She's the editor of.
Speaker 2:Lone Star Outdoor News. I heard she moved to Alaska or something she.
Speaker 1:I don't know if this is out, but she is moving somewhere.
Speaker 2:I just had dinner with her.
Speaker 1:She is moving to Alaska. You know her husband's family lives there, and so it's perfect for them.
Speaker 2:She's still going to be running Lone Star Outdoor News. I don't know. That's a question for her. We're going to have to. That's a good question. Maybe we're going to have to get her over here and, like, talk about that, put the hot lamp on her, but she's done a great job. So she brought you out about four or five years ago.
Speaker 3:She brought me in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the first happy hour I went to was at DSC and Modern Huntsman was there.
Speaker 2:Oh cool, oh, Tyler Sharp.
Speaker 1:Tyler Sharp was there, yeah, which we've been working with quite a bit. I love you, I love you Same, but we actually just did a podcast with him, or I did, and Nice.
Speaker 2:Was Byron, there Was just.
Speaker 1:Byron was there. Yes, byron, it was great.
Speaker 2:I love him too.
Speaker 1:And David, the new executive director, or the new director of X-Parts and Wildlife Foundation. I'm sorry, department.
Speaker 2:Oh nice, yeah, Very nice. I haven't met him yet.
Speaker 1:He's wonderful.
Speaker 2:Let's get some big shoes to fill.
Speaker 1:Does, but he's doing a great job, nice Doing a great job. You know, it's a very, it's a very unique job.
Speaker 2:So this actually would be really cool. So talk about so you went to a social cocktail.
Speaker 1:I did. It was a social hour.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so that's led to you being full-time now in the conservation space.
Speaker 1:Right and it. You know, I grew up outside. I grew up hunting, fishing, hiking, camping. You know, some of my favorite memories are me and my family camping and waking up in the morning and having coffee when I was eight years old, which is strange.
Speaker 3:You drink coffee, not in Texas. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but those are some of the most beautiful memories I have, you know, watching me and my brother watching the hummingbirds, you know, around our campsite and things like that. So it was always a natural thing for me to work in conservation. But I never put that together until a few years ago, I guess, when I got involved with stewards. So yeah, I mean it was in my entry point, Stewards was my entry point, and now I'm, you know, a conservation leader. I'd like to say you are, I'm trying.
Speaker 2:You are 100%, are I'm trying?
Speaker 1:But that's one of the other purposes of Stewards of the Wild is to create, you know, conservation leaders.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it worked with you. It's working. It's working, yeah, it's working. Check.
Speaker 3:So, in the thing, doing the thing.
Speaker 2:So um camping camping.
Speaker 1:What's your most?
Speaker 2:So you were talking about hummingbirds. So I feel like when you were talking about that, you had like a camping trip in mind, that you were oh yeah, what's what is the standout camping trip from your?
Speaker 1:Well, it's not in Texas, so I feel like I can't talk about it.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean you're on this podcast, even though you're part of the TV, you know okay, yeah, what is it?
Speaker 1:It was in New Mexico.
Speaker 3:Oh cool, I'm not sure where, somewhere on the enchanted circle somewhere on the enchanted circle, which is still my favorite place to camp, new Mexico, because that was Texas, that was Texas. You know, I don't know Right, yeah, you may have been in Texas, yeah, you may not have been on it, I'm not really ready to let go?
Speaker 2:of New Mexico. I feel like it's still ours, you belong to us, New Mexico. You're like wow, that's no Okay. So I was in Texas.
Speaker 1:Um, but yeah. No, it was in New Mexico, around the enchanted circle, somewhere near Taos.
Speaker 2:Oh cool, so beautiful there yeah.
Speaker 1:And it was just like. I mean, my, my dad is the biggest fisherman I've ever met. Oh nice, he was fly fishing, I remember, on the river. My mom was too. My mom is a better fisherman than him now.
Speaker 3:Always, always. That's the way it works. It's lovely. My wife is a better fisherman.
Speaker 1:Her karma kicks in. I think she's got good karma. But yeah, that that camping trip, I think we had a pop-up camper or something. We were all cramped in there, something. But I remember my brother and I my dad set up a hummingbird feeder, you know, one of those red feeders with sugar water.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:And, um, I remember my brother and I we just sat there for like an hour and a half and we just watched the hummingbirds come to it. It was just such a I don't know, just a beautiful moment.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what it's about. Natural television, yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the best kind of television Is. What's cool about that is some people get that with their parents and then some people don't.
Speaker 1:Right, you know some people don't get that moment, and yeah.
Speaker 2:You grow up in the suburbs and you grow up disconnected from nature, and that's one of the things that I think is cool about the stewards is it opens the doorway for people to get that experience at a later date in life.
Speaker 1:So many stewards come from a family that never went outside. They never did anything outdoors and now they're addicted to whatever it may be fishing, hunting, camping you know, yeah, it's that nature appreciation where conservation begins.
Speaker 3:What's your most memorable?
Speaker 2:camping like early camping experience now.
Speaker 3:My parents always took us camping when we were kids. We at a Minnesota.
Speaker 2:In Minnesota, yeah back to you, don't you know?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, yeah, and uh, they, they always made it, they did a point to travel outside of Minnesota Um we we did a lot of camping inside Minnesota, but my most memorable moment was probably a trip to Mount Rushmore. We went to this crazy place called KOA the KOA I don't know if you've ever heard of it?
Speaker 2:No, is that like just in one state?
Speaker 3:No, they're all over the place, holy cow. They're all over the place. But we stopped at the.
Speaker 2:KOA. It was the most magical place.
Speaker 3:They had a pool. It had no, but it was cool that had like this uh rock face that had these kind of cave tunnels on it, and we were playing with other kids around the area uh throwing uh pine cones at each other and we had a great, you know, pine cone war. Well, we lost track of time and um we, us kids miss the tour bus to uh Mount Rushmore. We got in so much trouble.
Speaker 1:Were your parents on the bus. No, they missed the tune. Oh, okay.
Speaker 3:I think my dad took my sister and my brother and me. We got in so much trouble, uh, but I mean, we were always out, but you didn't see Mount Rushmore, but you enjoyed nature we did the next day. They took us the next day, yeah. Yeah, oh, you know but it was a matter of just like you know just the what's that?
Speaker 1:What was better, the pine cone war or Mount Rushmore?
Speaker 3:Of course Rushmore was pretty amazing, but I mean, I had no regrets, right, it was a lot of fun, but it was all those you know, that whole trip out there, it was the experience you know, no Historical sites are important. They are.
Speaker 2:Almost as important as natural areas. No, they really are important and we have a lot of those in Texas, absolutely the historical parks.
Speaker 1:Oh, we do. They're cool A ton.
Speaker 2:You know mine, my most memorable camping experiences on the beach with my mom and we went down to see my grandfather and he had, like I just remember he had like Crab traps out. He was such a like uh what beach was this, wait, yeah.
Speaker 3:Crab traps.
Speaker 1:This is Porter, okay, okay, okay yeah. Porter Ranses, okay yeah.
Speaker 2:Porter Ranses, so down at Porter Ranses and we're going down there and you know like. So I grew up, you know as a kid obviously tan kid and melanone and kid, but you know, like I've got the, got the tan and my mom was very white. It was like I don't need to put sunscreen on my kid.
Speaker 1:Oh, no, I got the worst dam summer, oh no.
Speaker 2:And I remember I just remember this because I remember being in like the beach little beach motel no, actually. No, we camped, that's, we camped in a camper. And I remember being in this camper and I was like it feels like there's fire ants biting my skin. That was the first time I had a sunburn, I think I was like four or five. Also, the first time that you realized that my parents don't know what the heck they're doing Seriously.
Speaker 2:When you come to that realization, come on, mom. My mom did not know what she was doing. She's like he does not need to touch him.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm sure you still didn't know it at the time, right, but eventually you like grow up and look back at like moments like oh my gosh, that may have been the day that I lost, she lost a little of my trust.
Speaker 2:Oh, just kidding Mom.
Speaker 1:Why would she never make that mistake again? Just kidding, mom, I love you, just like I love the kids, yeah anyways. It's ragging on everyone.
Speaker 2:That's what I do. It's.
Speaker 1:I have polo punches.
Speaker 2:No, but yeah I do. I remember we were in a camper actually, so it was a camper camping, but I just remember like the whole experience. I can kind of almost even like smell the salt air from that. It was really great. But this is speaking of hysterical sites. Historical.
Speaker 1:Historical, yeah, yeah, historical sites, historical parks.
Speaker 3:Same thing Historical parks.
Speaker 2:And this is the Centennial.
Speaker 1:Park System. Yeah, this is the 100th year of state parks in Texas. Very exciting. We've got the newest state park opening. Hopefully we have a soft opening later this year. Palo Pinto Mountain State Park, 75 miles from Fort Worth Super close, it's amazing.
Speaker 2:Foundation played a role in that right.
Speaker 1:Foundation played a big role. Yeah, we're still playing a role, still raising money for the construction there.
Speaker 2:So is that going to open before Padahorn even?
Speaker 1:I think so.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:I don't date, I don't know for sure.
Speaker 2:Don't quote me, but I am pretty sure Did the foundation help purchase the land for that. How did that all come together? So, we won't hold you to it. You've been there a year and this is probably not your land.
Speaker 1:Yes, they did play a role, but it was privately owned and there was some mishaps, there were some criminal activities that happened.
Speaker 2:On it.
Speaker 1:James, the superintendent, can tell you much better.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, I don't know if it was on it or the owners you need.
Speaker 1:James, the superintendent of the park to tell you the story, ok. But anyway, so it came into the possession of the department ultimately, cool.
Speaker 2:That's cool.
Speaker 1:That works, yeah, so it's great to get more public land. Oh 100%.
Speaker 2:And the stewards plays a phenomenal role and I think the impact of the stewards has only been 10 years which is it's been 10 years and it's only been 10 years at the same time Right.
Speaker 2:But a decade we will be, I think, feeling the effects of the stewards for decades to come Because of the way you guys have affected and introduced people to conservation in a indirect way, sometimes, like the folks who came out here, they just came out to Coil Hunt, but by the time we were finished they had to hear me talk about grass.
Speaker 3:Like like everybody who comes to the geology Right Didn't know that you guys were going to get this.
Speaker 1:Little hydrology, but they love it. That's the thing they love it. They're 100%. They are here for it, my good friend.
Speaker 2:Ben Loon likes the same person?
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's over there behind the camera and he's here for it and they're here.
Speaker 2:No, they really are, and it's been interesting to watch the stewards over the past year. Definitely you're directing pretty hard into the conservation model and I really like it.
Speaker 1:I'm trying.
Speaker 2:You're doing it. I saw it at Bucks Nag. I mean you're doing a great job. I've seen the conversations happening. It's pretty cool. Talk to us a little bit about. In the past year you have definitely collaborated with private land and private clubs to provide access to stewards to have that aha moment, that being in the outdoors is important. Talking about what that looks like.
Speaker 1:I mean it's incredible. I mean, what do you want to know?
Speaker 2:There's so much, so you have some big things that you do, like the Dove Hunt.
Speaker 1:Dove Hunt.
Speaker 2:You work with Trail, with Justin Trail, on that.
Speaker 1:Makes that happen.
Speaker 2:And that's a big, that's a huge amount of work that goes into that.
Speaker 1:I mean, I feel like everyone we work with, whether it's for, like, mentored hunting, mentored fishing, dove Hunt, events like this, events, any kind of event. It's because the owner or person involved, or whoever our connection is, is passionate about conservation or the outdoors just in general, and that's usually why things come to fruition.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's Texas connection there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like the Dove Hunt. You guys really blew that up this past year. We did. It was freaking awesome to see.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean one. It's the fundraiser for the program. I mean it's the reason I can keep doing my job right. But we just wanted to make it bigger and better and make it make other people outside of the organization understand what Stewards is and why it's important, why what we're doing is important Not the program itself, but just what we're doing is so important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you had kind of everybody was there, I mean Sightline was there, duckcamp was there, yeah. I mean you got support, yeah.
Speaker 1:Epic Western. Yeah, we got Republic Ranches. I mean, we had so many, so many supporters, it's really cool.
Speaker 1:It's really I mean it's really important that we have that support. Without that support we can't do what we do, we can't create conservation leaders. Basically, I think the landowners that we work with for the Mentored Hunting Program, those are some of the best people. I mean they just open up their homes, their land, their hearts to us and say, hey, come help us, show some people how to hunt and how to appreciate the land that we have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I can speak to that as a landowner who opens the gate for the Stewards and talk to. If anybody is a landowner who is listening to this podcast or is consuming this information or anybody wants to convey as a landowner, it's critical to open the gate and it's critical to have a conduit to get people on land and working with a program like Stewards. It's great because you guys bring people who are passionate about conservation out.
Speaker 2:It's almost like a vetted thing, where the people who are coming out are going to typically spend some point in time in conservation in the future, or at least to have some conversations. And when I open the gate to people to come out to hunt, it doesn't matter if they ever hunt again, if they never quail hunt again, if they never do any of the things they do here again. Landowners benefit from this because people being connected and understanding why it's important to facilitate ranches staying as green spaces translates to votes, votes that provide funding and provide the agricultural protections that we have to keep these places from becoming developed, and so I always encourage all landowners open your gate, get people out there, tell the story, let people understand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. People have to get their hands in the dirt to understand Dirty hands. They've got to get their hands dirty to understand and or love the outdoors and conservation.
Speaker 3:Well, they need somebody to tell their story about their land and because nobody knows their land better than that landowner and their family that goes back generations. They've put their hands in the dirt for many, many years and they are very knowledgeable. Dirty hands.
Speaker 2:My hands are so dirty still from behind you have a blood on them.
Speaker 1:I do. That's the blood. That's what dirt is. The thing about the bunkhouse is we're just like we're coming straight up. I have a feather. I know I have like full of sweat. I have a feather on my hand.
Speaker 3:This is a little ridiculous. Oh my gosh, this is a little ridiculous the cry of Steven here. But it is. It's important to talk to the people who know about their land a little bit more than just like I know it in theory. No, I mean, Josh is very knowledgeable about all of the flora and fauna that is on his land and why it's important and why they work together. And it's very important to him and to everybody to, for him to share that knowledge with everyone.
Speaker 1:And we need more people like you.
Speaker 2:I think my Lord, the, whole world would be in trouble if there's more people like me In some ways, in some ways, like you who, are knowledgeable about the flora.
Speaker 1:What did I just?
Speaker 2:say, the flora and the fauna, the flora and the fauna, the flora and the fauna. Don't worry about the flora and the fauna.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we need more people like you, who are willing to open their gates.
Speaker 2:What I think is cool is Scott was at Bucks Nag so it was cool to see him out here again. And then we had another steward, connor, who had come out here for a pollinator garden install that we did with Desert Door, and we had our friend Jacob Al and Jager come out and play music and it was cool to see Connor out here from the Austin chapter again. Actually, I wasn't even here for the pollinator install. I forgot where I was.
Speaker 2:I was traveling or something, but it was cool to have him out engaging with the land in a different way. He came and donated his time to put that pollinator garden in and then he was out here and able to spend some time like upland hunting. And so I think, the more programs I wish we could form it into a formal program where you have these engagements with ranches where people could have multi-contacts with them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean the Mentor and Hunting program. Is that formal? But I think beyond that we need more. Beyond that it doesn't have to just be hunting, yeah, it could be non-consumptive it could be foraging or hiking or birdwatching. Birdwatching or family skills or stargazing. Right, Anything really.
Speaker 2:Do they call it astrology? No, astronomy, Astrology. Astrology is like I'm a Virgo. Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know whatever, I'm a perfectionist I'll give Dustin saying astrology all the time, all the time.
Speaker 3:Look, I love astrology. Look at those stars, matthew. Look at disapproval from Matthew.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he gives that look very well.
Speaker 1:I thought it was really cool to see Mitch out here too. Mitch is pretty new to stewards. He's from Fort Worth. He's got like a. He apparently was a big golfer for a long time big golfer, but you know, golf takes four or five hours. He had a baby, he and his wife, and he said I can't do that any longer, I can't spend five hours away, my wife's going to kill me or whatever. So he started shooting clays and then he figured out he found stewards and now he's out here shooting birds. He never had, he never started shooting clays with the intent of shooting birds. But now he's here and now he understands.
Speaker 2:You know the land and he has a better understanding Little bluestem, big bluestem, like riparians of the mountains, so he has more of an appreciation now for the outdoors, and he never intended on doing that, but that's how it played out. We're going to have to confirm that with him when we go over and. Gavin makes his cocktail, let me do some other stuff, confirm what. We're going to have to confirm his understanding of the land.
Speaker 3:Oh yes, yes, He'll definitely confirm. Do you like Kentucky blue?
Speaker 2:What is the?
Speaker 1:grass and you like Kentucky blue.
Speaker 3:Little bluestem better.
Speaker 1:Which one? It's privy and invasive species. You need to know this. Invasive, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm stoked to have you out here. I mean, you've come out a couple times.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I've seen you at a couple of the other events this year. You're doing an amazing job, thank you. I appreciate that. I'm lucky to have you.
Speaker 1:The first time I met you, josh, was that. Well, the first time I like officially introduced myself was at that movie night at Deep in the Heart.
Speaker 2:At Deep in the Heart. That's right.
Speaker 1:And I was like really nervous.
Speaker 2:I was like that's Josh, and now it's so funny, but I was so nervous.
Speaker 3:And I was like oh, that's. Josh. Okay, here he is again.
Speaker 1:Here he comes. No, but thank you for having me out here. I mean it's been great, it's been a treat. Spokalo is amazing.
Speaker 2:We love what you guys are doing and anything we can do to support. You know we're always here, gonna have you come co-host a little bit.
Speaker 1:I would love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, kind of a pseudo stewards live Co-host, like bring back the band, type sort of thing. Yeah, let me find, you know maybe you have to drag Rodney Franklin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let me find I liked him a lot. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Rodney Franklin is awesome. Yeah, he's a pretty cool guy.
Speaker 1:We're trying to get him to speak it wild night.
Speaker 2:Oh, really, yeah, oh, that one is wild night.
Speaker 1:It's April 28th in Austin at the Zilker Lodge.
Speaker 2:Is it sold out as?
Speaker 1:a no, not yet. No, okay, it'll probably be sold out by the time this airs. Yeah, we went together after you met a bumble.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it was our first, our first event with stewards man, it was a lot of fun. Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Do you remember who was there that night?
Speaker 3:Devon won a gun. Oh, you won a gun.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I won, and my first over under, yeah, and, and I needed one because I was obviously you know here yeah here. I had sold all of my hunting gear after Moving from Utah to Texas and so, yeah, I won a gun. I was like what perfect timing. I was jealous.
Speaker 2:You think you're jealous?
Speaker 1:How do you think I feel standing around all these raffles and I'm like wow, that's an amazing item.
Speaker 3:The strategy is just putting all of your tickets on that one thing that you want. That's always been my strategy. Just like don't, don't Put here, here, here. Like if you seize one thing, just stick to it, throw it all in, don't do too much.
Speaker 1:I say that I'm wearing like so many different hats bubblegum bubblegum is gonna be the next big thing I am invested in.
Speaker 2:Come on, bubba, all the way, all my money is there.
Speaker 3:What are those skates?
Speaker 2:the skate shoes in Ron the roller skates. What are they? Called I don't know, but I'm putting you know on them what are those things called that.
Speaker 1:Rollies, no rollies, no healy, healy, healy. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Ben Lou from the back with the healy All my tickets on he had healy yeah. No, yeah, we did it was it was a lot of wild night. Oh good, one black.
Speaker 2:I really enjoyed it good. I won't try to make it to this one for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, april 28th Friday. I think I'm around 6 pm 5 30 for you guys can be in our VIP.
Speaker 2:What do you, what do you get with the VIP you help set up?
Speaker 1:get a 100 acre parcel of land. No, it's just a time, it's just a time for you know our partners and people to mingle, yeah yeah, I remember I met up with duck camp at that.
Speaker 2:Huh, that's okay.
Speaker 3:That's the thing is started working.
Speaker 1:It's been networking Right and that's a huge piece of stewards is the networking. Yeah it's so important. No matter what line of work you're in, you will probably find someone who's in a similar line of work or who can help you, and you can help them right if you're a Texan and you're from age 21 21 to 45 and you're not a check your ID Unless you're younger than 21.
Speaker 2:I Got kicked out. Yeah, I've aged out, but I still get to go do cool stuff. I Appreciate being able to be the old guy there. If you're not a steward, you should be. I mean, it's definitely if you're into the outdoors, if you care about conservation, if you want to learn, if you want opportunities.
Speaker 3:If you want to meet people, if you want to meet like-minded people who are into those things.
Speaker 2:It is the thing to do 100% and we, as Texans are Are very lucky to have an organization like it, because many other states do not have anything like they don't all they don't they may have a lot of public land, they may have a lot of access, but they do not have these type of funneling programs that really, really bring you into the conservation world and not just from a Legislative vote this way.
Speaker 2:Do that thing because there are a lot of organizations out there that you join and you get like a thousand emails telling you Mm-hmm, oh, now there's this legislative bill you got to get to come to action. They're very important organizations to have those two right.
Speaker 1:but that's not what the stewards I think that's the coolest thing about TPWF is we are an unbiased organization. We don't take a side, so we're here for everyone. We're just trying to make the Texas a better place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and the cool stuff that TPWF does, like gear per game wardens. You know what are the other big highlights before we wrap this thing up. You got gear for game here for game wardens.
Speaker 1:We've got TFFC, texas freshwater freshwater fisheries center.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a close. I've been there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. I'm sure we have fresh I mean healthy Fish, you know, across the state. What else are we working?
Speaker 2:on the land. Steward awards Is that back Loan?
Speaker 1:star steward, yeah loan star land steward awards is yes, it's an annual event. It's actually a TPWD event, but we raise money for it and that's actually happening May 25th this year in Austin, but it's an awesome program. I mean, we honor Private landowners who are doing great conservation work and that's the. You know, that's the gold program and it's Awesome. So that's in May. What else are we doing? We're raising money. Centennial year is our main focus, right now.
Speaker 1:We're raising money for that. We're gonna do like a tundra give away and a lot of fun stuff. It's, it's. I think it's beginning in the spring. Okay cool going through the fall.
Speaker 2:So, oh, it's gonna be a long, a long tail. So, yes, good chance that if you're listening to this like it's going on, oh yeah, it's still going to figure out how to get a sign up for sure that one right big fan of the tundras yeah.
Speaker 1:But you know another thing it's great we're raising money for all the state parks. All the state parks have a project that we're raising money for, you know, but beyond that, the state parks need funding for maintenance all the time. So there, there's so many things across the state that we're doing, and if you're interested, you know, you can always visit our website and get in touch with me or someone else.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we can help you. You know, direct to your funds.
Speaker 2:Well, we look forward to having you out more often, we look forward to being able to support the stewards and I want to thank you for being here this is. Cheers, guys, your tears across.