Conservation Connection

When he learned that 95% of California's kelp forests had disappeared in the past 10 years, Adam Hussain devised a plan to put his underwater film skills to use saving the ecosystem that he loved!

This week we sit down at EarthX with the director of the upcoming documentary Seaforestation to learn about the critical role that kelp forests play in the oceans and how researchers and citizens across the globe are solving the threats that kelp forests face!

Check out the trailer to Seaforestation HERE

Although 85% of wild oyster reefs have disappeared over the past 120 years, Georgia's oyster populations are thriving!

Listen in as we chat with Justin Manley, the hatchery manager at UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant’s Shellfish Research Laboratory on Skidaway Island! We get deep into the science of oyster aquaculture and learn all about the work being done to protect this critical ecosystem!

Want to access resources about oyster farming? Check out the links below!

UGA Marine Extension

Oyster South

East Coast Shellfish Growers Association

We interrupt your regularly scheduled episode of Conservation Connection to bring you this special crossover episode with Crystal DiMiceli of the Forces For Nature Podcast and The Healthy Seas Podcast!

Listen in for a sneak peak of Season 10 and to discover another incredible podcast!

In a changing ocean, whales and their protectors must react fast to stay ahead of the curve!

This week we sit down with Cathy Sakas, a life long adventurer, biologist, and ocean advocate. She found the first North Atlantic right whale calf in Georgia over forty years ago, and has spent her career working to ensure that they'll survive in the face of a changing ocean!

Over 300 species rely on the Gopher Tortoise - and its burrows - to survive!

This week we chat with disturbance ecologist Barbara Blonder at Flagler College to learn about the struggles and survival tactics of coastal gopher tortoises! She uses her research and her position as City Commissioner to help St. Augustine make the best possible management decisions.

Happy rattlesnakes mean a happy island!

This week we sit down with Joseph Colbert, a wildlife biologist with the Jekyll Island Authority. He studies eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, and uses this knowledge to inform management decisions which keep the entirety of Jekyll Island in harmony with nature!

EXGREEN20

We're wrapping up this season with some big changes, some quick announcements, and a conversation on the value of collaboration!

This week we dive deeper into the spider shoal lily and its role in the Chattahoochee River ecosystem by sitting down with Natalie Downey from the Chattahoochee River Conservancy. Listen in to learn about the importance of this flower and the ways that volunteers are working to restore its population!

Click here to get involved: ChattRiver.org

On Georgia's southern border lies the Okefenokee Swamp, our nation's largest intact blackwater wetland. For thousands of years it's been a place of refuge and recreation, but modern industry is threatening to change it forever. Listen in this week to Deborah Reed (Reed's Grocery Store) and Rena Peck (Georgia River Network) as we discuss the value of the Okefenokee and the dangers that are threatening its future!

www.ProtectOkefenokee.org

www.GARivers.org

Hydroelectric dams produce renewable and carbon-neutral electricity, but at what cost? This final episode from our live-podcasting event explores the story of the shoal lily, an endangered-but-not-legally-protected flower that's found only in the Southeast US.

If you'd like to get involved, check out these opportunities:

Shoal Lily Planting: https://www.chattahoocheeriverconservancy.org/volunteer.html

Shoal Lily Viewing on the Flint River: https://flintriverkeeper.org/events-calendar/

Thank you to ⁠Nia Impact Capital⁠ for sponsoring this live recording!