Rewilding Earth Podcast Episode 78: Iowa Rewilding and Big River Connectivity With Mark Edwards
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Mark Edwards in a Paw Paw Patch* at Waubonsie State Park in the Loess Hills of Iowa Photo (c) Jack Humphrey
About
Mark is a leader in BeWildReWild and its Big River Connectivity project. He was raised a self-described military brat, a nomad bouncing back and forth across the oceans searching for a home. After college, his Thoreau experiment of living in a shack with no running water by the river continued for 17 years. He retired after 30 years leading restoration efforts within the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and is still pursuing being naturalized while maintaining his river residency for 60 years.
Topics
- Rewilding issues in Iowa
- How to rewild a greatly altered landscape with few public protected areas
- Where to find connectivity in mostly flat private ag lands
- Hands and knees conservation
- What is BeWild ReWild?
Sunset from Ridgeline Trail in Waubonsie State Park, Iowa. Photo (c) Jack Humphrey
Extra Credit
- Heartland Rewilding: The Big River Connectivity Project
- BeWildRewild.org
- The Wildest Place in the World
- Article: What is the most bio diverse place on the planet Earth?
We are almost ready to launch a new page on Big River Connectivity, funded by BeWild ReWild, which focuses mapping and storytelling work on Loess Hills, The Driftless, and Ozark Plateau regions of the Mississippi River Watershed. Watch this space and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to be updated when the page is live!
*The pawpaw is a patch-forming (clonal) understory tree found in well-drained, deep, fertile bottomland and hilly upland habitat, with large, simple leaves. The fruit taste a bit like mango.
Correction from podcast recording: Jack mentions no farming above 9 degrees. The goal is no farming on slopes greater than 9%.
Director of Digital Outreach (D.O.D.O.) for The Rewilding Institute
Host and Producer of the Rewilding Earth Podcast
Jack started Rewilding work as Executive Director of Sky Island Alliance in the mid-1990’s, organizing the Sky Island Wildlands Network design, ripping up illegal roads on forest service lands, installing wolf acclimatization pens on Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch & conducting howling surveys to help make way for the final stage of the Lobo reintroduction program in the Southwest.
Through the years, Jack has worked with Dave Foreman and the Rewilding Gang to further Rewilding initiatives and education.