WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en-GB 00:00:08.210 --> 00:00:10.490 I'm Travis Bader and this is The 00:00:10.490 --> 00:00:11.660 Silvercore Podcast. 00:00:13.310 --> 00:00:15.140 Join me as I discuss matters related to 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:17.180 hunting, fishing, and outdoor pursuits 00:00:17.450 --> 00:00:19.380 with the people in businesses that comprise 00:00:19.380 --> 00:00:20.060 of the community. 00:00:20.870 --> 00:00:22.760 If you're a new to Silvercore, be sure to 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:26.960 check out our website, www.Silvercore.ca where 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:29.300 you can learn more about courses, services, and 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:30.220 products that we offer. 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:32.670 As well as how you can join The Silvercore Club, 00:00:32.970 --> 00:00:35.130 which includes 10 million in North America wide 00:00:35.130 --> 00:00:37.740 liability insurance, to ensure you are properly 00:00:37.740 --> 00:00:41.220 covered during your outdoor adventures. 00:00:43.110 --> 00:00:44.940 On the last podcast, I mentioned the 00:00:44.940 --> 00:00:47.070 life-changing giveaway that we will be doing 00:00:47.070 --> 00:00:50.190 with SMART Fire Academy, where one lucky person 00:00:50.190 --> 00:00:53.169 will win a full tuition paid scholarship to be 00:00:53.190 --> 00:00:54.480 trained as a firefighter. 00:00:55.680 --> 00:00:57.810 Follow us on social media and watch for 00:00:57.810 --> 00:01:00.090 the details in our April 1st announcement. 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:04.230 Today, I'm excited to be joined by the president 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:06.650 of Conservation Visions and founder of the Wild 00:01:06.650 --> 00:01:07.520 Harvest initiative. 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:09.950 World-renowned conservation it's Shane 00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:12.980 Mahoney, Shane possesses, a rare combination 00:01:12.980 --> 00:01:15.920 of conservationists scientists, historian, 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:16.730 and philosopher. 00:01:17.250 --> 00:01:19.259 Shane is a gifted order and insightful 00:01:19.259 --> 00:01:21.330 thinker with a profound commitment to wild 00:01:21.330 --> 00:01:23.880 nature, rural societies into the sustainable 00:01:23.880 --> 00:01:25.830 use of Earth's natural resources, 00:01:26.310 --> 00:01:29.039 Shane, welcome to The Silvercore Podcast. 00:01:29.630 --> 00:01:30.679 Well, thank you very much. 00:01:30.679 --> 00:01:32.210 It's a great question to be here and I'm 00:01:32.210 --> 00:01:33.620 looking forward to our conversation. 00:01:34.770 --> 00:01:35.460 As am I. 00:01:35.960 --> 00:01:38.475 Now I don't wish to recapitulate your many 00:01:38.475 --> 00:01:41.115 accolades and there are many as others 00:01:41.115 --> 00:01:43.485 have very eloquently done that before me. 00:01:43.515 --> 00:01:45.074 So instead I will, I'm going to have 00:01:45.074 --> 00:01:47.054 a complete bio on our website for our 00:01:47.054 --> 00:01:48.164 listeners to reference. 00:01:48.824 --> 00:01:50.874 The Silvercore Podcast is about sharing our 00:01:50.895 --> 00:01:51.975 passions with others. 00:01:52.455 --> 00:01:54.884 What I'd really hoped to achieve with this podcast 00:01:54.884 --> 00:01:57.164 is to distill your almost palpable enthusiasm 00:01:57.164 --> 00:01:59.354 for conservation and communicate that to our 00:01:59.354 --> 00:02:01.604 listeners in a way that makes a somewhat nebulous 00:02:01.604 --> 00:02:03.255 concept, more tangible. 00:02:03.570 --> 00:02:05.759 And second, I would like to learn more about the 00:02:05.759 --> 00:02:06.840 Wild Harvest Initiative. 00:02:07.410 --> 00:02:12.150 So with that said, growing up, I don't know 00:02:12.150 --> 00:02:14.430 anyone who's naturally inclined towards 00:02:14.430 --> 00:02:16.590 conservation as that concept doesn't tend 00:02:16.590 --> 00:02:18.960 to enter the mind until there's a realization 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:19.950 of what could be lost. 00:02:20.310 --> 00:02:23.130 And it had me wondering, when did you start 00:02:23.130 --> 00:02:25.659 your journey as a conservationist and 00:02:25.659 --> 00:02:26.469 what sparked it? 00:02:27.119 --> 00:02:29.840 Well, I think you're right in one sense that, 00:02:29.900 --> 00:02:34.395 um, you know, individuals don't begin, even in 00:02:34.395 --> 00:02:36.285 their explorations of nature of thinking 00:02:36.285 --> 00:02:37.215 about conservation. 00:02:39.105 --> 00:02:43.095 But I think very early in a child's exploration of 00:02:43.095 --> 00:02:48.705 nature, the ingredients for a conservation 00:02:48.705 --> 00:02:49.815 awareness is born. 00:02:51.615 --> 00:02:55.965 Um, it really starts with some basic elements. 00:02:56.055 --> 00:03:00.750 Um, one is the fascination with other 00:03:00.750 --> 00:03:03.120 living things, whether they be insects or 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.120 sticklebacks or frogs or whatever it might be, 00:03:06.660 --> 00:03:08.100 butterflies and bees. 00:03:09.420 --> 00:03:15.360 Um, and the other, I think is just a sense 00:03:16.380 --> 00:03:20.610 of a rare combination of love and adventure 00:03:21.660 --> 00:03:26.190 that seem to emerge simultaneously, at almost 00:03:26.190 --> 00:03:28.560 every, any level of engagement with nature. 00:03:30.270 --> 00:03:33.300 So a young child, um, engaging in the 00:03:33.300 --> 00:03:36.150 natural world, maybe catching small trout 00:03:36.180 --> 00:03:40.140 or catching insects or catching frogs. 00:03:41.700 --> 00:03:43.890 You know, if you were to ask that little human, 00:03:44.820 --> 00:03:45.960 why aren't you doing it? 00:03:47.580 --> 00:03:49.560 Uh, they probably shrug and say something 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:50.400 like, it's fun. 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:54.120 It wouldn't get into a detailed explanation 00:03:54.120 --> 00:03:55.620 of breaking fun down. 00:03:56.760 --> 00:03:58.680 But fun generally is something that makes you 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:04.590 feel good, something that makes you happy, uh, and 00:04:04.590 --> 00:04:07.920 something that you'd like to have a lot more of. 00:04:10.140 --> 00:04:15.360 And so I think in fact, the road to conservation 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:20.070 can begin extremely early, but I don't 00:04:20.070 --> 00:04:22.620 think it always has to, it can start, it can 00:04:22.620 --> 00:04:24.420 come to people later in their lives, too. 00:04:25.755 --> 00:04:27.825 And part of that is a sweepstake, you know, 00:04:28.095 --> 00:04:32.145 uh, where you were born, uh, what opportunities 00:04:32.145 --> 00:04:35.115 you had to be in nature. 00:04:35.475 --> 00:04:38.955 Um, who your parents were, who 00:04:38.955 --> 00:04:39.705 your friends were. 00:04:41.325 --> 00:04:46.065 Um, my particular case, um, my path was in 00:04:46.065 --> 00:04:51.615 fact established almost from the womb because I 00:04:51.615 --> 00:04:55.229 grew up in a very rural place, I grew up in a 00:04:55.229 --> 00:04:56.609 very isolated place. 00:04:58.380 --> 00:05:03.330 And for those earliest of early years, being 00:05:03.450 --> 00:05:05.549 a part of nature was very easy because it 00:05:05.549 --> 00:05:06.570 was all around us. 00:05:06.599 --> 00:05:08.430 You stepped out of your door and that's 00:05:08.430 --> 00:05:09.150 where you were. 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:12.659 And I lived in a culture in Newfoundland 00:05:12.659 --> 00:05:16.469 where people lived by harvesting wildlife, 00:05:17.460 --> 00:05:20.310 fish, they were fishermen, primarily. 00:05:21.075 --> 00:05:22.965 They raised some animals, of course, 00:05:23.025 --> 00:05:24.734 for livestock purposes. 00:05:25.335 --> 00:05:26.684 And we all had gardens. 00:05:27.375 --> 00:05:30.255 And so the lifestyle was very much one of 00:05:30.255 --> 00:05:33.104 self-sufficiency and rhythms that were 00:05:33.104 --> 00:05:34.244 determined by nature. 00:05:35.234 --> 00:05:37.304 And so even as a young child, you began to 00:05:37.304 --> 00:05:40.844 understand the rhythms of nature, when trout 00:05:40.844 --> 00:05:42.715 could be caught in the small streams. 00:05:42.734 --> 00:05:45.825 And when tadpoles would disappear under the 00:05:45.825 --> 00:05:49.469 mud and when certain bird species would 00:05:49.469 --> 00:05:50.670 no longer be around. 00:05:51.570 --> 00:05:54.840 So I spent my earliest days engaged in 00:05:54.840 --> 00:05:59.130 nature, catching eels, catching, catching other 00:05:59.130 --> 00:06:00.600 fishes off wharves. 00:06:00.690 --> 00:06:04.200 Uh, you know, surveying tiny little streams 00:06:04.200 --> 00:06:05.880 that I thought were massive rivers, you 00:06:05.880 --> 00:06:08.270 know, and learning about the muskrats 00:06:08.270 --> 00:06:10.050 and the mink and other things that were there. 00:06:10.050 --> 00:06:13.680 So as a boy of three to five, I mean, 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:14.790 this is what I did. 00:06:15.705 --> 00:06:18.855 So I am sort of the exception to the rule 00:06:18.855 --> 00:06:26.145 perhaps, in that, that was what my life was and 00:06:26.145 --> 00:06:28.875 in a very true sense, my life has never changed. 00:06:29.955 --> 00:06:30.225 Right. 00:06:30.285 --> 00:06:31.695 I went on to become a man. 00:06:31.725 --> 00:06:35.055 I, you know, took degrees at universities. 00:06:35.145 --> 00:06:37.005 I became a research biologist. 00:06:37.785 --> 00:06:41.385 I worked with, uh, bear and caribou and moose and 00:06:41.385 --> 00:06:43.595 lynx and coyotes so on. 00:06:43.595 --> 00:06:46.170 And did all of those exciting things that 00:06:46.170 --> 00:06:48.840 people see, you know, and started some of them. 00:06:48.870 --> 00:06:51.030 I mean, the radio calling programs, you 00:06:51.030 --> 00:06:54.030 know, the, the jumping out of helicopters. 00:06:54.710 --> 00:06:56.880 The immobilizing of bears and their dens, 00:06:56.910 --> 00:06:58.890 you know, all of these kinds of things. 00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:03.240 Climbing the cliff faces to study sea birds, which 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:06.690 I've worked on for a long time and being around 00:07:06.690 --> 00:07:10.500 the sea, a great deal is a very emotionally 00:07:10.500 --> 00:07:13.650 charged and life-changing thing anyway. 00:07:14.625 --> 00:07:18.915 And so I came into it in a sense from the 00:07:18.915 --> 00:07:22.905 womb, uh, I was born into that circumstance. 00:07:22.905 --> 00:07:24.985 I lived that circumstance, I loved 00:07:25.005 --> 00:07:26.295 that circumstance. 00:07:27.195 --> 00:07:29.415 And two things came out of that experience. 00:07:29.415 --> 00:07:34.125 One was more than a fascination, but as I 00:07:34.125 --> 00:07:37.095 said earlier, a love for wild things that are 00:07:37.095 --> 00:07:40.290 real belief, they, they were part of my life, 00:07:40.320 --> 00:07:43.440 the frogs I caught and kept to the insects. 00:07:43.440 --> 00:07:45.420 I kept and tried to keep alive. 00:07:46.170 --> 00:07:48.870 All of the things I did that way, they were part 00:07:48.900 --> 00:07:52.110 of, I spent more time looking after them in my 00:07:52.110 --> 00:07:54.330 family, then I certainly spent looking after my 00:07:54.330 --> 00:07:55.260 sisters and brother. 00:07:56.210 --> 00:08:00.060 And so, uh, it transitioned after a 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:03.200 while from fascination to something of love. 00:08:04.320 --> 00:08:06.599 And as I went on my reading binges as 00:08:06.599 --> 00:08:09.479 a very early boy, I was a voracious early 00:08:09.479 --> 00:08:12.060 reader and continued that through my 00:08:12.060 --> 00:08:14.460 university days and to the present day. 00:08:15.960 --> 00:08:18.120 All of that love and fascination for wild 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:21.810 things and any animal actually, not just wild. 00:08:22.590 --> 00:08:25.890 Um, you know, I got to live it out in 00:08:25.890 --> 00:08:28.469 my research career in wilderness areas 00:08:28.469 --> 00:08:30.870 for years and years, I spent massive 00:08:30.870 --> 00:08:32.130 amounts of time alone. 00:08:33.284 --> 00:08:36.044 Uh, and ultimately I came to a point in 00:08:36.044 --> 00:08:39.585 my life where I, now my fundamental creed, 00:08:40.875 --> 00:08:43.515 my Celtic belief, if you will, so I 00:08:43.515 --> 00:08:48.135 am an Irish citizen as well uh, is that 00:08:48.155 --> 00:08:50.015 there is no difference between us and them. 00:08:51.194 --> 00:08:51.505 Mmm. 00:08:51.725 --> 00:08:54.305 I see absolutely no difference between us. 00:08:54.305 --> 00:08:55.945 We're different, we're all different. 00:08:56.065 --> 00:08:57.455 The Zebra is different from the horse. 00:08:57.455 --> 00:09:00.425 The man is different from the whale and the whale 00:09:00.425 --> 00:09:03.450 is different from the great eight, but I don't 00:09:03.450 --> 00:09:08.460 buy into any of the ideas that we have dominion, 00:09:08.640 --> 00:09:11.430 that we have superiority. 00:09:11.820 --> 00:09:14.310 Some of our talents are superior, in some ways to 00:09:14.310 --> 00:09:16.590 the talents of animals, some of animals talents 00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:17.970 are superior to others. 00:09:19.740 --> 00:09:22.200 And yet, despite the fact that I believe all 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:26.520 of this to be true, I also firmly believe in 00:09:26.520 --> 00:09:29.910 the, in the lifestyle of sustainable use. 00:09:30.780 --> 00:09:34.290 In the harvesting of wild things, the utilization 00:09:34.290 --> 00:09:37.340 of wild things, and people will often ask 00:09:37.350 --> 00:09:40.280 me, who know me well, particularly anti-hunting 00:09:40.280 --> 00:09:42.320 organizations who know me quite well. 00:09:43.490 --> 00:09:45.440 How is it that I can still hunt and 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:47.750 fish given the fact that I have these 00:09:47.750 --> 00:09:51.890 very strong opinions about, um, animals. 00:09:51.920 --> 00:09:54.620 And I explained to them that the primary 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:59.189 issue here is not whether I love them. 00:09:59.310 --> 00:10:04.140 The primary issue is that I am one of them and 00:10:04.230 --> 00:10:08.850 that the laws of nature are not made for all the 00:10:08.850 --> 00:10:12.600 other species and then a separate law made for us. 00:10:13.470 --> 00:10:17.069 There's only one series of laws of nature, and 00:10:17.069 --> 00:10:19.530 all of us demand the same things from the 00:10:19.530 --> 00:10:20.670 environment we live in. 00:10:20.790 --> 00:10:24.240 We need clean air, clean water, we need food. 00:10:25.380 --> 00:10:29.010 We need some sense of freedom, all 00:10:29.010 --> 00:10:30.620 animals seek it. 00:10:31.070 --> 00:10:34.070 And if you deny it to any animal, including 00:10:34.070 --> 00:10:37.880 the human animal, you abirate, you change, 00:10:38.090 --> 00:10:42.830 you deconstruct, you dis you just disassemble, 00:10:43.730 --> 00:10:46.370 uh, the health processes of the animal. 00:10:46.640 --> 00:10:48.830 We all know this to be true, something 00:10:48.830 --> 00:10:49.820 else we all share. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:56.460 And, uh, so I simply can see no honest way 00:10:56.460 --> 00:11:02.220 of living than to live as the animal I am and 00:11:02.220 --> 00:11:06.150 being the animal I am to live in this complicated 00:11:06.180 --> 00:11:09.780 world of harvesting other animals and plants and 00:11:10.380 --> 00:11:12.689 berries and fruits and so on from the natural 00:11:12.689 --> 00:11:15.120 world, as much as I can, in modern time. 00:11:16.290 --> 00:11:20.550 Um, and I don't have any moral or ethical 00:11:21.915 --> 00:11:26.145 uh, problems with that, but I certainly 00:11:26.145 --> 00:11:31.515 do have emotionally, emotional tensions over 00:11:31.515 --> 00:11:32.715 the killing of things. 00:11:33.615 --> 00:11:36.225 And so while I have hunted extensively, 00:11:37.365 --> 00:11:41.535 uh, it is never a simple thing. 00:11:42.765 --> 00:11:45.885 And I have very little, if any respect for people 00:11:45.885 --> 00:11:52.230 who hunt or fish and who treat animals as 00:11:52.230 --> 00:11:56.310 simply targets and who seem to believe that 00:11:56.310 --> 00:11:58.410 they don't feel the bullet the same as we do. 00:11:59.880 --> 00:12:02.880 Uh, they do feel the bullet exactly the 00:12:02.880 --> 00:12:05.310 same as we do, exactly the same as you would. 00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:08.550 But again, none of that can change the fact that 00:12:08.550 --> 00:12:11.880 the laws of nature, the laws of ecology are what 00:12:11.880 --> 00:12:15.540 they are and I would sooner harvest as much of 00:12:15.540 --> 00:12:19.125 my food from the wild as I can, I'm very fortunate 00:12:19.125 --> 00:12:20.175 to be able to do that. 00:12:20.175 --> 00:12:21.705 Not every one in the world can. 00:12:22.845 --> 00:12:26.205 And I also feel very deeply that the animals 00:12:26.205 --> 00:12:29.355 we raise for food ought to be raised 00:12:29.355 --> 00:12:31.935 in a very caring and ethical manner as far 00:12:31.935 --> 00:12:33.075 as humanely possible. 00:12:34.925 --> 00:12:36.125 I absolutely agree. 00:12:37.115 --> 00:12:40.865 What do you currently see as some of the 00:12:40.865 --> 00:12:43.205 biggest challenges to the lifestyle of 00:12:43.205 --> 00:12:46.925 sustainable use of our wildlife and resources? 00:12:48.765 --> 00:12:52.095 Well, there are many, some of them are just 00:12:52.145 --> 00:12:54.735 mega issues, there are there, there are 00:12:54.765 --> 00:12:57.135 overreaching issues that are not in any 00:12:57.135 --> 00:12:58.905 sense, usually local. 00:12:59.955 --> 00:13:03.405 So for example, the sheer number of human 00:13:03.405 --> 00:13:08.025 beings that we have on the planet is really 00:13:08.025 --> 00:13:11.015 causing disruptions to all lifestyles almost. 00:13:11.714 --> 00:13:12.005 Sure. 00:13:12.005 --> 00:13:14.685 Um, whether one has retreated to cities 00:13:14.685 --> 00:13:17.265 or moves out to the suburbs or wherever 00:13:17.265 --> 00:13:20.625 one goes, the sheer numbers of people and 00:13:20.625 --> 00:13:24.435 the amount of industrial infrastructure that is 00:13:24.435 --> 00:13:26.865 necessary to service the basic needs of 00:13:26.865 --> 00:13:30.735 those people is creating of course, a massive 00:13:30.735 --> 00:13:34.694 problem for everyone and the sustainable 00:13:34.694 --> 00:13:38.175 use lifestyle, some of its components are 00:13:38.175 --> 00:13:40.365 healthy because they're absolutely essential. 00:13:40.365 --> 00:13:43.905 So, all international fisheries are sustainable 00:13:43.905 --> 00:13:46.905 use activities, and nobody is dreaming of 00:13:46.905 --> 00:13:49.095 stopping them because the, you know, half 00:13:49.095 --> 00:13:51.405 the world would starve immediately if we did so. 00:13:52.605 --> 00:13:54.225 On the other hand, sustainable use 00:13:54.225 --> 00:13:56.655 activities that some of your listeners might 00:13:56.655 --> 00:13:58.194 be thinking about, you know, their own 00:13:58.194 --> 00:14:02.175 activities of hunting moose, or elk, or bear 00:14:02.175 --> 00:14:06.135 or turkeys or waterfowl, or fishing for bass or 00:14:06.135 --> 00:14:08.955 Lake trout or salmon, or, you know, Whitefish 00:14:08.955 --> 00:14:10.065 or whatever it might be. 00:14:11.010 --> 00:14:14.100 Some of those tend to get quite a bit more 00:14:14.100 --> 00:14:18.090 attention sometimes because people see 00:14:18.090 --> 00:14:19.319 them as unnecessary. 00:14:20.310 --> 00:14:22.470 They see them as a little bit, you know, 00:14:22.470 --> 00:14:24.569 you could go to the grocery store chain, you 00:14:24.569 --> 00:14:26.760 could buy all your meat from another source. 00:14:26.760 --> 00:14:29.130 You could get all of your berries and 00:14:29.130 --> 00:14:29.939 fruits from there. 00:14:29.939 --> 00:14:32.250 You don't really have to go out into the wild 00:14:32.250 --> 00:14:33.030 and do those things. 00:14:33.030 --> 00:14:36.120 And so that's one part of it where people see, 00:14:36.210 --> 00:14:38.670 why don't you be like the rest of the world? 00:14:39.314 --> 00:14:42.255 The majority of the world, living in urban 00:14:42.255 --> 00:14:45.555 centers and simply go and get your food that way. 00:14:46.484 --> 00:14:49.935 And then there are the iconic issues. 00:14:50.594 --> 00:14:53.114 So the international hunters going to places 00:14:53.114 --> 00:14:56.354 like Africa or central Asia to hunt iconic 00:14:56.354 --> 00:14:58.724 species, such as, you know, elephant or lion 00:14:58.724 --> 00:15:01.454 or something of this nature, which causes a 00:15:01.454 --> 00:15:05.655 massive backlash amongst a lot of people and 00:15:05.655 --> 00:15:08.415 even more locally, such as British Columbia. 00:15:08.844 --> 00:15:09.025 Mmm. 00:15:09.045 --> 00:15:11.625 The idea of harvesting iconic species, such 00:15:11.625 --> 00:15:16.545 as grizzly bear, for example, uh, or now in 00:15:16.545 --> 00:15:19.125 New Mexico, there are bills to end all trapping 00:15:19.125 --> 00:15:21.735 on public lands to end all black bear hunting 00:15:22.005 --> 00:15:24.465 in the current session, which will probably pass. 00:15:25.095 --> 00:15:28.695 We have this, this international arena 00:15:28.725 --> 00:15:32.595 talking about far away, you know, people hunting 00:15:32.625 --> 00:15:35.535 animals, and then we have local issues, 00:15:35.535 --> 00:15:37.905 particularly with carnivores, like bears 00:15:37.905 --> 00:15:41.355 and wolves, especially, where people just say, 00:15:41.505 --> 00:15:42.735 why are you doing that? 00:15:44.325 --> 00:15:48.165 And if you're not eating them, then I really 00:15:48.165 --> 00:15:50.055 don't think you should be doing this at all. 00:15:51.315 --> 00:15:53.505 And so it's the combination of 00:15:53.505 --> 00:15:54.255 those things. 00:15:54.255 --> 00:15:56.175 You know, society never stays the same. 00:15:56.895 --> 00:15:59.685 Society in the 1930s, forties and fifties, 00:16:00.195 --> 00:16:02.205 didn't host this array of opinion. 00:16:02.985 --> 00:16:04.725 There were some people who felt these ways, 00:16:04.725 --> 00:16:09.165 but not as extensively, but in the early decades 00:16:09.165 --> 00:16:10.455 of the two thousands. 00:16:11.115 --> 00:16:16.875 Now we are into the year 2021, we can expect many 00:16:16.875 --> 00:16:21.975 of these attitudes to be more openly discussed. 00:16:22.695 --> 00:16:25.155 We can look to see more legislation coming 00:16:25.155 --> 00:16:30.315 forward, but at the same time, I will predict 00:16:31.020 --> 00:16:33.449 that we will also see a countercurrent. 00:16:34.470 --> 00:16:36.840 That movement against hunting and things of 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:40.590 that nature has moved on enough, matured enough 00:16:41.370 --> 00:16:44.610 that now you're starting to see second guessing 00:16:44.610 --> 00:16:47.580 on the part of people, counter reactions to 00:16:47.580 --> 00:16:49.949 some of that thinking starting to take place, 00:16:50.520 --> 00:16:52.650 where for example, people are saying. 00:16:53.595 --> 00:16:57.045 You elsewhere should not dictate the lives 00:16:57.045 --> 00:16:59.805 of people who live in these rural and 00:16:59.805 --> 00:17:01.065 local circumstances. 00:17:01.725 --> 00:17:04.575 And that too is becoming a global phenomenon. 00:17:05.355 --> 00:17:07.454 So we are going to witness in the next 00:17:07.454 --> 00:17:10.724 decade, in particular and the next two decades 00:17:10.755 --> 00:17:16.395 perhaps, a really strong countercurrent 00:17:16.395 --> 00:17:21.045 exchange between animal welfare, animal rights, 00:17:21.554 --> 00:17:25.064 hunting, sustainable use, uh, lifestyles 00:17:25.064 --> 00:17:26.115 and so on and so forth. 00:17:26.804 --> 00:17:30.405 It's, uh, it's a, it's a combination of all of 00:17:30.405 --> 00:17:31.875 those things that are happening and you know, 00:17:31.905 --> 00:17:34.544 people in the hunting and, and, and sustainable 00:17:34.544 --> 00:17:36.375 use space need to realize something. 00:17:37.935 --> 00:17:39.554 They need to realize several things. 00:17:40.215 --> 00:17:43.155 They need to realize that this issue of whether 00:17:43.155 --> 00:17:46.365 we will sustainably use nature is tied up 00:17:46.365 --> 00:17:51.060 with politics, it's tied up with social 00:17:51.060 --> 00:17:53.910 attitudes, it's tied up with economics. 00:17:54.390 --> 00:17:57.360 It's tied up with, uh, you know, the 00:17:57.360 --> 00:18:00.990 kinds of, uh, cultural traditions that people 00:18:00.990 --> 00:18:02.250 have grown up with. 00:18:03.150 --> 00:18:07.800 It's based on so many complicated factors. 00:18:08.820 --> 00:18:11.790 We tend to try to want to control the easy ones. 00:18:11.820 --> 00:18:13.440 Oh, and I don't know if people are 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:14.310 hunting and fishing. 00:18:14.340 --> 00:18:16.590 Hey, let's get more people out there hunting 00:18:16.590 --> 00:18:19.230 and fishing, good idea, nothing wrong with it. 00:18:19.230 --> 00:18:22.169 I have no problem with that, but that is not 00:18:22.169 --> 00:18:25.980 going to provide us with the insight to know 00:18:26.250 --> 00:18:29.520 about how we're going to keep sustainable use 00:18:29.850 --> 00:18:33.840 harvesting, going in the longterm and the 00:18:33.840 --> 00:18:36.060 debates over whether we can do that or not 00:18:36.810 --> 00:18:37.830 are not going away. 00:18:38.790 --> 00:18:40.020 We're going to have to deal with 00:18:40.020 --> 00:18:41.520 those increasingly. 00:18:42.230 --> 00:18:43.150 Mhmm. 00:18:43.170 --> 00:18:45.540 You know, I, I have been seeing a shift 00:18:45.540 --> 00:18:48.960 here in the last few years, particularly 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:50.550 with COVID recently. 00:18:51.390 --> 00:18:53.070 There's been, I think they call it the 00:18:53.070 --> 00:18:56.970 locavore diet or the a hundred mile diet or 00:18:57.479 --> 00:19:00.870 the desire for people to start harvesting their 00:19:00.870 --> 00:19:04.199 own food locally and in a sustainable way. 00:19:04.229 --> 00:19:06.810 So we've been seeing that trend growing 00:19:06.840 --> 00:19:07.620 in the cities. 00:19:08.790 --> 00:19:12.750 And with COVID coming in, there's been a lot 00:19:12.750 --> 00:19:14.610 of people that have been scared about what 00:19:14.610 --> 00:19:17.429 they read and see in the media and that 00:19:17.699 --> 00:19:20.550 fear will instill in them the desire for 00:19:20.550 --> 00:19:21.600 self-sufficiency. 00:19:21.629 --> 00:19:26.105 And we're seeing, on the firearms side, there's 00:19:26.524 --> 00:19:29.254 gun stores are reporting massive increases in 00:19:29.254 --> 00:19:30.784 the amount of sales that they're making, 00:19:30.845 --> 00:19:35.495 as well as interest in basic outdoor survival 00:19:35.495 --> 00:19:39.725 and safety, hunting, self-sufficiency. 00:19:41.165 --> 00:19:45.125 I have been watching a trend prior to COVID 00:19:45.125 --> 00:19:48.540 that seems to accelerated because of COVID and 00:19:48.630 --> 00:19:51.810 I have to wonder how this conversation is 00:19:51.810 --> 00:19:54.180 evolving around hunting and the sustainable 00:19:54.180 --> 00:19:55.860 use of our resources. 00:19:55.950 --> 00:19:59.520 Is it going to, uh, evolve essentially 00:19:59.520 --> 00:20:00.450 in spite of us? 00:20:01.215 --> 00:20:02.955 There is a desire to get more people 00:20:02.955 --> 00:20:03.705 out there hunting. 00:20:03.735 --> 00:20:06.435 There is a desire to have, change the way that 00:20:06.435 --> 00:20:09.285 we talk about hunting and harvesting animals. 00:20:09.915 --> 00:20:11.985 Uh, we don't want to call it a sport, we 00:20:11.985 --> 00:20:14.205 don't want to call it recreation, even though 00:20:14.205 --> 00:20:16.875 we, in our province of British Columbia, it is 00:20:17.445 --> 00:20:19.645 listed under the sports and recreation section of 00:20:19.665 --> 00:20:20.805 the provincial website. 00:20:21.555 --> 00:20:24.495 With the correct information, we can 00:20:24.495 --> 00:20:26.715 start making some correct decisions about how 00:20:26.715 --> 00:20:28.004 we progress with this. 00:20:28.605 --> 00:20:31.575 And I believe that's the intention of the 00:20:31.575 --> 00:20:34.575 Wild Harvest Initiative, is to pool as much 00:20:34.575 --> 00:20:36.975 information as you can so that you can at 00:20:36.975 --> 00:20:39.765 least let the data speak for itself to hunters 00:20:39.765 --> 00:20:41.025 and non hunters alike. 00:20:41.655 --> 00:20:43.695 Am I correct in that understanding? 00:20:44.615 --> 00:20:44.885 Yeah. 00:20:45.355 --> 00:20:46.565 If you are in card, correct. 00:20:46.565 --> 00:20:51.005 In that, I mean, I think, I think ultimately the 00:20:51.005 --> 00:20:55.295 Wild Harvest Initiative was built out of the 00:20:55.295 --> 00:20:59.040 very kinds of reflections that you and I have been 00:20:59.040 --> 00:21:00.510 sharing on this podcast. 00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:04.200 First of all, a relatively small 00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:06.810 percentage of society really cares about 00:21:06.810 --> 00:21:10.080 conservation, only a small percentage. 00:21:11.310 --> 00:21:14.250 You ask a survey of course, to people over 00:21:14.250 --> 00:21:15.870 the phone, and everybody will say they're 00:21:15.870 --> 00:21:16.649 concerned about it. 00:21:16.649 --> 00:21:18.750 But the proof of the matter is that only, 00:21:18.870 --> 00:21:21.810 at this point in time, a relatively small 00:21:21.810 --> 00:21:24.060 percentage of the population is concerned 00:21:24.060 --> 00:21:24.990 about conservation. 00:21:27.225 --> 00:21:28.965 Secondly, those that are concerned 00:21:28.965 --> 00:21:31.245 about conservation are deeply divided. 00:21:32.805 --> 00:21:35.025 So you have people who hunt and you have people 00:21:35.025 --> 00:21:37.245 who fish, and people who berry pick, and people 00:21:37.245 --> 00:21:39.015 who love wilderness, and people who will hike, 00:21:39.015 --> 00:21:41.925 and people who snowboard, and people who kayak 00:21:42.045 --> 00:21:42.945 and blah, blah, blah. 00:21:44.025 --> 00:21:47.535 And they certainly don't all share 00:21:47.565 --> 00:21:48.885 all the same views. 00:21:50.925 --> 00:21:52.965 So here we have a problem of the big 00:21:52.995 --> 00:21:56.205 conservation vacancy that we need to fill. 00:21:57.584 --> 00:22:00.524 And we have a relatively small number of people 00:22:00.524 --> 00:22:01.784 who are interested in it. 00:22:01.784 --> 00:22:04.514 And in that box of relatively small 00:22:04.514 --> 00:22:06.554 number of people, most of them are 00:22:06.554 --> 00:22:08.415 inside with like this. 00:22:09.094 --> 00:22:09.875 I see that a lot. 00:22:10.465 --> 00:22:12.875 And it's for the listers, you had your, your hands 00:22:12.875 --> 00:22:13.985 in a pugilist stance. 00:22:14.135 --> 00:22:14.764 Yeah. 00:22:14.855 --> 00:22:18.185 So, you know, this is what we're up against. 00:22:19.350 --> 00:22:22.470 And I have seen almost nothing in the last 00:22:22.470 --> 00:22:26.310 30 years to move us away from that. 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:29.460 Well, I've seen hunter retention and recruitment 00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:31.860 efforts, and I've seen people say we all 00:22:31.860 --> 00:22:35.310 should talk together and I've seen various 00:22:35.310 --> 00:22:38.730 efforts of that kind, but show me the meetings 00:22:38.730 --> 00:22:40.170 that are taking place. 00:22:40.590 --> 00:22:43.920 Show me the programs that have years behind them. 00:22:44.430 --> 00:22:46.710 Show me the circumstances where this is 00:22:46.710 --> 00:22:47.850 actually changing. 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.090 And they're very few, they're very rare and 00:22:51.090 --> 00:22:52.290 they're very localized. 00:22:54.270 --> 00:22:56.280 And you can go across the breadth of Canada 00:22:56.280 --> 00:22:58.590 to try to find this and you might have a certain 00:22:59.130 --> 00:23:01.350 committee, you know, funded by a government 00:23:01.350 --> 00:23:03.120 agency or something that, you know, by 00:23:03.150 --> 00:23:05.610 virtue of its funding, forces people to come 00:23:05.610 --> 00:23:06.600 together or something. 00:23:07.020 --> 00:23:09.360 But by and large, you simply do not have this 00:23:09.360 --> 00:23:10.470 happening organically. 00:23:11.970 --> 00:23:15.899 Well, the motto on my website is one, you know, 00:23:15.899 --> 00:23:20.040 one natural world, one humanity and one chance. 00:23:20.970 --> 00:23:22.530 Cause that's what I believe it is. 00:23:23.970 --> 00:23:27.030 And so I wanted to find some way, I spent 33 00:23:27.030 --> 00:23:30.810 years as leading research teams, publishing 00:23:30.810 --> 00:23:33.810 in journals, setting up an Institute, you 00:23:33.810 --> 00:23:35.580 know, doing all those kinds of things. 00:23:36.330 --> 00:23:38.010 And that wasn't getting the job done. 00:23:38.010 --> 00:23:39.480 It was giving us a lot of knowledge about 00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:41.880 bears and caribou and moose and predator prey 00:23:41.880 --> 00:23:43.860 interactions and all that and that was all good. 00:23:44.550 --> 00:23:46.260 But this wasn't doing anything about 00:23:46.260 --> 00:23:48.930 building a broader conservation community 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:51.540 to advance conservation. 00:23:52.230 --> 00:23:54.150 So I started to think about, okay, 00:23:54.150 --> 00:23:55.890 what are the issues? 00:23:58.080 --> 00:24:01.200 What are the issues that fit into these 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:03.600 two categories, at the same time? 00:24:05.580 --> 00:24:11.220 Number one, there are issues that everybody, 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:13.620 if you discuss it with them will care about, 00:24:14.820 --> 00:24:19.470 and number two are issues that are already 00:24:19.500 --> 00:24:22.620 public in society they're already manifest. 00:24:23.910 --> 00:24:29.580 And what of those issues could be helpful in 00:24:29.580 --> 00:24:32.310 building a community for conservation? 00:24:34.695 --> 00:24:38.145 And I landed, surprisingly, on the 00:24:38.145 --> 00:24:43.065 idea of wild food and wild harvesting. 00:24:45.345 --> 00:24:46.095 Why? 00:24:47.265 --> 00:24:50.685 Because everyone is concerned about healthy 00:24:50.685 --> 00:24:55.245 food, more and more people are concerned 00:24:55.305 --> 00:24:58.875 every day about healthy food, the world over. 00:25:00.225 --> 00:25:02.715 That was not true 25 years ago, it 00:25:02.715 --> 00:25:03.735 is true today. 00:25:05.345 --> 00:25:09.065 And more and more people are also concerned 00:25:09.095 --> 00:25:11.945 about their own physical health, their longevity 00:25:11.945 --> 00:25:15.425 and their fitness then was true 25 years ago. 00:25:16.865 --> 00:25:19.835 And these trends are escalating in society 00:25:19.865 --> 00:25:20.735 by any measure. 00:25:21.330 --> 00:25:23.730 Number of cookbooks, number of people in 00:25:23.730 --> 00:25:25.680 fitness programs, number of people, 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:28.590 taking yoga, number of people cooking at home. 00:25:28.800 --> 00:25:30.659 Number of people with small gardens, 00:25:30.659 --> 00:25:32.730 number of people in the locavore movement. 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:35.760 Number of people buying organic, number of 00:25:35.760 --> 00:25:38.340 people complaining about hormones and additives 00:25:38.340 --> 00:25:40.950 into the food systems that they have, the fear 00:25:40.950 --> 00:25:43.470 that people have over GMO products, et cetera. 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:46.440 There is so much evidence to indicate that this is 00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:50.295 a fundamental movement in society and the 00:25:50.295 --> 00:25:53.565 sustainable use movement has spent its entire 00:25:53.625 --> 00:25:59.285 lifetime fighting against the social trends that 00:25:59.295 --> 00:26:00.665 it thought were damaging. 00:26:01.025 --> 00:26:02.885 The people who didn't like hunting or the 00:26:02.885 --> 00:26:04.805 people that didn't like hunting carnivores 00:26:04.805 --> 00:26:07.985 and people that didn't like one form of use 00:26:07.985 --> 00:26:10.685 or another catch and release fishing or 00:26:10.685 --> 00:26:12.005 whatever it might be. 00:26:13.175 --> 00:26:17.070 I wanted to find a way to work with factors 00:26:17.070 --> 00:26:20.910 in society that we're moving in our directions 00:26:21.210 --> 00:26:24.100 that I could capture and be positive about. 00:26:24.570 --> 00:26:25.890 I like that. 00:26:27.500 --> 00:26:31.220 So my effort is the antithesis of what 00:26:31.220 --> 00:26:32.210 has been going on. 00:26:32.840 --> 00:26:34.850 And I was part of what was going on 00:26:34.850 --> 00:26:35.840 for a long time. 00:26:36.050 --> 00:26:38.240 So I know what was going on. 00:26:39.500 --> 00:26:41.960 This is the antithesis of what was going on. 00:26:42.600 --> 00:26:46.260 Working with societies change to build more 00:26:46.260 --> 00:26:49.379 change, not trying to stand up and hold my 00:26:49.379 --> 00:26:52.320 hands against the changes in society, which is 00:26:52.320 --> 00:26:53.730 a fruitless exercise. 00:26:54.389 --> 00:26:54.930 I agree. 00:26:55.290 --> 00:26:59.460 So I can see this idea of food. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:01.830 And then I started to think about, 00:27:02.460 --> 00:27:04.110 all right well, how much food is there? 00:27:04.110 --> 00:27:05.460 How much food do we harvest? 00:27:06.510 --> 00:27:08.070 And the answer to that question 00:27:08.100 --> 00:27:09.720 was, no one knows. 00:27:10.815 --> 00:27:12.825 So a hundred years after we start the 00:27:12.825 --> 00:27:16.125 North American model of conservation, no one 00:27:16.125 --> 00:27:19.515 in Canada, no one in the United States can 00:27:19.515 --> 00:27:22.485 answer you the following basic questions. 00:27:24.015 --> 00:27:26.415 How many species of fish and wildlife do 00:27:26.415 --> 00:27:28.545 we harvest in Canada in the United States? 00:27:29.895 --> 00:27:33.795 How many individuals from all those species 00:27:34.305 --> 00:27:36.915 do we harvest in Canada and the United States? 00:27:38.025 --> 00:27:41.955 What is the food amount of the harvest 00:27:41.955 --> 00:27:44.565 of all those fish and wildlife in the United 00:27:44.565 --> 00:27:46.245 States and Canada? 00:27:47.445 --> 00:27:50.715 What is the economic value of all of that 00:27:50.715 --> 00:27:54.675 food so that it becomes meaningful to politicians 00:27:54.675 --> 00:27:55.935 as a discussion point. 00:27:57.135 --> 00:27:59.895 And what would it cost tomorrow if the 40 00:27:59.895 --> 00:28:02.445 to 45 million hunters and anglers in Canada 00:28:02.445 --> 00:28:04.995 and the United States, didn't acquire this 00:28:04.995 --> 00:28:08.804 food on their own and required that food from 00:28:08.804 --> 00:28:10.215 the grocery store isles? 00:28:10.605 --> 00:28:14.655 How much more wildlife habitat, how much more 00:28:15.074 --> 00:28:18.945 fertilizer, how much for more petrol, how much 00:28:18.975 --> 00:28:23.445 more land, how much more environmental intrusion 00:28:23.925 --> 00:28:27.274 would be necessary to actually provide that? 00:28:27.995 --> 00:28:32.070 Now every one of those arguments will resonate 00:28:32.070 --> 00:28:34.560 with the people who are concerned about their 00:28:34.560 --> 00:28:37.620 health, are concerned about the quality 00:28:37.620 --> 00:28:40.560 of their food, are concerned about how long 00:28:40.560 --> 00:28:42.870 they're going to live and how good they're 00:28:42.870 --> 00:28:45.195 going to look and how healthy their lungs 00:28:45.195 --> 00:28:48.254 are going to be and on and on and on and on. 00:28:48.675 --> 00:28:51.645 And for some, how much wildlife is there going 00:28:51.645 --> 00:28:53.955 to be in the world that they get a chance to see? 00:28:54.195 --> 00:28:57.555 How clean water be, how healthy will our land be? 00:28:57.784 --> 00:29:00.495 How lovely will our forest look, all those 00:29:00.495 --> 00:29:01.514 kinds of questions. 00:29:02.625 --> 00:29:06.675 So I set out to do this and four years into 00:29:06.675 --> 00:29:11.070 this program uh, we are now the custodians of 00:29:11.070 --> 00:29:13.320 the largest knowledge base in the temporary 00:29:13.320 --> 00:29:16.590 world on the harvest of wildlife and fish. 00:29:17.280 --> 00:29:19.350 We continue to work on this, we're adding 00:29:19.350 --> 00:29:20.880 new data all the time. 00:29:21.690 --> 00:29:23.490 We are adding new players all the 00:29:23.490 --> 00:29:24.840 time, new partners. 00:29:24.870 --> 00:29:27.060 Uh, we have succeeded. 00:29:27.060 --> 00:29:29.280 We have the government of Texas, the government of 00:29:29.280 --> 00:29:31.200 Florida, the government of Arizona, the 00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:33.600 government of Nevada, the government of Wyoming, 00:29:33.630 --> 00:29:34.830 the government of Alaska. 00:29:35.430 --> 00:29:38.400 The governments already partners in this. 00:29:39.284 --> 00:29:43.635 We have the gorillas, if you will, of the, 00:29:43.665 --> 00:29:45.735 of the industry world, the outdoor industry 00:29:45.735 --> 00:29:49.064 world, Bass Pro, and Cabela's, that empire. 00:29:49.094 --> 00:29:51.885 Johnny Morris himself personally, they are a 00:29:51.885 --> 00:29:53.534 major supporter of this. 00:29:53.564 --> 00:29:58.004 We have the supporter in Leupold, the great family 00:29:58.004 --> 00:29:59.415 owned optics company. 00:29:59.865 --> 00:30:02.895 Uh, Sitka clothing, uh, Mystery Ranch, 00:30:02.955 --> 00:30:03.915 et cetera, et cetera. 00:30:03.915 --> 00:30:08.095 So we have big players in the industry side of 00:30:08.095 --> 00:30:11.514 this, on the NGO side, we have an enormous 00:30:11.514 --> 00:30:13.945 array of entities going all the way from 00:30:13.945 --> 00:30:16.345 international hunting organizations, such as 00:30:16.345 --> 00:30:19.645 Dallas Safari Club and Wild Sheep Foundation, 00:30:19.885 --> 00:30:23.665 all the way to the most determined, localized 00:30:24.355 --> 00:30:28.025 North American specific hunters like Backcountry 00:30:28.044 --> 00:30:29.004 Hunters and Anglers. 00:30:29.004 --> 00:30:32.115 For example, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. 00:30:32.520 --> 00:30:34.980 Uh, the US Sportsmen's Alliance. 00:30:35.040 --> 00:30:39.000 I mean, we have just a powerhouse as 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:41.640 well as some private philanthropists, the 00:30:41.640 --> 00:30:43.500 National Wildlife Federation, the 00:30:43.500 --> 00:30:46.930 New Mexico Wildlife Federation, you know. 00:30:46.930 --> 00:30:49.180 The list goes on. 00:30:49.490 --> 00:30:50.780 And, uh, a lot more. 00:30:51.320 --> 00:30:54.500 And they are all currently working and 00:30:54.500 --> 00:30:57.890 funding with us, work to make this work happen. 00:30:58.965 --> 00:31:01.425 And as we gather the information, of course, 00:31:01.575 --> 00:31:04.335 we are coming out with completely novel 00:31:04.335 --> 00:31:07.784 information on the amount of food that comes from 00:31:07.784 --> 00:31:10.095 wild turkeys, the amount of food that comes from 00:31:10.095 --> 00:31:12.465 mule deer, the amount of food that comes from elk. 00:31:12.855 --> 00:31:15.885 And we can divide that up from state, by 00:31:15.885 --> 00:31:17.325 province, by region. 00:31:17.955 --> 00:31:22.965 And we are now giving, uh, those numbers 00:31:23.235 --> 00:31:27.405 economic value by dealing with rating entities in 00:31:27.405 --> 00:31:29.865 Europe and the United States, they give us, 00:31:30.045 --> 00:31:32.175 you know, the equivalent cost if you were to sell 00:31:32.175 --> 00:31:33.525 this in the marketplace. 00:31:34.335 --> 00:31:38.145 And we are coming out with lists of fact sheets 00:31:38.475 --> 00:31:40.785 that our partners can distribute everywhere. 00:31:41.235 --> 00:31:44.025 Writing articles, obviously op-eds 00:31:44.025 --> 00:31:45.795 appearing in magazines. 00:31:46.275 --> 00:31:48.975 And then now we may have a television show 00:31:48.975 --> 00:31:52.095 that may be emerging, we'll see what's 00:31:52.095 --> 00:31:53.055 going to happen there. 00:31:53.055 --> 00:31:56.235 The point is that even in the COVID year, We 00:31:56.235 --> 00:31:58.965 just signed up three major new partners, 00:31:58.965 --> 00:32:01.485 the state of Alaska, the state of Wyoming 00:32:01.845 --> 00:32:03.915 and the Wild Sheep Foundation of Alaska 00:32:04.004 --> 00:32:05.295 in the midst of COVID. 00:32:05.805 --> 00:32:06.285 Wow. 00:32:06.764 --> 00:32:10.995 So, and now we have interest from Africa. 00:32:12.525 --> 00:32:15.105 To try and see if there is a way of bringing 00:32:15.135 --> 00:32:17.745 this model and this program to Africa. 00:32:17.745 --> 00:32:20.205 And of course, in the state of British 00:32:20.205 --> 00:32:22.625 Columbia, we have the Guides and Outfitters 00:32:22.635 --> 00:32:25.125 in British Columbia who have been partners 00:32:25.125 --> 00:32:26.355 in this for forever. 00:32:26.925 --> 00:32:30.315 We had hope the Wildlife Federation of British 00:32:30.315 --> 00:32:31.215 Columbia would join. 00:32:31.215 --> 00:32:32.835 And I still hope that someday that they 00:32:32.955 --> 00:32:34.005 possibly they will. 00:32:34.515 --> 00:32:37.045 But the point is that we do have some support 00:32:37.065 --> 00:32:39.254 in, in British Columbia. 00:32:39.284 --> 00:32:41.294 And we did have strong political support 00:32:41.294 --> 00:32:42.074 in British Columbia. 00:32:42.074 --> 00:32:43.574 At least when the liberals were there in 00:32:43.574 --> 00:32:46.695 power and hopefully with the NDP there now, they 00:32:46.695 --> 00:32:49.725 will look at this as well because look, the 00:32:49.725 --> 00:32:53.955 ultimate idea here is to explain to people that 00:32:53.955 --> 00:32:56.865 nature is a source of health and sustenance, 00:32:57.735 --> 00:33:00.675 and we need to care for it because it is capable 00:33:00.675 --> 00:33:04.514 even in the 21st century for modern societies of 00:33:04.514 --> 00:33:08.775 providing vast amounts of healthy food as well 00:33:08.775 --> 00:33:12.735 as recreation, as well as helpful experiences. 00:33:13.875 --> 00:33:16.995 Nature is our free hospital. 00:33:19.455 --> 00:33:22.034 Nature is our free pharmacy. 00:33:23.445 --> 00:33:26.024 And so we are expanding our work now to go 00:33:26.024 --> 00:33:30.945 beyond fish and birds and mammals, and we're 00:33:30.945 --> 00:33:34.215 in major discussions with the US Forest Service. 00:33:35.505 --> 00:33:38.985 To talk about bringing the databases on wild 00:33:38.985 --> 00:33:45.015 berries, shed antlers, wild mushrooms, firewood 00:33:45.015 --> 00:33:49.395 harvesting, medicinal plants, wild rices. 00:33:49.455 --> 00:33:53.445 In other words, anything, anything that you 00:33:53.445 --> 00:33:56.865 might go out and be interested in harvesting. 00:33:57.135 --> 00:33:58.995 So you don't have to be a hunter to be a part 00:33:58.995 --> 00:33:59.835 of what we're doing. 00:34:00.495 --> 00:34:03.405 You might be a foreign, uh, mushroom gatherer 00:34:03.435 --> 00:34:06.405 and, uh, and a mountain hiker, but you know, 00:34:06.435 --> 00:34:09.165 anybody who was into the harvesting of natural and 00:34:09.165 --> 00:34:12.375 wild foods, we want them to be a part of this. 00:34:12.764 --> 00:34:15.195 And we intend to export this around the world 00:34:15.824 --> 00:34:18.884 to remind modern society that we are still 00:34:18.975 --> 00:34:22.094 ultimately dependent on nature for our 00:34:22.094 --> 00:34:25.364 survival and for our food and for our health. 00:34:25.935 --> 00:34:30.210 And maybe to force governments in countries 00:34:30.210 --> 00:34:33.360 like Canada and the United States to do a 00:34:33.370 --> 00:34:37.679 better job of managing land for the production 00:34:38.280 --> 00:34:40.980 of those kinds of things that people want. 00:34:42.210 --> 00:34:47.760 Instead of making decisions only on 00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:49.190 the basis of profits. 00:34:50.190 --> 00:34:50.990 Or emotion. 00:34:51.950 --> 00:34:52.360 Yes. 00:34:53.020 --> 00:34:57.780 And I, you know, I, I really like the 00:34:57.780 --> 00:35:00.750 concept of piggybacking on a trend that's 00:35:01.020 --> 00:35:02.820 already occurring rather than trying 00:35:02.820 --> 00:35:03.870 to fight the current. 00:35:04.665 --> 00:35:06.944 Because, you know, I'm looking through 00:35:06.944 --> 00:35:08.805 the list of things in different questions 00:35:08.805 --> 00:35:10.214 and you're, you're pegging off a bunch 00:35:10.214 --> 00:35:12.495 of the ones that I'd like to ask you about. 00:35:12.524 --> 00:35:16.035 But, you know, hunters have always been 00:35:16.035 --> 00:35:16.875 beating that drum. 00:35:16.875 --> 00:35:18.944 Hunters are conservationists and 00:35:18.944 --> 00:35:21.314 they support conservation through the purchase 00:35:21.314 --> 00:35:24.044 of their licenses and tags and the, the 00:35:24.044 --> 00:35:26.234 North American model of conservation last 00:35:26.234 --> 00:35:30.570 hundred, 120 years of, of that has been highly, 00:35:30.570 --> 00:35:33.120 highly supported by, by the hunting community. 00:35:33.690 --> 00:35:36.180 Whether they understand conservation or not, 00:35:36.570 --> 00:35:39.720 being able to bridge that, from the hunting 00:35:39.910 --> 00:35:42.660 community to the, the non-hunting community, 00:35:42.720 --> 00:35:44.760 I, I think it's absolutely brilliant. 00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:47.430 You listed a bunch of different organizations 00:35:47.430 --> 00:35:49.710 and these organizations are massive that 00:35:49.710 --> 00:35:53.070 are involved with the initiative. 00:35:53.370 --> 00:35:57.240 How can an individual who is interested in 00:35:57.240 --> 00:35:59.060 conservation, who's listening to this and 00:35:59.080 --> 00:35:59.850 says, you know what? 00:35:59.850 --> 00:36:01.470 You raised some really good points, I want 00:36:01.470 --> 00:36:02.790 to learn more, I want to be involved. 00:36:02.790 --> 00:36:04.830 How can an individual be involved with this? 00:36:05.540 --> 00:36:08.029 Well, we, we, we do have individuals involved, 00:36:08.029 --> 00:36:10.250 but it's, but it's also important to be 00:36:10.310 --> 00:36:11.390 upfront and honest. 00:36:11.390 --> 00:36:13.939 I mean, to be a partner in the Wild Harvest 00:36:13.939 --> 00:36:16.160 Initiative, there has to be some sort of 00:36:16.160 --> 00:36:17.089 financial commitment. 00:36:17.660 --> 00:36:18.950 Now, those financial commitments 00:36:18.950 --> 00:36:20.509 vary, obviously. 00:36:20.509 --> 00:36:22.279 You know, you don't, you don't have the same 00:36:22.279 --> 00:36:26.055 financial commitment from you know, a Bass Pro, 00:36:26.655 --> 00:36:28.815 as you may have from an individual outfitter, 00:36:28.905 --> 00:36:30.915 you know, it can't be. 00:36:31.575 --> 00:36:34.545 But what everybody who is a part of the Wild 00:36:34.545 --> 00:36:37.635 Harvest Initiative knows is that everybody 00:36:37.635 --> 00:36:40.485 who has become a partner has contributed 00:36:40.485 --> 00:36:43.515 something to make it, the collective work. 00:36:43.995 --> 00:36:46.365 So I have lots of people who come and say, 00:36:46.365 --> 00:36:48.705 Hey, Shane, you know, we'd like to have our 00:36:48.705 --> 00:36:52.035 logo associated with your, uh, with your 00:36:52.035 --> 00:36:54.255 partnership and I say, that'd be really great. 00:36:54.465 --> 00:36:56.625 You know, I understand that and I know why you 00:36:56.625 --> 00:36:58.485 would want that because when we put out our 00:36:58.485 --> 00:37:01.785 brochures now and we set up our big displays of 00:37:01.785 --> 00:37:05.115 conventions, and then we show some of the, the 00:37:05.365 --> 00:37:07.635 powerful, influential people who are on our 00:37:07.635 --> 00:37:09.705 side, I know it would be good for you to 00:37:09.705 --> 00:37:12.705 have your logo there, but I have to think 00:37:12.705 --> 00:37:16.095 about all the people who are there and every 00:37:16.095 --> 00:37:18.345 one of them made some kind of contribution. 00:37:19.545 --> 00:37:21.915 And so that is one way. 00:37:21.915 --> 00:37:24.315 If you want to be part of the alliance or the 00:37:24.315 --> 00:37:27.165 actual team in Wild Harvest Initiative, 00:37:27.615 --> 00:37:30.105 you have to come with the intention of 00:37:30.105 --> 00:37:32.115 supporting it some way. 00:37:32.295 --> 00:37:38.145 Now, supporting it in some way, that way, of 00:37:38.145 --> 00:37:39.615 course that's clear. 00:37:39.645 --> 00:37:40.875 That's the way it has to be. 00:37:41.214 --> 00:37:43.245 There was the promise that was made to the 00:37:43.245 --> 00:37:45.254 partners, the state governments, and everyone 00:37:45.254 --> 00:37:48.194 else, that people who were inside the loop who 00:37:48.194 --> 00:37:51.915 have access directly, who get to call Shane and ask 00:37:51.915 --> 00:37:53.794 questions of the website and their area and all 00:37:53.814 --> 00:37:55.035 those kinds of services. 00:37:55.644 --> 00:37:56.664 There are on the inside. 00:37:57.554 --> 00:37:59.205 But that doesn't mean that people on the 00:37:59.205 --> 00:38:03.705 outside who may want to know more about it 00:38:03.705 --> 00:38:06.555 um, who may not want to give money or may not 00:38:06.555 --> 00:38:08.475 have any money that they can give or whatever. 00:38:09.675 --> 00:38:12.945 They can still help this initiative by talking 00:38:12.945 --> 00:38:16.125 about, you know, by, by, by joining our 00:38:16.125 --> 00:38:18.825 mailing list by, by sending us their email 00:38:18.855 --> 00:38:21.045 contact information so they can be getting 00:38:21.045 --> 00:38:23.265 the information that's coming out and then 00:38:23.265 --> 00:38:24.885 they can share it with their friends. 00:38:24.945 --> 00:38:28.365 Look, we are determined to establish a new 00:38:28.365 --> 00:38:29.595 movement in society. 00:38:30.375 --> 00:38:31.785 This is not a project. 00:38:31.875 --> 00:38:34.965 This is an unrelenting activity to create 00:38:34.965 --> 00:38:36.945 a new movement in society that's made up 00:38:37.005 --> 00:38:39.525 of, you know, elderly people who get out 00:38:39.525 --> 00:38:41.385 there in the forest and love to just go with 00:38:41.385 --> 00:38:43.425 their grandchildren picking blueberries. 00:38:43.845 --> 00:38:47.325 It's meant for the, for the, you know, the mad 00:38:47.325 --> 00:38:49.785 fitness hunter who wants to, you know, run up 00:38:49.785 --> 00:38:51.825 and down the mountain 50 times before he even 00:38:51.825 --> 00:38:52.875 looks for an animal. 00:38:53.205 --> 00:38:54.945 You know, it's meant for the, for the 00:38:54.945 --> 00:38:56.925 float fishermen who's going down there. 00:38:56.925 --> 00:38:59.400 It's meant for the people who like to seek 00:38:59.400 --> 00:39:02.580 out their firewood and gather it up and chop, 00:39:02.610 --> 00:39:05.580 chop it up and bring it home and enjoy putting 00:39:05.580 --> 00:39:06.810 it on their own fire. 00:39:07.200 --> 00:39:08.850 It's for the artists who would like to collect 00:39:08.850 --> 00:39:11.720 shed antlers and create, you know, jewelry. 00:39:12.240 --> 00:39:15.510 It is for the people who collect, uh, burrs 00:39:15.510 --> 00:39:18.840 out of trees to, to do sculptures or wooden 00:39:18.840 --> 00:39:22.050 bowls or it's for people who, who, who from 00:39:22.050 --> 00:39:24.180 indigenous communities and others understand 00:39:24.180 --> 00:39:26.550 the dissonant plants and want to harvest those. 00:39:27.210 --> 00:39:28.740 It's for everyone. 00:39:28.740 --> 00:39:32.610 And if you add up everyone in our 00:39:32.610 --> 00:39:35.370 society, who does some of that, everyone 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:37.890 forty-five million hunters and anglers. 00:39:37.890 --> 00:39:39.450 Well, how many berry pickers do we have? 00:39:41.820 --> 00:39:43.200 How many hikers do we have? 00:39:43.200 --> 00:39:45.540 Who simply harvest beauty? 00:39:46.350 --> 00:39:46.830 Yes. 00:39:46.980 --> 00:39:48.390 That's a harvest from nature. 00:39:48.450 --> 00:39:49.530 We're going to be including that 00:39:49.530 --> 00:39:50.490 in our database. 00:39:51.450 --> 00:39:54.300 You know what, because if you go out for any 00:39:54.300 --> 00:39:56.895 activity in nature, harvesting berries, 00:39:56.924 --> 00:39:59.295 fishing, hunting, chopping firewood, 00:40:00.435 --> 00:40:02.535 collecting wild flowers, collecting 00:40:02.535 --> 00:40:04.275 wild honey, maple syrup. 00:40:04.785 --> 00:40:07.305 There's so many things, no matter what 00:40:07.305 --> 00:40:08.415 you're out there for. 00:40:08.895 --> 00:40:11.805 When you come back and tell your stories, and 00:40:11.805 --> 00:40:14.325 everybody tells stories, you can't shut people out 00:40:14.325 --> 00:40:16.095 there got to tell their stories about nature. 00:40:16.095 --> 00:40:17.205 That's the amazing thing. 00:40:17.865 --> 00:40:19.815 When they come back to share those stories, 00:40:20.865 --> 00:40:23.565 most of what they talk about is not so 00:40:23.565 --> 00:40:26.145 much the berries they got or the animal 00:40:26.145 --> 00:40:27.255 they got or whatever. 00:40:27.645 --> 00:40:30.405 It's the experience they had, the things they 00:40:30.405 --> 00:40:35.835 saw, the sunset, the river, the shadows of 00:40:35.835 --> 00:40:37.365 the moon on the water. 00:40:37.425 --> 00:40:40.305 They, the, the, the wild flowers blowing in 00:40:40.305 --> 00:40:44.325 the wind, whatever it is, most of what they 00:40:44.325 --> 00:40:45.525 talk about is beauty. 00:40:46.275 --> 00:40:48.810 But the thing is, they wouldn't have 00:40:48.810 --> 00:40:51.570 ever harvested that beauty, except they 00:40:51.570 --> 00:40:52.770 went out into nature. 00:40:53.370 --> 00:40:55.860 And for many of them, they had a primary 00:40:55.860 --> 00:40:58.230 motivation that day to go to nature. 00:40:58.590 --> 00:41:03.240 Very big, to get their firewood, to hunt, to 00:41:03.240 --> 00:41:06.780 fish, you know, they had some motivation that 00:41:06.780 --> 00:41:07.980 particular day to go. 00:41:08.820 --> 00:41:11.160 I want all of those people talking to one 00:41:11.160 --> 00:41:14.040 another and I want all of those people talking to 00:41:14.040 --> 00:41:18.105 politicians and telling politicians, this is 00:41:18.105 --> 00:41:24.194 what we want done with our wildlife, our land. 00:41:25.995 --> 00:41:27.734 And I want to bring the indigenous 00:41:27.734 --> 00:41:29.234 and non-indigenous communities 00:41:29.234 --> 00:41:32.355 together because food unites us all. 00:41:33.424 --> 00:41:34.685 I couldn't agree more. 00:41:35.464 --> 00:41:39.065 Oftentimes you hear from people, what can I do? 00:41:39.634 --> 00:41:40.774 I'm just one person. 00:41:41.464 --> 00:41:43.955 Well, for the listeners, if you'd like to see what 00:41:43.955 --> 00:41:47.745 one person can do, with the help of a large team 00:41:47.745 --> 00:41:51.285 of others behind him, checkout Shane Mahoney's 00:41:51.285 --> 00:41:54.795 website, Conservation Visions, check out the 00:41:54.795 --> 00:41:58.755 Wild Harvest Initiative because when you're 00:41:58.755 --> 00:42:03.855 talking about how to get involved, the boots on 00:42:03.855 --> 00:42:06.465 the ground, networking, that one person is 00:42:06.465 --> 00:42:07.485 capable of doing. 00:42:07.980 --> 00:42:10.260 They throw up something on their Instagram feed 00:42:10.260 --> 00:42:13.380 or they do a Tik Tok or they just raised basic 00:42:13.380 --> 00:42:16.830 awareness about what it is that they enjoy out 00:42:16.830 --> 00:42:20.460 in nature and the value in preserving that. 00:42:21.779 --> 00:42:24.660 And by forwarding the Wild Harvest Initiative 00:42:24.930 --> 00:42:26.910 information with that, they'll have 00:42:26.910 --> 00:42:29.609 some tangible metrics that they can be used 00:42:29.609 --> 00:42:33.060 to measure what that valuable resource is. 00:42:33.299 --> 00:42:35.670 I think, I really like what you're doing. 00:42:35.970 --> 00:42:38.370 We are very fragmented and there is a 00:42:38.370 --> 00:42:39.569 lot of infighting. 00:42:39.990 --> 00:42:42.299 My side's better than your side, or if what 00:42:42.299 --> 00:42:45.735 you're doing is wrong and it sure sounds 00:42:45.735 --> 00:42:49.575 like you've got the secret sauce here. 00:42:50.205 --> 00:42:53.205 If people are willing to participate, for 00:42:53.205 --> 00:42:56.445 people to work together for our own, everyone's 00:42:56.445 --> 00:42:57.405 shared interest. 00:42:57.815 --> 00:43:00.185 We do, we do have the secret sauce. 00:43:00.185 --> 00:43:01.355 I can tell you this right now. 00:43:01.405 --> 00:43:04.655 I spent, I spent 25 years promoting the 00:43:04.655 --> 00:43:07.925 North American model and as part of my efforts 00:43:07.925 --> 00:43:09.035 and certainly others. 00:43:09.525 --> 00:43:11.085 People today would not even know there was a 00:43:11.085 --> 00:43:12.945 North American model if those activities 00:43:12.945 --> 00:43:14.055 had not taken place. 00:43:14.685 --> 00:43:15.795 I know that for a fact. 00:43:16.275 --> 00:43:19.275 Well, I'm telling you this idea is even bigger 00:43:19.485 --> 00:43:21.675 because this idea could bring together people 00:43:21.675 --> 00:43:23.535 who are never going to be really interested in 00:43:23.535 --> 00:43:25.395 the North American model of hunting, but they're 00:43:25.395 --> 00:43:26.775 interested in wild food. 00:43:27.765 --> 00:43:30.795 And the other thing about this is that. 00:43:31.125 --> 00:43:33.255 There's absolutely no limitation on 00:43:33.255 --> 00:43:37.335 background or age or ethnicity or racial, 00:43:37.395 --> 00:43:40.755 uh, uh, background or anything of this nature. 00:43:40.755 --> 00:43:43.715 Because when you look at all of the products 00:43:44.085 --> 00:43:48.255 in nature, from beauty to wild plants, to 00:43:48.255 --> 00:43:51.465 medicinal plants, to mushrooms, to, you know, 00:43:51.645 --> 00:43:53.565 wood, all the products. 00:43:54.645 --> 00:43:56.765 Everybody, to some extent, wants 00:43:57.210 --> 00:43:57.840 some of that. 00:43:58.890 --> 00:44:03.300 We have 40 to 45 million people in Canada, in the 00:44:03.300 --> 00:44:06.600 United States, as I said, who every year, legally 00:44:06.600 --> 00:44:10.860 fish and hunt and who consume what they, what 00:44:10.860 --> 00:44:13.320 they harvest, not all of it, but a lot of it. 00:44:14.520 --> 00:44:17.790 We are currently running surveys, uh, 00:44:17.820 --> 00:44:19.110 scientific surveys. 00:44:19.740 --> 00:44:22.470 Uh, we've run one in Texas as a prototype 00:44:22.500 --> 00:44:24.570 and we are now going to be running surveys in 00:44:24.570 --> 00:44:29.280 Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona and Alaska, where we 00:44:29.280 --> 00:44:33.840 are asking for the first time, asking hunters, 00:44:33.870 --> 00:44:36.270 starting with hunters, we'll move on to anglers, 00:44:36.750 --> 00:44:41.310 asking them how much of the meat they harvest 00:44:41.700 --> 00:44:44.760 do they share and who do they share it with? 00:44:45.930 --> 00:44:50.370 So let's say in Canada and the United States, 00:44:51.029 --> 00:44:53.549 in terms of hunters, we have 12 million, five, 00:44:53.850 --> 00:44:56.339 let's say let's just make it very conservative 00:44:56.339 --> 00:44:59.819 estimate, say we have 15 million, let's just say 00:44:59.819 --> 00:45:03.180 15 million hunters in the United States and Canada. 00:45:03.210 --> 00:45:04.200 We actually have more than that. 00:45:04.200 --> 00:45:05.549 But let's say that that's about what we have. 00:45:06.839 --> 00:45:08.970 Our A priority, in other words ahead of 00:45:08.970 --> 00:45:14.160 time, hypothesis is that each of those hunters 00:45:14.160 --> 00:45:17.040 probably shares that meat that they harvest with 00:45:17.040 --> 00:45:18.029 at least four people. 00:45:18.029 --> 00:45:20.320 And we based that cautiously on a 00:45:20.340 --> 00:45:23.310 household, so it leads to the wife and maybe 00:45:23.310 --> 00:45:24.000 the two children. 00:45:25.680 --> 00:45:28.110 But our initial survey in the state of Texas 00:45:28.950 --> 00:45:32.550 indicates in fact that the average hunter maybe 00:45:33.030 --> 00:45:36.660 sharing his meat or her meat with between 10 00:45:36.660 --> 00:45:39.630 and 12 million people, the 10 and 12 people. 00:45:41.070 --> 00:45:43.410 So now you start to multiply 15 million 00:45:43.410 --> 00:45:45.390 people by 10 or 12 million people. 00:45:46.680 --> 00:45:48.450 Now all of a sudden the group of people who's 00:45:48.450 --> 00:45:50.170 actually consuming that wild meat. 00:45:50.190 --> 00:45:51.930 I'm not saying they're dependent on it, I'm 00:45:51.930 --> 00:45:54.630 not being meretricious or air at all. 00:45:54.960 --> 00:45:56.520 I'm not saying they depend on, I say, they're 00:45:56.520 --> 00:45:58.530 just having a burger or they're coming over for 00:45:58.530 --> 00:46:00.780 a nice meal, or they're getting a roast of moose 00:46:00.780 --> 00:46:03.810 or, you know, a pot of chili or whatever it 00:46:03.810 --> 00:46:06.210 might be, but they are consuming that food. 00:46:07.515 --> 00:46:09.825 All of a sudden the political dynamic here, 00:46:09.825 --> 00:46:13.455 it goes from 15 million people to 150 billion, 00:46:13.484 --> 00:46:16.935 because if that 150 million people did 00:46:16.935 --> 00:46:19.365 not think that hunting was in some sense 00:46:19.665 --> 00:46:22.395 acceptable, they wouldn't be eating the meat 00:46:22.395 --> 00:46:24.234 that you would provide for killing an animal. 00:46:25.185 --> 00:46:26.805 And we are going to do exactly the 00:46:26.805 --> 00:46:27.615 same with fish. 00:46:27.615 --> 00:46:30.615 And we believe that the 40 to 45 million people 00:46:30.615 --> 00:46:33.285 who hunt and fish in Canada and the United 00:46:33.285 --> 00:46:37.785 States share that food with probably something 00:46:37.785 --> 00:46:42.555 like 250 to 300 million people out of the 360 00:46:42.555 --> 00:46:45.645 million people that exist in our two countries. 00:46:46.045 --> 00:46:47.005 Holy crow. 00:46:47.215 --> 00:46:49.635 Now, if you're a political scientist, 00:46:49.725 --> 00:46:52.095 you're a social demographer, you're 00:46:52.095 --> 00:46:53.115 an economist. 00:46:53.625 --> 00:46:56.025 Those kinds of numbers, all of a sudden start 00:46:56.025 --> 00:47:00.015 to mean a lot different to you in your research, 00:47:00.045 --> 00:47:02.535 in your thinking, in your writing, in your 00:47:02.535 --> 00:47:03.735 lobbying, et cetera. 00:47:04.365 --> 00:47:08.925 So I don't want to be going back to 00:47:08.925 --> 00:47:13.005 legislatures, arguing for just hunters anymore. 00:47:14.445 --> 00:47:17.445 I want to be going to back with a group of 00:47:17.445 --> 00:47:21.225 people behind me, all of whom want to share 00:47:21.285 --> 00:47:23.625 in the benefits of nature, who are going 00:47:23.625 --> 00:47:26.235 to the legislatures and telling our 00:47:26.235 --> 00:47:27.835 elected officials, ie. 00:47:27.855 --> 00:47:30.015 the ones who gave them their jobs. 00:47:32.435 --> 00:47:34.955 I want us to be going there as a group of 00:47:34.955 --> 00:47:38.165 people that wide, and that diverse and 00:47:38.165 --> 00:47:40.955 telling them we want the right policies 00:47:40.955 --> 00:47:43.535 for land management and conservation 00:47:43.535 --> 00:47:44.435 in our countries. 00:47:46.335 --> 00:47:48.735 And I don't want them split along liberal, 00:47:48.885 --> 00:47:53.265 conservative NDP, Democrat, Republican 00:47:53.265 --> 00:47:55.845 lines, because there's going to be too many 00:47:55.995 --> 00:47:58.755 different kinds of us in this group. 00:47:59.925 --> 00:48:02.745 We don't care who's in power, we want you 00:48:02.745 --> 00:48:03.645 to do the right thing. 00:48:04.005 --> 00:48:05.475 That is what I'm striving for. 00:48:05.535 --> 00:48:06.825 That's what the Wild Harvest 00:48:06.865 --> 00:48:07.665 Initiative is about. 00:48:09.215 --> 00:48:11.165 That is absolutely phenomenal. 00:48:12.215 --> 00:48:16.200 Shane, before we wrap things up, is there 00:48:16.200 --> 00:48:17.790 anything else we should be talking about? 00:48:17.790 --> 00:48:19.080 Is there anything you'd like to get out? 00:48:20.390 --> 00:48:22.759 Well, I'm just grateful that we've had this 00:48:22.759 --> 00:48:25.070 opportunity and I would like to listen to, I 00:48:25.070 --> 00:48:27.290 would like to say that if there are others out 00:48:27.290 --> 00:48:31.100 there who had their own venues, if there are 00:48:31.100 --> 00:48:34.130 media people who have talk shows or, you know, 00:48:34.160 --> 00:48:36.350 shows on radio, for example, if there are 00:48:36.350 --> 00:48:38.540 other podcasts colleagues that are out there who 00:48:38.540 --> 00:48:39.920 are interested in this. 00:48:40.470 --> 00:48:42.420 Please get in touch because part of what 00:48:42.420 --> 00:48:44.580 we are striving to do is to get the word out 00:48:44.580 --> 00:48:47.040 to as many people as possible, obviously. 00:48:47.670 --> 00:48:50.520 Um, and also encourage any of the people who 00:48:50.520 --> 00:48:54.330 listen to this podcast, as an individual or as 00:48:54.330 --> 00:48:55.560 a member of a group. 00:48:56.310 --> 00:48:58.710 You may be a member of the Audubon Society. 00:48:58.710 --> 00:49:00.280 You may be a member of Backcountry 00:49:00.300 --> 00:49:01.140 Hunters and Anglers. 00:49:01.140 --> 00:49:03.060 You may be a member of the BC Wildlife 00:49:03.060 --> 00:49:05.380 Federation, you may be a member of GOA BC. 00:49:05.430 --> 00:49:08.070 You may, you know, maybe all kinds of 00:49:08.070 --> 00:49:10.590 organizations, Ducks Unlimited, whatever. 00:49:11.190 --> 00:49:13.440 Try to convince your organization to become 00:49:13.440 --> 00:49:16.380 a part of what we were doing because 00:49:16.380 --> 00:49:17.280 we are growing. 00:49:17.580 --> 00:49:20.220 We have at the database, we now have these 00:49:20.220 --> 00:49:22.320 surveys being conducted in these States. 00:49:22.480 --> 00:49:24.630 We're way down the road on this thing. 00:49:25.095 --> 00:49:26.835 And now we're in major discussions with 00:49:26.835 --> 00:49:27.975 people about Africa. 00:49:28.095 --> 00:49:29.025 This is amazing. 00:49:29.115 --> 00:49:31.785 It has lept already, you know, uh, around 00:49:31.785 --> 00:49:33.735 the world where people have been hearing about 00:49:33.735 --> 00:49:39.465 this and if individuals and or their entities 00:49:40.125 --> 00:49:42.675 want to learn more about it, go to our website. 00:49:42.675 --> 00:49:44.985 We also have a Wild Harvest Initiative 00:49:44.985 --> 00:49:46.335 website, specifically. 00:49:46.845 --> 00:49:48.885 We're looking for feedback on that site, 00:49:49.665 --> 00:49:52.395 but please consider becoming a partner. 00:49:52.770 --> 00:49:54.600 The individual can become a partner 00:49:54.600 --> 00:49:55.649 at a small level. 00:49:55.709 --> 00:49:58.290 Obviously, if you come from a big organization, 00:49:58.290 --> 00:50:01.589 like Four Trucks, we, we, we, we look for you 00:50:01.589 --> 00:50:04.410 to, to, to, to make a larger contribution. 00:50:04.680 --> 00:50:07.319 There are all kinds of businesses. 00:50:07.319 --> 00:50:09.720 I assume your podcast is primarily listened 00:50:09.720 --> 00:50:10.919 to in British Columbia. 00:50:10.919 --> 00:50:11.730 Is that correct? 00:50:11.730 --> 00:50:12.970 Is that a fair assessment? 00:50:13.580 --> 00:50:14.779 Primarily Canada. 00:50:14.779 --> 00:50:14.990 Yeah. 00:50:15.540 --> 00:50:16.259 Primarily Canada based. 00:50:16.279 --> 00:50:19.310 So wider than British Columbia, so across, um, 00:50:19.759 --> 00:50:23.175 you know, uh, I'd like for maybe an even in 00:50:23.175 --> 00:50:25.395 future podcasts, you can start to bring this up 00:50:25.425 --> 00:50:27.705 and encourage people to get in touch with us, to 00:50:27.705 --> 00:50:30.675 actually become members, uh, Travis, you know, to 00:50:30.675 --> 00:50:34.035 actually ask them to, to, to reach out and help us. 00:50:34.575 --> 00:50:36.795 Uh, there are lots of organizations that could 00:50:36.795 --> 00:50:39.915 provide financial support to make this work. 00:50:40.125 --> 00:50:41.475 There's lots of individuals who 00:50:41.475 --> 00:50:42.225 can do that. 00:50:42.555 --> 00:50:44.415 And there's lots of individuals, even if they 00:50:44.415 --> 00:50:47.790 can't provide financial support, can talk about 00:50:47.790 --> 00:50:49.320 this, can tweet it out. 00:50:49.320 --> 00:50:51.990 Can, can, can put it on their Facebook site. 00:50:51.990 --> 00:50:54.840 Can, you know, look at the videos that we 00:50:54.840 --> 00:50:56.880 produce and pass them on to their friends 00:50:56.880 --> 00:50:57.990 and so on and so forth. 00:50:58.650 --> 00:51:00.720 And believe me, when we throw things out today, 00:51:00.750 --> 00:51:01.650 we get a lot of reach. 00:51:01.650 --> 00:51:03.060 We hit a million, a million and a half, 00:51:03.060 --> 00:51:04.830 2 million people when we throw things out. 00:51:05.490 --> 00:51:09.770 So, um, this is, uh, this is a big idea. 00:51:10.880 --> 00:51:12.350 It's an inclusive idea. 00:51:13.335 --> 00:51:15.645 It's about things we really feel important 00:51:15.645 --> 00:51:17.415 about our health, the health of our 00:51:17.415 --> 00:51:19.335 environment and the health of our food. 00:51:20.384 --> 00:51:22.185 Why would you not get behind this? 00:51:22.865 --> 00:51:26.285 Shane, thank you very much for being on The 00:51:26.285 --> 00:51:27.315 Silvercore Podcast. 00:51:27.335 --> 00:51:37.135 I've really enjoyed speaking with you. 00:51:37.495 --> 00:51:40.565 Thank you very much.