A Story I Told ’Round the World

How I helped earn more than 25,000 news stories

I was hired by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) because of the “rediscovery” in Arkansas of the Ivory-billed woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in North America that was thought to be extinct since the 1930s. When the story broke in 2005, it resulted in more than 25,000 news stories across the globe. It was a cover story on National Geographic magazine.

My job was to serve as the primary on-the-ground media relations pro. I coordinated trips to the “Big Woods” so journalists could see the area where it had been discovered and interview the scientists who were leading the effort to find the bird’s exact location or capture new images of it. At one point, we had more than 40 media outlets in Arkansas, including CNN, BBC, CBS Nightly News, USA Today, NPR, Reuters, Associated Press, etc. I was also responsible for developing key messages, and, because of the demand for interviews, I often provided them myself. (I write “rediscovery” because this claim has since been disputed.)

Fighting Inflammatory News

Changing Media Minds About the Use of Prescribed Fire

TNC in Arkansas tasked me with creating a better image for its growing use of prescribed fire to improve forest health. At the time, nearly all news about prescribed fire (or controlled burns) was negative. Journalists were interviewing outdoor enthusiasts or asthmatics affected by smoke, and they were also highlighting the potential dangers of escaped fires. I spearheaded an effort to address this with our partners—the U.S. Forest Service, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission. I developed talking points pertinent to our missions that explained the benefits of prescribed fire, along with a desktop presentation. I scheduled editorial board meetings with six print and broadcast outlets in Northwest Arkansas, where most of the bad press was originating. Our partner reps and I met with these editors over two days and invited each to participate in upcoming burns. Four of the six published favorable opinion pieces, and several of the outlets—as well as others—later participated in controlled burns and published favorable stories. I still keep track of media in Arkansas, and I have yet to see a piece that speaks negatively about the use of prescribed fire.

Putting America’s Watershed on the Media Map

My leadership helped land AWI’s first ‘report card’ in 3,000+ media outlets

I spearheaded the comms efforts behind the launch of TNC’s America’s Watershed Initiative (AWI) and the first-ever-of-its-type “Mississippi River Watershed Report Card” in 2015. In addition to playing a crucial role in the development of AWI’s website, I also worked closely with a PR agency, Fleishman Hillard, to produce and implement a comprehensive communications plan that generated more than 3,000 positive media placements in the U.S. and beyond. The story also resulted in more than 2 million impressions on Twitter.

‘Wanna See My Face on the Cover’

Landing TNC on the cover of the Engineering News-Record

We wanted to highlight such work to potential partnering engineering firms, corporations, and city or state governments. We thought, “where do they get information?” The answer was simple and obvious. The premiere engineering publication, the Engineering News-Record, which has more than 70,000 paid subscribers. I gathered examples of our engineering solutions and pitched the editors.

The result, ENR published a six-page story about our work that featured a full-cover spread of our then CEO and included verbatim much of what I sent in the pitch or during follow-ups.

When working for TNC’s Arkansas chapter, I also secured a two-page “High Profile” feature of our director in the state’s largest newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, along with dozens of other stories in that paper as well as others across the state.

My ‘Marathon’ Marketing Story

Helping Grow a Program from $500K to $7M Annually

When I joined TNC’s North America Marketing Team, I began supporting the Sustainable Rivers Program, or SRP—a partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to improve large river health by changing the outflows from dams so they more closely mimic natural conditions. I produced key messages, fact sheets for TNC philanthropy and government relations staff, and this webpage. I shot and edited at least four SRP videos, but—as my role morphed from “implementer” to “strategic planner”—we began using a vendor to produce more professional videos, several of which are featured on nature.org/SRP. I’ve worked with the Army Corps and TNC marketers to plan and host successful media tours. (Here’s a link to a video from a media tour in Texas.)

What best speaks to the promotional success of the SRP is its growth. The SRP has grown from eight rivers in 2002 to 44 in 2022, influencing more than 12K miles of U.S. waterways and including 90 associated reservoirs and dams. Its Congressional funding has also increased—from $500K annually in FY19 to $7M annually today. All of this required heightened awareness from the Corps and U.S. Congress members, both of which—and their constituents—were key audiences. (In February 2024, a story I helped produce about the SRP was featured on the cover of the Corp’s magazine, which is distributed to the agency’s 37,000 employees and shared much more broadly.)

Working ‘Above and Beyond’

From Fish to Fire, No [Extra] Job is Too Much

Because of the efficiency and effectiveness of my work, I’m often tasked to fill in for programs when there are vacancies within TNC’s marketing team. While my focus at TNC has primarily focused on freshwater work, within the past few years I have been tasked to serve as comms lead for our nationwide work around prescribed fire to benefit forest health, and tasked to serve as comms lead for our global fisheries program. For the former, I produced a “Wildlands Fire Communications Toolkit” for our staff. This 31-page PDF with anchor links includes key messages, case studies, links to additional resources, tips for media engagement, crisis communications tips and protocols, etc. For our global fisheries program, I worked with program leads and a PR agency to produce a strategic comms plan and key messages that informed a variety of assets produced for the Tuna Transparency Pledge.

While these were intended to be temporary assignments of three months or less, I served in both roles for more than a year, and I remain involved in the Tuna Transparency Pledge.

Should Out of Sight Be Out of Mind?

Increasing Awareness of and Funding for Groundwater

In 2021, several Nature Conservancy scientists asked if I could help them increase awareness of the importance of groundwater, which not only supplies nearly 40% of drinking water in the U.S., but also accounts for up to 30% of surface flows in rivers. Their goal was to build support for groundwater-related work within TNC. We developed and implemented a comms plan that included identifying key individuals and groups critical to success, key messages, and required assets and other outreach strategies, such as CEO and division head engagement, the development of facts sheets, webinars and e-news items for staff, a feature on our intranet site, social media posts, and a groundwater page on nature.org, which was featured on the organization’s homepage for five days. Today, groundwater is very well represented in our global freshwater talking points and related assets and—more importantly—well reflected in TNC’s 2030 goals, which has led to increased funding for additional capacity focused on groundwater. (See TNC’s groundwater page on nature.org.)

Following (and Addressing) the Flow

I was asked to be the comms lead for a new program addressing water’s biggest pollutant–stormwater

The Nature Conservancy recently launched a program, Brightstorm, which focuses on urban runoff or stormwater–the only source of water pollution in the U.S. that is increasing. The program’s head sought me out to serve as communications lead for this new endeavor. Since then, I’ve worked with vendors to develop a brand ID as well as to identify key audiences and develop key messages that speak to each. These messages are informing fact sheets, presentations, videos, social media posts and a new website, brightstorm.org (which is under development).

I’ve also developed a strategic communications plan to bolster the work we’re doing with large companies we’ve partnered with, including Walmart, Google, PepsiCo and Amazon Web Services.