Water, Nature & Community: Inside DU’s Evolving Partnership with Dow (Ep 769)

Ducks Unlimited and Dow have partnered for decades to deliver real conservation outcomes — but this relationship is now entering a new and innovative phase.

In this episode, host Dr. Jerad Henson is joined by Dr. Amy Beasley, Sustainability Director for Water and Nature at Dow, and Dr. Ellen Herbert, Ducks Unlimited’s Sustainability Director, to explore how a long‑standing corporate conservation partnership has expanded beyond traditional project delivery into a strategic, science‑driven collaboration. The discussion traces the 70‑year history between Dow and Ducks Unlimited, highlights milestone conservation achievements, and then digs into how the two organizations are now working together to help Dow evaluate land assets, water and nature risks, and community connections in ways that benefit wildlife, the environment, and long‑term business resilience.

In this episode, listeners will hear about:

• Dow’s journey into sustainability and why water and nature are inseparable
• A 70‑year partnership between Dow and Ducks Unlimited
• Early landmark conservation investments tied to the North American Waterfowl Management Plan
• Wetland restoration projects in Michigan’s Shiawassee Basin
• Canadian Prairie Pothole and parklands forage programs benefiting ranchers, ducks, and water security
• How DU’s science and geospatial expertise supports corporate land‑use decisions
• The shift from project delivery to strategic conservation planning
• Why watersheds, habitat, and community access matter to both conservation and industry
• Real‑world examples, including Dow’s Carrollton, Kentucky facility
• Measuring impact, building a business case for conservation, and scaling success
• How private industry can reduce water risk while improving habitat and community outcomes

This episode offers a rare, transparent look at how conservation organizations and global companies can work together — not just to restore habitat, but to create long‑term resilience for people, wildlife, and communities.

SPONSORS:

Purina Pro Plan: The official performance dog food of Ducks Unlimited
Whether you're a seasoned hunter or just getting started, this episode is packed with valuable insights into the world of waterfowl hunting and conservation.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Jerad Henson

DUPodcast Conservation Host

What is Ducks Unlimited Podcast?

Ducks Unlimited Podcast is a constant discussion of all things waterfowl; from in-depth hunting tips and tactics, to waterfowl biology, research, science, and habitat updates. The DU Podcast is the go-to resource for waterfowl hunters and conservationists. Ducks Unlimited is the world's leader in wetlands conservation.

Amy Beasley: 00:34

Folks are connected to that very directly all the time. They are swimming in the river. They are catching fish in the creek. They are hiking the woods. They are all of those things.

Amy Beasley: 00:44

I did just say creek like that, didn't I? It came out. Get me down here back down here in the South for longer than two hours, and it's back.

VO: 00:52

Can we do a mic check, please? Everybody, welcome back to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. I'm your host, doctor Mike Brasher. I'm your host, Katie Burke. I'm your host, doctor Jerad Henson. And I'm your host, Matt Harrison. Welcome to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast, the only podcast about all things waterfowl. From hunting insights to science based discussions about ducks, geese, and issues affecting waterfowl and wetlands conservation in North America. The DU Podcast sponsored by Purina Pro Plan, the official performance dog food of Ducks Unlimited. Purina Pro Plan, always advancing. Also proudly sponsored by Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails. Whether you're winding down with your best friend or celebrating with your favorite crew, Bird Dog brings award winning flavor to every moment. Enjoy responsibly.

Jerad Henson: 01:58

Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. I'm doctor Jerad Henson. I'm gonna be your host today. We got a great episode.

Jerad Henson: 02:04

We get to talk about one of our longest partnerships, some new phases in that partnership. I'll give a little background on what we're doing today, but I'm really happy to have Amy Beasley, doctor Amy Beasley, in the house with me from DOW, and I'll let you introduce yourself in just a second. But I also have cohost with me today, doctor Ellen Herbert. So, Amy, will you give us a little bit of background on your position at DOW, what your actual title is, and kinda how you came into the sustainability space? Because we're gonna be focusing a little bit on that today and how our conservation projects have led us into this realm.

Amy Beasley: 02:41

It's great to be here. So the way that most of us get into the sustainability space is, you know, long and and twisty. There is no straight path there because it's a big tent. We all find places where we connect to sustainability. And for me, I was went back to school as a 37 year old with four kids, as a single parent, and completed a bachelor's and a PhD in environmental toxicology and molecular genetics, and that's a whole lot of words to say.

Amy Beasley: 03:09

I wanted a lot of options and a lot of stability.

Jerad Henson: 03:12

Right.

Amy Beasley: 03:12

And I was really drawn to science because of the ability to be curious, to understand the world around me, and I knew it was a huge field with a ton of options. So when I got that PhD, I wanted to work in fields where I could answer big questions, work with people who were a whole lot smarter than me and learn, and really be creative across a a big scope, and DOW was one of the places that gave me that. And so at DOW, I came in originally as a risk assessor in environmental work, did some human health work. The other thing that was really important to me was community, so I was very involved in our community in Midland, and that led to some work in DOW with the Office of Inclusion because sustainability and inclusion actually are very tightly connected communities, extremely important. And that work along with the the way that we look at equity in our communities and, again, with sustainability, equity is key, making sure everyone has access to land, nature, water, all of those things were important.

Amy Beasley: 04:13

And so over time, as DOW's sustainability work matured and we moved into new spaces, we were able to launch a new phase for corporate sustainability, looking at water and nature. And that was super important to DOW because our business runs on water, and we are in communities all over the world. We've been around a long time. And so it really is kind of a dream space. I'm one of the sustainability directors for water and nature.

Amy Beasley: 04:40

Water resilience and natural capital is where our work lies. I've been there for about eleven years, and it fits all of those things under under one space. The community angle, equity, the way that we work with our sites and operations, strategy, resilient all of those things in one package is a dream. I really love it. That's how I ended up with y'all.

Amy Beasley: 05:04

You are you are well known, and I'm from Alabama, so Ducks Unlimited is ubiquitous. Y'all are well known for being the premier conservation agency, organization in North America. And that for us, we wanted a trusted partner to do really important work

Jerad Henson: 05:22

Well, that's along the way. That's awesome. And I and I love to hear that. I'm gonna come back on that partnership in just a second, but we hadn't had doctor Ellen on in a while and so I'm really glad to have her here. She actually comes to us today with a different title.

Jerad Henson: 05:38

So tell us a little about what you've been doing and and where you're at now, doctor Ellen.

Ellen Herbert: 05:42

Yeah. Jerad, thank you for having me back again. I am now working with Ducks Unlimited on our conservation operations side. I've joined the podcast in the past as a science expert, but like Amy, really had a passion for taking my science background. In my case, that's water resources and soil science, wetland ecology, and applying that to making the world a better place.

Ellen Herbert: 06:14

And much like Amy said for DOW, the commitment to access to people for water and nature is, you know, it's a big reason I come to work every day. And so now instead of researching how our wetland and grassland conservation work benefits people, I'm taking that knowledge and that science and helping raise funds to do more of our conservation mission with a whole big group of people from across DOW Canada, the different regions in DOW Incorporated and DOW Mexico. And so it's really exciting opportunity, very much like Amy said, to take your science background and turn that into good for the DOW mission, good for water, good for people, good for other wildlife.

Jerad Henson: 07:06

Well, and it's great to have you in that position. You've had a lot of foresight into building that program and helping DU move that mission into new spaces and and gaining more supporters. And it's it's been a great ride and and really glad to to watch it come to fruition there. I wanna come back to that that partnership, the DOW partnership. So I was talking with some of our development staff recently.

Jerad Henson: 07:29

Was like, hey, give me a little bit of history on the Dow partnership. And one of our development staff had to go back to the paper files to get to get the background on us working with Dow. And it goes back seventy years. DOW has been supporting our chapter system, our events system and chapters, local chapters on that level. Through chapter giving, they actually reached a life sponsor level in 1986, so DOW is a life sponsor of Ducks Unlimited and has been since basically two years after we started working in The US, because we only started working in The US in 1984.

Jerad Henson: 08:08

First major gift was in 1990, and that was a four year $3,000,000 partnership for Wetlands partnership for Wetlands Conservation, and that was with Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and NIFWIF. And so that is a long track record. The gift was also the largest corporate financial donation to benefit the North American Waterfowl Management Plan at the time. So y'all have y'all been groundbreaking for us for a long time. We appreciate that.

Jerad Henson: 08:42

The US and Canada plan to preserve about 5,500,000 acres of habitat with that initial projects were in the ACE Basin in South Carolina, Peach Point, Texas, and Howman Marsh in Ontario. So there has been projects in Canada and in The US throughout this relationship, and that continues today. We currently have well, I'll say it's four technically, four Dow projects. Three of those projects are in Michigan, close to y'all's y'all's headquarters around Midland, but it's in the Shiawassee Basin. There's three projects ongoing right now that we're in wetland restoration in and around the refuge there and some of the state owned lands associated with that.

Jerad Henson: 09:23

I got to visit some of those projects Oh. Last year. Was a really cool project, some cool engineering gone into that. And a lot of that was around some water quality work as well as waterfowl habitat. So that was really cool.

Jerad Henson: 09:36

The other one that we have is you've got a big project with Ducks Unlimited Canada in Alberta Mhmm. Where you pretty much funded their entire forage program for the province of Alberta for a year.

Amy Beasley: 09:47

Oh, that's amazing. I didn't realize that's Yeah. How that came

Jerad Henson: 09:50

And that forage program's a really cool program, right? That is an opportunity, a paid incentive to landowners in Canada to take their ground out of crop rotation and plant it back in forage crops for cattle grazing, things like that. There's a few few little caveats with that and the fact that they can't graze them till after like July, mid July, that allows for duck nesting on those great grasses. Right? So it's great habitat for cows, great habitat for ducks, and it does a ton of stuff in the ecosystem services realm as far as water retention, soil health, and things like that.

Jerad Henson: 10:25

I think, Ellen, you could talk a little bit more about the benefits of some of that that forage program and and do you mind mentioning a little on that?

Ellen Herbert: 10:33

Not at all. I mean, we have a saying what's good for the herd is good for the bird. What's what's good for cows in particularly in those primary breeding grounds in Canada, The United States, prairie pothole region. Grazing cattle is a great economic incentive to keep intact prairie and the embedded wetlands which are they're the most important for supporting the life cycle of migratory waterfowl. Very important to DU.

Ellen Herbert: 11:06

But in addition to that, you know, that's a huge economic engine for that part of Canada and The United States, the beef cattle and dairy industry who DOW's partnered with for a long time now through our agricultural programs. And so, you know, back to Amy's comments, you know, we have ecosystem service benefits, cleaner water, less flooding, improved soil health. You also have these community and economic benefits that, you know, you're supporting the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers while at the same time, you know, providing these benefits to not just migratory waterfowl to tons of different bird species, insect species, plant species. So it's a really exciting opportunity for us to be able to partner with somebody like DOW and, you know, to call back to some of the other work that Jerad mentioned. Going back through history, there's been a lot of alignment between our two organizations on, you know, some of the landscapes that are important to DOW or landscapes that are important to Ducks, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, the Prairies, provinces in Canada.

Ellen Herbert: 12:21

And so I think that's probably one of the reasons we've had this long term relationship is that, you know, water and those landscapes are important to both of us.

Amy Beasley: 12:30

Mhmm. That's right. That was one of the reasons that the Prairie Pothole Project appealed to me was that the benefits you you see the impact of that work immediately. You also are setting up a long term benefit for for all the levels of the region, the economy, the industry, the people, the community. So it becomes very sustainable from the outset.

Amy Beasley: 12:55

And I'm sure most folks don't know this, but DOW has two big sites in Alberta, Canada, and that has been a water stressed region, and particularly around our Prentiss site down right where Perry Pothole is. And DOW DOW has to have water to run. We we run very heat intensive processes at all of our plants. We use that water to cool machinery, and so we use a bajillion gallons of it a day. It's a very scientific figure, but it's a lot.

Amy Beasley: 13:23

And so we've got to have clean water. We've got to have a reliable water source, and the fact is and and we clean it and return it right back to that water source, but we've gotta have access. And the fact is if we don't have water security, no one else in our community is gonna have it and vice versa. So everybody's gotta have Right. Secure, clean water, and that means that also ecosystems and habitats have got to have secure, clean water because that is all connected and that's why when we established our strategy, we didn't separate water resilience and natural capital or water in nature because they have to live together.

Jerad Henson: 13:58

They do work together.

Amy Beasley: 13:59

And that's that was really appealing to us. So to have both that short and long term benefit for the whole region was amazing.

Jerad Henson: 14:05

Yeah. And that's one of the things I wanted to talk about when I mentioned that the Alberta Alberta project is that the community aspect of that Prentiss facility and the other facilities around there, but then also the facility around Midland and Michigan where all of these projects that I mentioned are close to a DOW facility and the the DOW community, the DOW employees want those give back projects.

Amy Beasley: 14:30

Absolutely.

Jerad Henson: 14:30

They asked for that. They wanted that. So they're involved in the community. They want to be invested. And I think that has really led us to this new phase

Amy Beasley: 14:38

Mhmm.

Jerad Henson: 14:38

Where we're at now. We're we're in some different waters than what we've done for, you know, the past thirty years as far as just doing on the ground project delivery. We've entered into a new space where we're leveraging the use skill set in a new way, something that that we haven't done in this way. Usually, on those big projects with the sustainability twist on it, we're the deliverer. We're the ones turning dirt.

Jerad Henson: 15:03

Right? Not the ones coming up with a strategy and helping build that. Although we do have the expertise to do all of that, we're now in a new partnership, a new phase, and so can y'all tell me a little bit about well, I'll pitch it to both of you to kind of walk us through kind of this new project and where we're at for almost a consulting like partnership to help DOW understand the community, the land, resources, how to maximize value with with what the resources you have and how to give back to those communities.

Amy Beasley: 15:34

Maybe I'll just give a quick setup. So again, maybe people don't realize this, but DOW's been around for a hundred and twenty nine years. A long time.

Jerad Henson: 15:44

Long time.

Amy Beasley: 15:44

A long time and has been based in and around Midland all of that time. But we also have almost a 100 sites all over the world and they are in all kinds of different communities and ecosystems, but many of them have been around for decades. And so in lots of cases, the communities have grown up around the DOW industry and other industry that may have may have landed there over time. And so the community is integrated. We have generations of community members who have worked for DOW.

Amy Beasley: 16:15

We have schools and parks and public recreation that has all come about, arts facilities that's come about because DOW is embedded in a community. So again, just like water and nature, you can't separate DOW as an industry from the communities where we live and work and thrive. So so it was important to us in this new phase to really make sure that we that we kept our roots and our values and that we were acknowledging the world is changing. We have most of our our new employees at DOW are coming in with sustainability as a mindset. That's a value for them that they want to see in impacting their jobs.

Amy Beasley: 17:00

We have a lot of new employees in, like any other industry, about half of our I hope that's right. About half of our workforce has been there less than five years. You know, we've got lots of new talent. We have, the advent of AI and lots of new technology that we can use to do great work out in conservation and water and nature. And we have investor pressure.

Amy Beasley: 17:23

And our investors recognize that the risk to water and nature that is being posed by the way our climate is changing, the impact of population growth. All of those factors mean the pressure is greater for us to protect natural resources. And for DOW as a business, that's a critical pressure for us. We've got to have, again, access to water and and habitat for us to function. And so all of that bent, we also had to start thinking about these things in new ways.

Amy Beasley: 17:56

Engineering, we're great engineers. I mean, we we build huge facilities and create amazing things and y'all are as well. And sometimes it's a problem or a challenge that can't be solved by by great engineering. Sometimes it's a blend of art and science and a whole lot of creative risk taking. And so when we knew it was time to make that that shift, we looked to a partner who is doing the same and that's how we got to Ellen.

Jerad Henson: 18:26

And I'm gonna make one comment before we jump in and I turn it over to Ellen. That risk that you jumped in on that partner and that I think us being a partner that was reached out to for that, I think that comes from that long relationship and I will say that in that seventy years of us working with Dow, we've had not only great funding support, but we've also had a lot of great volunteer support.

Amy Beasley: 18:47

Oh, that's right.

Jerad Henson: 18:48

Right. So we've had some very high up volunteers from from the Dow community that have helped DU become who it is today. We've had to pass president. We've had board members like there's people in that community that have haven't trusted DU to do big things and pushed us to do big things. And so I wanted to make sure I took a second to acknowledge Alright.

Jerad Henson: 19:07

Don't go away. We're gonna come right back after a quick break and learn more about this cool project with doctor Ellen and doctor Andy.

VO: 19:22

Stay tuned to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast sponsored by Purina Pro Plan and Bird Dog Whiskey after these messages.

Ellen Herbert: 20:08

I know the listeners are familiar with the fact that Ducks Unlimited is a science based conservation organization. I think your listeners have heard a lot more about our waterfowl science, and, you know, we also have great geospatial scientists, people who do mapping, mapping of wetland resources, mapping of water resources. And that is really one of the talents that we're bringing to this partnership that's a little bit unique is, you know, looking at where DOW operates and where that overlaps with areas that are important for our mission, looking at opportunities for DOW to leverage some of their assets in the land that they own, around their facilities, often that land is very important to adjacent communities, and look at how we can help DOW make decisions to better use that land. You know, what DOW is getting out of some of this process is ideas for, you know, restoration, land management, maybe easements and other kind of conservation instruments that improve or maintain the value of their land and help them meet their nature and water goals. For Ducks Unlimited, what we're looking for is opportunities to enhance habitat and to, you know, also to contribute to our mission of connecting more people to wetlands and to nature.

Ellen Herbert: 21:38

Mhmm. So I think we're leveraging our science tools to create a process to help DOW do that, to demonstrate value to their employees, to their shareholders, and to their partners and the communities that they work in. Amy can chime in here, but I think a a great illustration for the audience is a recent visit that Ducks Unlimited staff, DOW staff, and community members made to DOW's Carrollton, Kentucky facility

Amy Beasley: 22:09

Mhmm.

Ellen Herbert: 22:09

Where they were able to look at watershed issues, at potential for habitat restoration, for things that would benefit community access to nature, to wetlands, to fishing. And so maybe I'll let Amy chime in there but, you know, we we've really taken it from this high level using our science skills to identify these great points of overlap for wetlands, waterfowl, DOW, nature. And then start we're starting now to make that very practical to talk about how we do those improvements.

Amy Beasley: 22:43

That that practical mindset is is one of my favorite things about this partnership because we are all the three of us are all idea people and we can brainstorm and spitball with the best of them, particularly after a long day of work. And we dream about all the cool stuff we wanna do, but there's always gonna be a thread of practicality and application to it. You know, it it is great for us to to consider what it means to count species and look at their DNA and what does that mean about the health of an ecosystem. There is a place for all of that. There's also a place for thinking about a strategy that will affect all 100, nearly 100 of our sites all over the world and the big scale of that.

Amy Beasley: 23:31

But somewhere in the middle there is a Carrollton, Kentucky site or one of many others that has been there for decades, has some land around the site that they care about, that they may manage or hunt on, that their kids have enjoyed. And you've got a community that could really benefit from the the right answers to how to move forward with all of that. And then you've got the the DOW work, again, where many of those community members make their living that needs access to clean water and wants to preserve that forever. So you've got this great combination of all the things that we care about and the ability to do something practical to solve it right now. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Amy Beasley: 24:15

It doesn't have to track every metric. It doesn't have to check every box. It can have impact today. And so what I feel like we do so well as a partnership is to find that sweet spot. What can benefit the most and do great work and meet the most practical goal of conservation, of water quality, of community health?

Amy Beasley: 24:42

And there are lots of ways to go about that So we get to dream and do at the same time. Carrollton's a great example as well because you've got people and I think, again, this is true at many of our sites, if not all. You've got people who are deeply connected to their environment. And, you know, sometimes when we talk about sustainability in general, it can feel very general. It can feel like a keyword or something out there in the the ether.

Amy Beasley: 25:08

But when you think about your daily life, sustainability really is that very practical, foundation to how we live well. And when you're in a place like Carrollton, folks are connected to that very directly all the time. They are swimming in the river. They are catching fish in the creek. They are hiking the woods.

Amy Beasley: 25:28

They are all of those things. I did just say creek like that, didn't I?

Jerad Henson: 25:32

You did.

Amy Beasley: 25:32

It came out. You did. It get me down here back down here in the South for longer than two hours and it's back. But the the reality is that means something different to them than carbon credit.

Jerad Henson: 25:44

It does.

Amy Beasley: 25:44

Because they touch it every day. And carbon credit's not less important, but this is tangible. This we feel this. And so the emotional connection, the the life connection that people have to this work is just very different. And so making sure that we, you know, in our our water and nature strategy, we set ambitious goals that we would conserve 50,000 acres.

Jerad Henson: 26:07

That's it.

Amy Beasley: 26:07

By 2050. And the first question I got was, well, are you expecting to go buy 50,000 acres? Well, a, that's real expensive to go buy 50,000 acres of prime habitat. And that was never the point. Right.

Amy Beasley: 26:20

That was never the point. Buying or greenwashing or whatever the term would be for that, like, it might make us look good, but it doesn't do good or it it does less good. What really will what really that was meant to do was to to teach us how to do more good and how to do that sustainably and how to steward the millions of acres that over time DOW owns.

Jerad Henson: 26:46

Right.

Amy Beasley: 26:47

And and you don't get that by a one time purchase of 50,000 acres and a checkbox next to your name. You get that by twenty five years of partnership.

Ellen Herbert: 26:54

Well, and Amy, I think one of the most surprising things for me in starting to work with you guys because I was new to our relationship with DOW when we started working together three years ago

Amy Beasley: 27:05

Mhmm.

Ellen Herbert: 27:06

Is just having some insight, you know, I think probably a lot of folks will associate DOW with, you know, big factories. Sure. But the amount of wonderful habitat that you guys have, you know, through various iterations of your business have become part of your portfolio and Mhmm. We've been on a little bit of like an investigative mission with you

Amy Beasley: 27:29

Yeah.

Ellen Herbert: 27:29

To look at that land, to see what you own, to see how it's being used. And I think I think the podcast listeners would be really interested, you know, that ranges from, you know, salt marsh down on the Texas Gulf Coast, really important for things like canvasbacks, redheads, all the way to, you know, farmland that's that DOW is

Amy Beasley: 27:51

Grazing cattle on.

Ellen Herbert: 27:52

Grazing cattle. Oh, wow. Leasing for cattle grazing. I mean

Jerad Henson: 27:54

Great Lakes, coastal areas, some

Ellen Herbert: 27:57

beautiful forest land, you know. So I think that for me, that's been a really fun part of this to understand. And of course, DOW is not the only big company that this is, you know, their portfolio is so much broader than maybe what you see when you drive down the highway and see the DOW sign in the in the facility. And so, you know, it's just a really fascinating journey to understand how important you guys are. Millions of acres of land management.

Ellen Herbert: 28:25

It's a big job for you.

Amy Beasley: 28:26

It is. And but it's a very exciting one because a lot of that has been lost time.

Jerad Henson: 28:32

That is.

Amy Beasley: 28:33

We've had those people all along the way, like you said, Jerad. We've had these these partnerships that were driven by people who were in leadership at DOW and who saw the importance of DU's mission and made sure to preserve it. And so we have we have lots of those projects and people's legacies that we now have land for, but we have, over time, lost some of that story and some of that purpose. And so some of that fun adventure is is going back and reclaiming the original story and purpose behind those choices and learning how to steward those better into the future.

Jerad Henson: 29:06

That's it. And and one of the things that I've enjoyed, because I've been a big part of this project as well for the past like year and a half or so, and so it's been something that's exciting to watch us go through, look at those land assets, try and figure out your nature and strategy goals, but also build a business case to make this make sense.

Amy Beasley: 29:23

Amen.

Jerad Henson: 29:23

Right? Not only are we trying to do to do nature nature positive work, great conservation, but how can you bring corporate entities like DOW

Amy Beasley: 29:34

Mhmm.

Jerad Henson: 29:34

How can we help build a roadmap

Amy Beasley: 29:36

That's right.

Jerad Henson: 29:37

To make this approachable as as something that they can do going forward? Mhmm. And so that's been my favorite part about watching that, is we've been documenting what we're doing. We're we're doing, you know, making a case, building some statements. There'll be some publications come out from this on on the process and what we've done.

Jerad Henson: 29:55

And so I kinda wanted to hear your take on that side of it.

Amy Beasley: 29:58

Yeah. That we have a saying at DOW that that there's money for what you measure. And and if you can't measure it truly though, if you can't measure it, how do you know that you've made a positive impact beyond the evidence that you see with your eyes? And that's that's not enough to convince, and rightfully, to convince investors to pony up big money to do the work. We we need to be able to support it.

Amy Beasley: 30:24

And and so from a business case, there are many companies who want to do great work. There is sometimes a gap between wanting to do great work and understanding how to start doing great work.

Jerad Henson: 30:37

Right.

Amy Beasley: 30:38

And we talked earlier about the practicality of this, and I think I think some of us have fallen into the, the trap of wanting it to be perfect before we make an make a choice or make an action. And there is no such thing. So there's there is a lot of value in just starting. But when I when I took this role three years ago, when we when we were building this from scratch, I listened to a lot of podcasts to just absorb what was happening out in the world to learn about what different people were saying about the future of conservation, the future of water, especially water security, and there wasn't a whole lot out there. And what was out there was was disappointing and discouraging.

Amy Beasley: 31:24

And so pretty quickly, I realized we were gonna have to start telling a new story and sending new messages. So we knew that in order to make it sustainable, for us to start something that was going to last beyond us and in this world, you just never know. Like, I could win the lottery tomorrow. I'd have to buy a ticket, but that's a different question. We it needed to be sustainable, and so we needed to we needed to have a clear case for why corporate partners like us would have the momentum to start.

Amy Beasley: 31:54

They would have enough enough to prove the case. And so our work with y'all, there was a core element of the work that for someone like me who was listening to podcasts trying to figure out what does the world say about this and most of it being discouraging, there needed to be a core part that was available to these listeners, to anybody who wanted to get started that said, you can do this and here's how you start. And these are some things to watch out for. This is the stuff we learned, all very practical. So that and and let's be real.

Amy Beasley: 32:23

DOW is a huge company, and we have some resources. I wish we had more to put into conservation, but I'm working on that with our land portfolio. But there's a lot of smaller companies that could still do super impactful work. It doesn't have to be on this scale and they need a place to start. And they may not have the benefit of some of the history of the partnerships we had.

Amy Beasley: 32:45

And so to be able to share that and give, again, more access to nature and conservation for companies that want to do good was super important. I think we've I think we've made some great strides on that and I'm excited for our publications to come out because they're very accessible.

Jerad Henson: 33:01

That's it. Yeah. Build that roadmap Yeah. Kind of idea of of how to actually start

Amy Beasley: 33:06

Mhmm.

Jerad Henson: 33:07

How to move the needle. And ultimately, the goal is to to see a project from this analysis and from our work together actually turned dirt and and Mhmm. Come to fruition. And I think that'll be a really, really cool thing to watch it go from big idea in the sky to hopefully, in our case, a puddle of water on the ground with some some pretty plants around it.

Amy Beasley: 33:28

Yeah. Those 50,000 acres are gonna be one acre at a time, 10 acres at a time, five acres at Carrollton. You know? Yeah. It's gonna be the right way.

Amy Beasley: 33:37

So teach us a lot in the meantime.

Jerad Henson: 33:38

So this has been a really good conversation. We've talked about this partnership. It's been kind of fun to walk through this work for us that's kind of new, maybe new in in its actual strategy and how we're approaching it, but DU's had the expertise for a long time. We've had this partnership with DOW for a long time, so it was a natural fit. Y'all are measuring your nature goals in acres.

Jerad Henson: 33:58

We measure ourself in acres. Right? So ultimately, we're looking to put acres of high quality habitat on the ground. Right? That's that's been fantastic, and that's making this much easier.

Jerad Henson: 34:10

If you do want to hear more about what we're doing, you can go to one of the upcoming conferences and hear a little bit about what's happening with this project and actually get a little deeper dive on what it is and Doctor. Allen's gonna tell us a little bit about what that conference is, where they could go see it.

Ellen Herbert: 34:30

Yeah. So DOW and Ducks Unlimited have had a long history with what used to be called the Wildlife Habitat Council, and that is a group of nonprofit organizations, there's some agencies involved and then businesses that were interested in how they could better manage the land that they owned. And Wildlife Habitat Council actually helps plan and then certify land as having good wildlife habitat and good management for wildlife. They've recently become sort of rebranded as Tandem and Amy and one of our very own Ducks Unlimited employees, Doctor. Sheriff Phelps will be presenting at Tandem in Austin, Texas.

Ellen Herbert: 35:20

Amy, do you want to say a little bit more about the message that you'll give there and the opportunity to educate others in the wildlife and business community about partnerships like this?

Amy Beasley: 35:31

Sure. Happy to. Yeah. And I'm excited that I'll get to present with Sarah. Sarah has been a great partner in this work and brings her own perspective on what this partnership has been like because she's even, I think, a little newer to it than you are, Jerad, came in to help us work on the site specific projects that we're gonna do.

Amy Beasley: 35:51

And so it's been very cool. You talked about the breadth of expertise that DU has had for many years, and what what really has been a fun surprise for us in this pilot of a new way to do things is, you know, understanding that so much of the deep science that we really need and over the years have lost some of that expertise at DOW, y'all had that and then some. And so it has really filled a great need In that that Tandem relationship as well, that's been a DOW relationship for a long, long time. They are also great scientists, and as they've rebranded to Tandem, have continued to certify projects. They have lots of expertise in helping to understand whether your work has good impact, especially for companies like ours.

Amy Beasley: 36:45

And they're a great convener of like minds. So they pull they pull companies with these same kinds of values, practitioners, all kinds of folks together for annual conference, and that gives us an opportunity to talk about our work to a very different audience maybe than the one that's listening today because that audience may have some of the same goals, but they're also managing that business case. They are they are thinking about things like water scarcity in their area and the risk of that scarcity to their business. They're thinking about investor pressure and what what investors want to see in the protection of acres of habitat because they know that that is gonna impact their supply chain. They're thinking about investor pressure and the the ultimate risk to their business reputation.

Amy Beasley: 37:35

All of those things plus a whole lot more gives them a different perspective on the projects that we're putting together in that practicality. They appreciate that we consider the community and that we consider the benefit to Habitat right there at a site. What they're really also having to consider is how important is that site to the future of DOW's business, to our supply chains, to our national economy. DOW actually impacts a percentage of GDP when it goes down in Texas. Like it's a it's a big engine in our economy and we're not alone.

Amy Beasley: 38:12

There are many other businesses who are in that same space. And so they're looking at our work together in this partnership and thinking, how can I use something very similar to this model or work with DU in the same way to show the people who care the most, our investors, our leadership, our shareholders, how this kind of a partnership and this kind of action can mitigate the risk to our business for the long term? And it is a very direct relationship. There are lots of of industry partners who use water differently, but most of us use it for something. And we all have communities and workers who care about our environment, and we all have facilities that sit on land like it matters to all of us.

Amy Beasley: 39:02

And it's just it's going to be neat at tandem to talk about this work and to be able to take it to that next level to say, this is just good business. This is risk mitigation. This is resilience for the long haul. This is being able to say to your investors and your supply chain, we got you. We've been thinking about all of this and planning ahead, and so you can trust us with your business.

Amy Beasley: 39:25

And so that for us is is a really clear message and one that's gonna be fun to tie in with some more project details of like how did you actually do that? How did you do that successfully? Because to I'll say again, this was a risk we all took. Mhmm. This is a whole new way of working together and there's a lot of trust there that made it a smart risk to take.

Amy Beasley: 39:51

But man, the success factor of it has been huge and it's gonna be fun to share that.

Jerad Henson: 39:55

It's been a lot of fun to kinda go through this and watch the progress move along and like Mhmm. Like you get one big challenge and we we we jump over that hump and then you're onto the next one. Jump onto the the the next challenge and and move that needle forward and, like, this is this is working. This is coming to fruition. We're finding for us, it's it's an incredible way for us to find a not necessarily new way to fund conservation and to move the needle on on acres on the ground, but another way.

Jerad Henson: 40:21

Right? And how do we do that? But also how can we help our corporate partners do it right and do it better. Right? And that's that's a perfect fit for all of us.

Jerad Henson: 40:30

So I think that was a great way to kind of wrap this up a little bit. So I will turn it back over to Ellen and Amy and let y'all give any closing remarks before we close this thing out.

Ellen Herbert: 40:41

Yeah. I just have to say I really appreciate, you know, seventy years of partnership doing all sorts of different things. You know, you guys supporting us in our event system, in our North American waterfowl planning, and now we get to support you in your Yep. North American operations planning. It's just a very cool story and at the end of the day, you know, striving towards better water resources, more habitat, and acres on the ground.

Ellen Herbert: 41:08

And so, again, thank you for joining us, Amy, in the podcast studio so we can share that message. And thank you and your leadership for your long term partnership.

Amy Beasley: 41:18

Well, we we hope that it continues into the future and I'm excited about the next phase where we just scale this up and start dreaming bigger. It has been a really fun ride already. You know, that's that's part of the appeal too in doing good work with great partners is you get to enjoy it because you know that you are you are, benefiting so many with so much and working with with trusted partners helps helps make that real. And so we are grateful and excited to continue.

Jerad Henson: 41:49

Amy, that was a really cool story and and great way to talk through the partnership, what we're doing. If our listeners wanna learn more about Dow's sustainability plans and their goals, where would they go to find that?

Amy Beasley: 42:01

Great question. I'm glad you asked. Just go to dow.com. We have a whole bunch of work published there. We have some great information there.

Amy Beasley: 42:09

You can even see stories about some of our projects and the ways that those have impacted Habitat and our communities. And then we've got some of the background behind the science that we use to develop these cool projects and this partnership. So there's a ton of information there. You can also, if you happen to be in Austin in early June, come see doctor Phelps and I at Tandem, I think it's June, and hear what we have to say there. Ask those questions, and we're happy to chat more about the work.

Jerad Henson: 42:36

All right, I think that's a great place for us to wrap this up today, and this has been a fantastic conversation. So thank you to Doctor. Amy Beasley, the sustainability director from DOW So (Ep. Thank you for being in the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. Doctor Ellen Herbert, our now sustainability director at Ducks Unlimited.

Jerad Henson: 42:55

Thank you for joining us today in this great conversation. We gotta say thank you to the big man behind the computer over here. He's hiding. Mister Chris Isaac, without him, the magic doesn't happen. And thank you to the listeners.

Jerad Henson: 43:07

Hopefully, you all enjoyed this story, and and we'll tune in next time to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast.

Amy Beasley: 43:11

Yeah. Come see us at dow.com.

VO: 43:17

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VO: 43:37

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