Nature's Infrastructure Podcast

About this podcast

Each month we have conversations with project partners, Tribal nations, and other stakeholders about the positive conservation and restoration impacts the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is a once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness. We were directly appropriated $455 million over five years in BIL funds for programs related to the President’s America the Beautiful initiative.

Learn more about Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is having on ecosystem restoration, climate resiliency, ESA-listed species, habitats and communities around the nation. From the sage-brush in the west to the Delaware River in the east, the Service has multiple areas of focus across the country for significant projects funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Join us as we explore the importance of these projects and the impact they are having in protecting and preserving Nature’s Infrastructure.

S1:E9 Restoring Henderson Marsh: Enhancing Fish Passage and Community Resilience

In this episode, we delve into the collaborative efforts between Ducks Unlimited, the community of Eastwick (a neighborhood in the southwest section of Philadelphia, PA), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore 55 acres of Henderson Marsh at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. Funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this vital project aims to enhance the functionality and resiliency of the tidal freshwater marsh while reestablishing fish passage fish passage
Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.

Learn more about fish passage to habitats critical for migratory fish species.

Historically, this area has faced tidal restrictions and reduced hydraulic connection with Darby Creek, a tributary of the Delaware River. These challenges have led to catastrophic flooding events that have significantly impacted both wildlife and neighboring communities, including Eastwick. Join us as our guests, Brenda Whitfield, an Eastwick community leader, and Jim Feaga, a regional biologist from Ducks Unlimited, share valuable insights into how this project will improve fish passage, promote safer community infrastructure, and enhance accessibility to green spaces and natural areas for all. 

Throughout our conversation, Brenda and Jim underscore the importance of reconnecting both the marsh and the community, highlighting how these efforts strengthen the relationship between Eastwick, Ducks Unlimited, and the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge and create opportunities for community conservation that align with cultural traditions and make outdoor engagement more accessible, thereby enhancing mental and physical well-being and fostering a sense of belonging for those who have been systematically excluded from such spaces.

Join us as we uncover the transformative potential of these collaborative initiatives for both the environment and the community.

S1:E8 Connecting the Flow: Bridging the Maple River and Its Cultural Legacy

This month, we delve into the powerful intersection of community engagement, equity, and ecological restoration as we explore efforts to reconnect the Maple River not only to the Muskegon River, but to its community and rich history. Join us for an enlightening discussion about a transformative fish passage fish passage
Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.

Learn more about fish passage project that prioritizes local voices and historical context in restoration efforts which will reopen approximately 5 stream miles and 300 acres of aquatic habitat. 

In this episode, we chat with Dr. Marty Holtgren, Project Coordinator for the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly, and Dr. Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the Department of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Together, they shed light on the complexities of restoring the flow to the Maple River and delve into the historical context of logging interests that have influenced the river’s hydrology since the late 1800s.

Our conversation also highlights the restoration of Manoomin (wild rice), an indigenous keystone species that holds profound cultural significance for Great Lakes tribes and ways this initiative will reduce flooding and create a thriving ecosystem for fish species, reptiles, birds, mussels, and plants.

As we discuss the importance of reconnecting both the river and the community, we uncover how these efforts foster a renewed relationship between the Little River Band of Ottawa Indian Tribe and their ancestral waters. Additionally, we explore the positive conservation and restoration impacts the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is having on ecosystem restoration, community access, and a landscape-scale approach to conservation through our National Fish Passage Program.

S1:E7 Catalyzing a Network of Support for Sagebrush Ecosystem Restoration 

This month, we are focusing on the Sagebrush ecosystem and the restoration work that is happening in Wyoming, as the heart of sagebrush sagebrush
The western United States’ sagebrush country encompasses over 175 million acres of public and private lands. The sagebrush landscape provides many benefits to our rural economies and communities, and it serves as crucial habitat for a diversity of wildlife, including the iconic greater sage-grouse and over 350 other species.

Learn more about sagebrush habitat. The western United States’ sagebrush country encompasses over 175 million acres of public and private lands, and it serves as crucial habitat for a diversity of wildlife and is the largest contiguous ecotype in the continental United States. To put this into perspective, the sagebrush landscape is comprised of one-third of the land mass of the continental lower 48. 

Since 2022, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is a once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness. We were directly appropriated $455 million over five years in BIL funds for programs related to the President’s America the Beautiful initiative.

Learn more about Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has committed $10 million annually, for five years, to expand work with partners to restore strategic areas within the sagebrush ecosystem. This builds on existing collaborative efforts to conserve the sagebrush ecosystem.

On this episode, we chat with Dr. Brian Mealor, a professor at the University of Wyoming and the Director of the Institute for Managing Annual Grasses Invading Natural Ecosystems, and Tim Kramer, who is the Wyoming State Coordinator for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners Program, to talk about the importance of leveraging existing partnerships to continue important sagebrush restoration efforts that combat invasive grasses and wildfire, reduce encroaching conifers, safeguard precious water resources for neighboring communities and wildlife, and promote community and economic sustainability. 

S1: E6 Improving Public Access and Recreation in the Delaware River Watershed

This month, we are focusing on the impactful work that is improving public access and recreation in the Pennsylvania portion of the Delaware River and restoring free-flowing conditions for migratory fish and other aquatic organisms in the Delaware River Basin.

The Delaware River Watershed Conservation Collaborative includes more than 80 partners, including the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, and is advancing green infrastructure in the Delaware River watershed to guide strategic investment of $26 million, over five years, in infrastructure funding for this region. As part of this, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is a once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness. We were directly appropriated $455 million over five years in BIL funds for programs related to the President’s America the Beautiful initiative.

Learn more about Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing competitive matching grants for habitat conservation to state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, and other eligible entities in the Delaware River Basin, in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which are making these projects a reality.

On this episode, we chat with Tim Schaeffer, the Executive Director for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and Mike Slattery, who is the Regional Landscape Conservation Program Manager for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Northeast Region, to talk about the positive conservation and restoration impacts the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is having on ecosystem restoration, recreational access, and communities in the Delaware River Watershed.  

S1: E5 Gravel to Gravel Keystone Initiative: For People, Salmon and the Land 

This month, we are focusing on the incredible partnerships that are catalyzing the future of salmon conservation in Alaska through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is a once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness. We were directly appropriated $455 million over five years in BIL funds for programs related to the President’s America the Beautiful initiative.

Learn more about Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments and projects that are healing the broader ecosystem and serving Alaska’s people and wildlife.  

More than 100 Tribes steward Alaska’s Yukon, Kuskokwim, and Norton Sound region — which is a massive geographic area covering over 400 thousand square miles. But, in recent years, these communities and the ecosystems they depend upon have suffered. Climate change is impacting the Arctic four times faster than other parts of North America and subsistence salmon fishing closures are becoming a more common experience. As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Gravel to Gravel Keystone Initiative was established to enhance the resilience of the region’s ecosystems and communities through transformational federal, philanthropic, and other investments.  

On this episode, we chat with Amber Vaska, the executive director of the Tanana Chiefs Conference and Kevin Whitworth, from the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, to talk about ways the Gravel to Gravel Keystone Initiative is helping promote critical conservation for people, salmon and the land. 

S1: E4 Klamath Basin Part 2: Developing an Improvement Plan for Lower Klamath Lake

In this episode, we are chatting about a significant project in the Lower Klamath Basin as we sit down with Alta Harris, an environmental coordinator with the Klamath tribes, as well as Scott White from the Klamath Drainage District and Michael Belchik, a senior water policy analyst with the Yurok Tribe, to discuss how these groups are coming together to develop a water and habitat improvement plan for the Lower Klamath Lake.

While this improvement plan was not actually funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is a once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness. We were directly appropriated $455 million over five years in BIL funds for programs related to the President’s America the Beautiful initiative.

Learn more about Bipartisan Infrastructure Law , the project is an important part of the Klamath story and will play a critical role in reconnecting and restoring wetlands in the Klamath Drainage District and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge area, which, in turn, will create multiple interconnected benefits for wildlife, farms, and the communities which call this landscape home. 

S1: E3 Klamath Basin Part 1: Sprague River Collaborative Restoration 

This month, in a two-part series, we are focusing on the Klamath Basin, and the ways the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is a once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness. We were directly appropriated $455 million over five years in BIL funds for programs related to the President’s America the Beautiful initiative.

Learn more about Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is positively impacting collaborative conservation throughout this vital ecosystem. 

On this episode, we are sitting down with Brad Parrish, a water rights specialist with the Klamath Tribes and Larry Nicholson, the executive director of the Upper Klamath Basin Ag Collaborative, to talk about the Sprague River Collaborative Restoration project that is happening in the Upper Klamath Basin, in Oregon.  

The Klamath Basin is set to receive $162 million over five years from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to restore the regional ecosystem and repair local economies. As drought conditions persist throughout the region, the Klamath Basin’s fragile ecosystem will depend on collaborative partnerships among a wide variety of stakeholders and the development of holistic solutions to save cherished fish and wildlife from further decline. 

S1: E2 A Little Fish Saves a Big Sports Complex in Alabama 

This month, we are chatting with Rick Hopkins, the director of Springville, Alabama’s Parks and Recreation Department, and Coach James Miller, who leads tackle football, flag football and baseball at Springville’s 70-acre sports complex, to discover how a little fish in the Little Canoe Creek helped create safer recreational access for youth sports teams and improve the quality of life for an entire community. 

S1: E1 Connecting Communities to Conservation

On this inaugural episode, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams joins the conversation to talk about how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is a once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness. We were directly appropriated $455 million over five years in BIL funds for programs related to the President’s America the Beautiful initiative.

Learn more about Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping promote collaboration and conservation in communities across the nation. 

The Service received $455 million, over five years, from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed by President Biden on November 15, 2021, to support and implement projects which help local, state and Tribal communities tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and protect wildlife and natural resources. For many of these investments, the Service coordinated with conservation partners, Tribal nations and Indigenous communities to enhance locally led conservation efforts and increase recreational opportunities on public lands.