This episode of the National Wildlife Federation Outdoors podcast features Ryan Schaefer, board member of Louisiana Wildlife Federation, professional fur trapper, and conservationist, and Bill Cooksey, sportsmen outreach coordinator for NWF’s Vanishing Paradise program. We talk about Louisiana’s disappearing coastline, coastal forage fish declines, giving back to the resource, the work of the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, the cascade of effects from fisheries issues on the fishing industry and conservation funding, the importance of talking to your legislators about conservation issues, the sway that an individual hunter and angler holds with legislators, the bipartisan nature of conservation issues, getting over the sticker shock of necessary infrastructure projects, and how to make sure your legislators know what they're talking about. We're publishing this episode a day early because we'll be on the road this weekend to the Outdoor Writers Association of America annual conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Bill Cooksey will be on a panel discussing climate change impacts to waterfowl habitat. And while we forgot to mention it on the podcast, the National Wildlife Federation's Vanishing Paradise program is supported in part by Wiley X sunglasses, so we provided a link to the press release announcing the partnership below. And as always, the National Wildlife Federation Outdoors podcast is supported by Rep Your Water, whose Great Lakes products support our efforts to stop Asian carp. 

Additional Links: 

• Louisiana Wildlife Federation: https://lawildlifefed.org/