In Episode 106 of District of Conservation, Gabriella spoke to Bill Cooksey. Bill is a Sportsmen Outreach Coordinator at Vanishing Paradise, a project of National Wildlife Federation and Ducks Unlimited started in 2009 to advocate for restoration of the Mississippi River Delta. From meeting with legislators at the state Capitol to connecting outdoor industry leaders to the conservation movement, they are educating on the issue of coastal restoration in duck blinds, out on the water and in D.C. — and everywhere in between.
Here’s more on Bill’s background:
From his earliest memories in the river bottoms of West Tennessee, Bill’s life revolved around hunting and fishing. By his teens, he’d hunted ducks in all four flyways and fished from East Tennessee to the Pacific. As an adult, he’s hunted from prairie Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake to the California Delta, but the Mississippi Flyway was always “home.” His professional career has been in the outdoor industry; from an obscure duck call salesman toMarketing Director at Avery Outdoors to, most recently, Managing Editor of the Mid-South Hunting & Fishing News, communicating with sportsmen has been the key to his success.
Bill and Gabriella were connected by a mutual friend and past guest of the podcast, Travis Thompson. Bill came on to discuss his background—from migrating from the private sector/outdoor industry to the outdoor nonprofit realm, the importance of lobbying (advocacy) lawmakers, the big role sportsmen and women play in environmentalism, and much more.
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Photo Credit: Bill Cooksey