Todd Ulizio is the co-owner of Two Bear Farm, an organic vegetable farm in Whitefish, Montana, that's quietly become a cornerstone of the Flathead Valley's local food community. Alongside his wife Rebecca, Todd has spent nearly two decades growing food, building soil, and figuring out how to make a small, values-driven farm work in a world that doesn't always make it easy.

Todd's path to farming was anything but direct. He grew up in Connecticut and followed a traditional educational and career path, eventually becoming an accountant at a prestigious Big 6 Firm. Experiencing success but not fulfillment, he walked away from the business world to study wildlife biology and worked on projects ranging from brown bears in Alaska to wolverines in Montana. Over time, he began to see a common thread: most of the problems facing wildlife are really problems about how humans use land—and food, he realized, is where people interact with land every single day.

In this conversation, Todd and I talk about that winding path—from accounting to wildlife biology to farming—and what it's taught him about work, burnout, stewardship, and attention. We get into the realities of small-scale farming, the pressures of building a business with your spouse, the health wake-up call that forced him to rethink everything, and the quieter, more grounded philosophy that now shapes his life and work. This is a thoughtful, honest conversation about choosing a meaningful path, learning to let go of what you can't control, and finding a way to stay rooted in a rapidly changing world. Enjoy!

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• Two Bear Farm
• The Farmers' Stand
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/todd-ulizio

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Mountain & Prairie is listener-supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Nature Conservancy, North Bridger Bison, and the Old Salt Co-op for their generous sponsorship.

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 0:00 - Exciting updates
• 2:33 - Intro
• 4:14 - Patreon + Sponsors + Old Salt
• 7:24 – Where Todd grew up
• 11:38 – Todd as a kid
• 13:07 – Off to college
• 17:34 – Ditching accounting
• 21:57 – How change felt
• 24:18 – Post University of Montana to Alaska
• 27:49 – Alaska takeaways
• 31:36 – Choosing farming
• 37:05 – What helped Todd make an impact
• 40:08 – A relationship forged in fire
• 43:32 – Doubts in the moment?
• 47:39 – Food system frustrations and burnout
• 52:43 – How to lighten up
• 1:01:07 – Dexter cows
• 1:02:34 – Always going and stillness
• 1:09:02 – The farm
• 1:14:56 – What's next
• 1:18:06 – Wrapping up

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Sammy Matsaw Jr. is the Director of the Columbia Basin Program at The Nature Conservancy, where he works at the intersection of salmon recovery, tribal sovereignty, and large-scale river restoration across one of the most complex watersheds in North America. In this role, Sammy helps guide conservation strategies that span state lines, political boundaries, and cultural histories—while keeping people, relationships, and responsibility at the center of the work.

Sammy grew up on the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation, surrounded by salmon stories, land-based learning, and a deep sense of responsibility to place. He served in the U.S. military, including combat deployments overseas, before returning home to heal, reconnect, and rebuild—eventually earning advanced degrees in ecology, policy, and conservation science. Along the way, he's navigated life as a soldier, scientist, ceremonial practitioner, husband, father, and now grandfather, carrying Indigenous knowledge forward while engaging directly with Western institutions and systems.

In this conversation, we talk about salmon restoration as a healing journey—not just for rivers, but for communities and cultures shaped by loss, displacement, and change. We dig into Indigenous knowledge alongside Western science, the role of humility and trust in conservation, and why Sammy believes real progress only happens through relationships and long-term commitment. We also explore his vision for the Columbia Basin, his leadership inside TNC, and what it means to show up—day after day—with curiosity, care, and what he calls "barefoot trust-building."

This is a thoughtful, hopeful, and vulnerable conversation, and I greatly appreciate Sammy taking the time to chat with me. I hope you enjoy.

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• Sammy Matsaw Jr., Director of TNC's Columbia Basin Program
• TNC's Columbia Basin Program
• Full episode notes: https://mountainandprairie.com/sammy-matsaw

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This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Colorado chapter of The Nature Conservancy and TNC chapters throughout the Western United States. Guided by science and grounded by decades of collaborative partnerships, The Nature Conservancy has a long-standing legacy of achieving lasting results to create a world where nature and people thrive.

During the last week of every month throughout 2025, Mountain & Prairie will be delving into conversations with a wide range of The Nature Conservancy's leaders, partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, highlighting the myriad of conservation challenges, opportunities, and solutions here in the American West and beyond.

To learn more about The Nature Conservancy's impactful work in the West and around the world, visit www.nature.org

---

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 3:00 - Intro, where and how Sammy grew up
• 10:03 - Sammy's decision to join the military
• 15:34 - Readjusting to home
• 20:48 - What helps heal
• 24:58 - Sammy's academic journey
• 32:12 - Salmon work
• 39:09 - Entry into TNC
• 43:55 - Salmon restoration as a healing journey
• 50:09 - Layers of the job
• 57:31 - Book recs
• 1:01:18 - Wrapping up

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Today's episode is a bit of a departure from the usual format.

I'm re-sharing a recent conversation I had on my friend Brendan Leonard's new podcast, My Favorite Things. I'm sure most of y'all are already familiar with Brendan's work, but for those of you who aren't, he's an author, illustrator, filmmaker, and creator of Semi-Rad.

Brendan's new podcast is built around a simple but fascinating premise: conversations about the books, films, art, and creative works that have helped shape a person's life and career.

In this conversation, we spend less time on what I do, and more time on what's influenced how I think and live — from Theodore Roosevelt and Sebastian Junger to a Winslow Homer painting and a movie that's been oddly entertaining and instructive over the years. (I bet y'all can guess the movie.)

There are already several excellent episodes live featuring thoughtful, interesting people, and Brendan has created something both entertaining and instructive with this podcast. If you enjoy this conversation, I'd encourage you to subscribe, explore the rest of the episodes, and share the show with any of your friends who might enjoy it.

Thanks so much for listening and here's my appearance on My Favorite Things.

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• My Favorite Things: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
• Episode Website
• Semi-Rad.com

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 2:10: Background — Mountain & Prairie, family, and the "strenuous life"
• 5:00: Favorite Thing #1 — Jimmy Buffett liner notes
• 11:30: Favorite Thing #2 — The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
• 20:00: Favorite Thing #3 — Winslow Homer's The Gulf Stream
• 28:15: Favorite Thing #4 — Tribe by Sebastian Junger
• 39:30: Favorite Thing #5 — Road House
• 52:15: Closing reflections

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Mike Schaedel is the Western Montana Forest Restoration Director for The Nature Conservancy, where he leads some of the most ambitious and collaborative forest restoration work happening anywhere in the West. Based in Missoula, Mike works at the intersection of science, community partnerships, and land stewardship—helping restore fire-adapted forests, reduce wildfire risk, and improve the health and resilience of landscapes across the region.

Mike's career path is super interesting and anything but traditional. He grew up in Portland, fell in love with the mountains through rock climbing, and eventually landed in Missoula, where the combination of wild landscapes and a rich literary community drew him in. After earning an undergraduate degree in creative writing, he found his way into forestry and fire ecology through conservation corps work, hands-on restoration experience, and a graduate program focused on forest dynamics and fire.

In this conversation, Mike offers a clear overview of how Western Montana's forests came to look the way they do today—shaped by millennia of tribal burning, transformed by railroad-era land grants and industrial logging, and altered further by a century of fire suppression. He explains why effective restoration now depends on combining mechanical thinning with prescribed fire and on working across ownership boundaries with partners ranging from local communities to tribes and federal agencies. We also discuss some of the innovative collaborative efforts underway in the region, as well as a memorable story of a prescribed burn that came together through quick problem-solving and deep trust.

This is a rich, informative, and hopeful conversation about what it takes to restore forests at scale—and why the future of these landscapes depends on both ecological understanding and strong community partnerships. Enjoy!

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• Michael Schaedel, Western Montana Forest Restoration Director
• Reserved Treaty Rights Lands Program: The Power of Partnership
• Complete episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/mike-schaedel

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This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Colorado chapter of The Nature Conservancy and TNC chapters throughout the Western United States. Guided by science and grounded by decades of collaborative partnerships, The Nature Conservancy has a long-standing legacy of achieving lasting results to create a world where nature and people thrive.

During the last week of every month throughout 2025, Mountain & Prairie will be delving into conversations with a wide range of The Nature Conservancy's leaders, partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, highlighting the myriad of conservation challenges, opportunities, and solutions here in the American West and beyond.

To learn more about The Nature Conservancy's impactful work in the West and around the world, visit www.nature.org

---

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 3:02 – Intro, Mike's love for Missoula
• 6:04 – Getting a creative writing degree
• 8:21 – And fighting back into forestry
• 12:26 – Early writing influences
• 13:39 – Switching sides of the brain
• 15:32 – First job out of grad school
• 20:08 – And that work now
• 23:38 – Checkerboard landownership
• 33:04 – Conservation accomplishment
• 34:56 – Fitting in forest health
• 39:33 – Fire scars
• 45:52 – The Big Burn
• 52:59 – Fire playing a beneficial role
• 58:51 – And the role mill workers play
• 1:02:03 – Projects down the pipeline
• 1:12:00 – Book recs
• 1:13:49 – Parting words

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This month marks ten full years of my bimonthly book-recommendations project—a decade of weird little paragraphs about the books that grab my scattered attention. Whether you've been here since the beginning or signed up five minutes ago, thank you. I'm still baffled anyone reads these things, but I'm grateful all the same.

To mark the occasion, I recorded a late-night solo episode from The Shed, diving deeper into each of my September & October picks: why I chose them, what stayed with me, and the sometimes-unexpected lessons I gleaned from each of them. Or you could just describe it as a guy sitting in his garden shed talking to himself. Your choice.

You can read all of the recommendations here, or, if you're clamoring to receive more emails, you can sign up for the list here.

Thanks for listening, thanks for reading, and here's to 10 more great years of great books.

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• September & October 2025 Book Recommendations
• Ed's Bimonthly Book Recommendations
• Sign up for the list

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BOOKS DISCUSSED:

• 00:00 — Intro + 10 years of book-rec emails
• 05:45 — Burn by Peter Heller
• 11:00 — Jaber Crow by Wendell Berry (related rec)
• 11:45 — The Way Out by Devon O'Neil
• 17:10 — Simple Fly Fishing by Yvon Chouinard
• 21:50 — Pheasant Tail Simplicity by Yvon Chouinard
• 25:40 — Little Woodchucks by Nick Offerman
• 29:20 — Dirtbag Billionaire by David Gelles
• 35:00 — Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (related rec)
• 35:55 — Apple in China by Patrick McGee
• 40:45 — When McKinsey Comes to Town (related rec)
• 42:10 — The Devil's Hand by Jack Carr
• 46:15 — Closing thoughts

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Devon O'Neil is a journalist, author, and longtime friend of mine whose new book "The Way Out: A True Story of Survival in the Heart of the Rockies" is one of the best pieces of outdoor nonfiction I've read in years. The book tells the harrowing true story of a backcountry ski trip near Leadville, Colorado, that turned tragic—and the years-long process of understanding what really happened, and how a mountain town wrestled with loss, resilience, and the complicated relationship we all have with risk and wild places. It's gripping, deeply reported, and beautifully written—equal parts survival epic, community portrait, and meditation on how we find meaning in the aftermath of tragedy.

Devon has spent more than two decades as a writer and reporter based in Summit County, Colorado, covering everything from adventure sports and avalanches to the cultural and emotional undercurrents of life in mountain towns. Before turning his attention to this book project, he worked in newspapers, wrote for Outside, Men's Journal, and ESPN.com, and somehow managed to balance all of that with being a hardcore athlete and a dedicated dad and husband. He's one of those rare writers whose empathy and endurance match the people that he writes about.

In this conversation, Devon and I dig into the story behind "The Way Out"—how he first heard about the tragedy, earned the trust of a close-knit community, and spent years piecing together a complete and compassionate account. We talk about the ethical tightrope of telling other people's hardest stories, how his own brushes with danger shaped his perspective on risk, and what this project taught him about the fine line between adventure and recklessness. We also get into his childhood growing up on a sailboat in the Virgin Islands, his evolution as a journalist and athlete, and the hard-earned wisdom that comes from spending a lifetime chasing stories in the mountains.

"The Way Out" is available now wherever you get your books, so follow the links in the episode notes to grab your copy. Big thanks to Devon for the chat, and thank you for listening. Enjoy!

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• Devon O'Neil
• "The Way Out" by Devon O'Neil
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/devon-oneil/

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 2:23 – Intro and finding The Way Out story
• 6:59 – Making people comfortable
• 11:10 – The story in Devon's words
• 16:29 – Mountain town people
• 20:48 – Lifestyle overlaps
• 24:20 – Devon's own accidents
• 30:10 – It's all great until someone gets hurt
• 33:03 – The bonds of risk
• 35:18 – Adjustments
• 39:22 – Growing up on islands
• 43:43 – How Devon got to Colorado
• 47:34 – Pros and cons of different types of writing
• 51:22 – Book writing advice
• 55:42 – Not just about getting it right
• 1:00:09 – Book and writer recs

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Carli Kierstead is the Forest Program Director for The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming, where she leads efforts to understand and restore some of the West's most critical—and often overlooked—ecosystems. From beetle kill and wildfire to drought, Wyoming's forests face a range of challenges that ripple far beyond the state's borders. These high-country forests are the headwaters of several major river basins, providing water to millions of people across the American West.

In this conversation, Carli and I dig into the past, present, and future of Western forests—how management philosophies have evolved over the decades, what's threatening their health today, and what can be done to make them more resilient in a changing climate. We talk about her team's groundbreaking work using snowtography—a deceptively simple but powerful way to study how forest structure affects snowpack and water supply—and how those findings could help guide future restoration across the Colorado River Basin.

Carli also shares her personal journey from growing up in San Diego to finding her calling in Wyoming's wide-open landscapes, her insights on collaboration and trust-building in conservation, and a few book recommendations that shaped her path. It's a hopeful, science-grounded conversation about water, forests, and how collaboration can shape a more resilient future for the West.

Thanks for listening, hope you enjoy!

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• Carli Kierstead
• Wyoming forests + TNC
• Snowtography short film
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/carli-kierstead/

---

This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Colorado chapter of The Nature Conservancy and TNC chapters throughout the Western United States. Guided by science and grounded by decades of collaborative partnerships, The Nature Conservancy has a long-standing legacy of achieving lasting results to create a world where nature and people thrive.

During the last week of every month throughout 2025, Mountain & Prairie will be delving into conversations with a wide range of The Nature Conservancy's leaders, partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, highlighting the myriad of conservation challenges, opportunities, and solutions here in the American West and beyond.

To learn more about The Nature Conservancy's impactful work in the West and around the world, visit www.nature.org

---

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 2:34 – Intro and Wyoming forest health
• 7:16 – Beetle issues
• 8:30 – Why forest health?
• 12:35 – Economic benefit of forests
• 16:28 – Wyoming's claim to water
• 17:10 – Snowtography
• 23:18 – Lessons from the snow
• 27:33 – On the ground impact
• 33:53 – How it scales
• 40:42 – Relationship building
• 46:08 – The tendrils of the Colorado River Basin
• 46:46 – Carli's environment obsession
• 52:01 – How to build a relationship
• 55:10 – Book recs
• 58:38 – Last thoughts

---

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Bex Frucht is a force of nature—a storyteller and community builder whose work blends performance, land, and small-town life in the American West. Based in Livingston, Montana, she's the founder of TMI Live, a storytelling series that celebrates vulnerability, humor, and human connection, and for the past three years, she's been the "vibe steward" of the Old Salt Festival, where her talent for bringing people together has become legendary. Whether she's hosting a show, coaching storytellers, or emceeing a fundraiser, Bex radiates generosity, intelligence, and positivity in a way that elevates every room she's in.

Like so many of my favorite people, her career path is as winding as it is fascinating: a Morehead-Cain Scholar at UNC Chapel Hill, she spent her early years in media and entertainment in New York and Los Angeles, then pivoted to environmental work before landing on a ranch in Colorado to learn about land stewardship from the ground up. Those years on the prairie, combined with her creative life in cities and her Southern roots, helped hone her rare ability to connect seemingly opposite worlds—artists and ranchers, movie stars and cowboys, locals and newcomers—through the shared power of story.

In this conversation recorded at her home in Livingston, we trace her inspiring journey and talk about the lessons she's learned along the way: what it means to find your authentic voice, how storytelling can build bridges across divides, and why embracing your weirdness can be the key to a meaningful life. It's a funny, authentic conversation that's as instructive as it is entertaining. For anyone who's ever wondered how to forge their own path, live creatively, and stay grounded in community, this episode is for you.

Be sure to check out the episode notes for a full list of all the topics we discussed and links to everything. And give Bex a follow on Instagram to stay in the loop about her upcoming storytelling shows and appearances in Montana and beyond.

A big thanks to Bex for her friendship, encouragement, inspiration, and this conversation. And thank you for listening.

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• Bex on Instagram
• Bex on LinkedIn
• Bex's Seven Talk
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/bex-frucht/

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 2:29 - Intro, where Bex grew up and how she got West
• 10:40 - Grade stress
• 14:21 - Being yourself so others can be themselves
• 16:11 - How Bex changed after college
• 24:11 - Lawyer land ethic to MTV
• 27:27 - NYC love
• 28:32 - LA freelancing and leaving MTV
• 32:49 - Live storytelling
• 37:24 - Oversharing is caring
• 42:54 - Starting with the person and Bex's views on food systems
• 47:31 - It's all messy
• 54:19 - Lessons from the ranch
• 1:00:44 - Vibe steward
• 1:03:52 - Bex's job in Livingston
• 1:10:11 - Creatives and cowboys
• 1:19:30 - Relationship currency
• 1:24:39 - Valuing creatives
• 1:27:57 - Book recs

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Yvon Chouinard needs no introduction. The founder of Patagonia, pioneer of clean climbing, co-founder of 1% for the Planet, and lifelong advocate for simplicity and wildness, he's one of the world's most influential environmental leaders. Now in his mid-80s, Yvon continues to live, work, and fish by the same principles that have guided him since his dirtbag climbing days: live simply, take responsibility for your impact, and keep finding meaning through deep, direct engagement with nature.

His newest book, "Pheasant Tail Simplicity: Recipes and Techniques for Successful Fly Fishing," distills those philosophies into one of his lifelong passions—fly fishing. Co-authored with his longtime fishing buddies Craig Mathews and Mauro Mazzo, Pheasant Tail Simplicity begins as a guide to tying and fishing with only pheasant-tail flies, and becomes a case study in creativity, restraint, and how simplifying our pursuits can reconnect us to what really matters. You don't have to be a hardcore angler to glean important lessons from the book—its insights can be applied to almost any part of life.

In this conversation, Yvon and I start out talking about fly fishing, of course—but we quickly veer into broader terrain: how constraints can become a path to freedom, how business can be a demonstration of ethics, and how pessimism can serve as a productive form of realism. He shares a ton of amazing stories—learning to fish with a tenkara master in Italy, teaching Crow Reservation children to fly fish, founding 1% for the Planet, why rebellious personalities make the best entrepreneurs, his love of regenerative agriculture, and why he still believes that action—no matter how small—is the cure for depression. It's a wide-ranging, funny, and wise discussion with someone who's spent a lifetime proving that the process is far more important than the outcome.

During our conversation, you'll hear us reference several of Patagonia's pioneers—Kris Tompkins, Rick Ridgeway, and Vincent Stanley—all of whom I've interviewed here on Mountain & Prairie. If you'd like to listen to those episodes or check out their books, there are links in the episode notes.

A huge thank-you to Patagonia, Patagonia Books, Patagonia Fly Fishing, and of course Yvon for the opportunity to have this conversation. Like many of you listeners, I've been deeply influenced by Yvon's work and worldview, so it was a dream come true to sit down with him for a long, relaxed conversation.

Be sure to check out "Pheasant Tail Simplicity" and the many other excellent titles from Patagonia Books. Thanks so much for listening—I hope you enjoy.

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• "Pheasant Tail Simplicity"
• "Simple Fly Fishing"
• Patagonia Books
• Patagonia Fly Fishing
• M&P Interview with Kris Tompkins
• M&P Interview with Rick Ridgeway
• M&P interview with Vincent Stanley
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/yvon-chouinard/

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 2:50 - Intro, the blind fisherman in Labrador
• 5:37 - Why another book about flyfishing?
• 8:26 - The story of a Japanese tenkara rod
• 13:00 - It's the action that counts
• 16:03 - Democratic fly fishing
• 17:37 - Fishing emergers
• 19:45 - No shortcuts
• 25:12 - Simplifying sports
• 26:30 - Seeking constraints
• 29:06 - Juvenile delinquent energy
• 31:46 - A bug's life
• 36:05 - Origins of 1% for the Planet
• 40:16 - Yvon's regenerative ag interest
• 44:15 - Fighting climate change with market forces
• 46:36 - A happy pessimist
• 48:34 - Fly fishing forever
• 53:47 - Action as the anecdote to depression

---

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Chris Keyes is the Executive Director of RE:PUBLIC and the former longtime Editor in Chief of Outside magazine. During his decades-long career in journalism, Chris helped guide Outside through some of its most iconic years—publishing award-winning stories, mentoring top writers, and keeping the magazine's adventurous spirit alive in an era of massive change across the media landscape. Earlier this year, after leaving Outside, he launched RE:PUBLIC, a new nonprofit newsroom dedicated to one of his lifelong passions: America's public lands.

RE:PUBLIC was created to fill a growing gap in environmental journalism. At a time when newsroom budgets are shrinking and coverage of conservation and land management issues has nearly disappeared, Chris saw an opportunity to build a publication focused entirely on public lands—how they're managed, who uses them, and why they matter. Structured as a nonprofit, RE:PUBLIC will publish deeply reported, narrative-driven stories that reach across political lines and help readers better understand the forces shaping the landscapes we all share.

In this episode, we talk about what inspired Chris to start RE:PUBLIC, why public lands deserve more consistent and credible coverage, and how he's building a business model that protects editorial independence. We also discuss his years at Outside, the changing nature of journalism, the challenges of freelance writing, and why great storytelling still has the power to cut through the noise and connect people to big ideas.

Be sure to sign up for RE:PUBLIC's free newsletter by following the link in the episode notes. Big thanks to Chris for the fun conversation, and thank you for listening.

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• Chris Keyes
• RE:PUBLIC
• Sign up for the free RE:PUBLIC newsletter
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/chris-keyes/

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 2:00 - Intro, two comments and a question
• 6:08 - From Outside to RE:PUBLIC
• 10:57 - Public lands in the mainstream
• 13:12 - Nonprofit model
• 18:41 - Preaching to the choir
• 24:11 - Managing conflict as a people pleaser
• 29:17 - Journalism institutions and its role today
• 33:20 - Where it's all going
• 39:41 - The editing hierarchy
• 44:27 - How Chris discovered Outside
• 49:46 - Adding in some personal connection
• 51:52 - The plan at Duke
• 57:09 - Book recs
• 1:00:20 - Wrapping up

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