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Remembering Oak Brook’s fly-fishing Pied Piper, Fred Hodge
I first met Fred Hodge over a decade ago, when I was still new at TU and was on the road all the time, meeting chapter and council leaders and listening to their stories of teaching and mentoring kids. Fred and other Oak Brook TU members had a booth at a huge outdoor show in…
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Are we raising the conservation generation?
These days, I have a habit of starting my morning with too much coffee and a big fat bucket of guilt. The mornings start with Rooster mistaking the kitchen light for the sun, unhappy dogs whining in their crates, a growing pile of unfinished third-grade homework, a to-do list with a pathetic one or two…
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The question we should all be asking ourselves
How can we ensure a brighter future for our public lands? We have spent much of the past month reflecting on the role public lands play in our lives. But now is the time to make a plan. Safeguarding our outdoor traditions takes more than one month of celebrating public lands. The challenges are many: from habitat threats, to transfer of…
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Healing our Ecosystem: Recovering Belonging, part three
Editor’s note: This post is the third of a series from Rene Henery, PhD, Science Director with TU’s California Program, on the connection between ecological restoration and conservation and healing ourselves of the wounds of systemic racism and other societal and historical injustices. Author’s note: Thanks to all of you who continue to to read,…
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Plan and then plan again
The year 2020 has been a year of wrecked plans
The year 2020 has been a year of wrecked plans. Any sort of travel – cancelled. Celebrations with friends and family – done through Zoom. Even the regular trip to the grocery store or out to eat – reimagined with a mask and attempts at social distancing. This is even truer for me dealing with the ravages…
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These hips don’t lie
Crawling around small creeks was an exercise in bad yoga, as I dragged myself to standing by grabbing branches and logs. When I finally had the hip examined, I was told what I already knew
Two summers ago, I agreed to join a backpacking trek with some friends I hadn’t seen since college. Our mission -- honoring the life of a mutual friend who’d passed away -- took us deep into the Sierra Nevada range, a 54-mile journey filled with golden trout and jaw-dropping views of ice-etched peaks and verdant hanging valleys. As…
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Healing our Ecosystem: Recovering Belonging, part two
Editor’s note: This post is the second of a series from Rene Henery, PhD, Science Director with TU’s California Program, on the connection between ecological restoration, coldwater conservation and healing ourselves of the wounds of systemic racism and other societal and historical injustices. Author's note: Thanks to all of you who took the time to…