Encouraging Conservation in US States & Territories and Tribal Communities - A Conversation with Kate Burgess

SolPods Cassie Freyeisen sits down with Kate Burgess, a Conservation Program Manager with the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators where they discuss the importance of environmental conservation in the US and ways in which we all can help get involved. 

Learn more about the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL) and their efforts of empowering a nonpartisan network of state legislative champions: https://www.ncelenviro.org/

Learn more about Native Americans in Philanthropy at https://nativephilanthropy.org

Pursue the Tribal Engagement Training for Conservation Practitioners in North America at https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/who-we-are/how-we-work/community-led-conservation/indian-country-101/

Check out Colorado State University, Masters in Environmental Policy: https://graduateschool.colostate.edu/programs/political-science-environmental-politics-and-policy-specialization-ma/

Read NCEL's Natural Legacy for the Future Report with a focus on strengthening state laws for endangered and threatened species: http://www.ncelenviro.org/resources/a-natural-legacy-for-the-future-overview/

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Transcript

Intro:  00:03
Welcome to SolPods Studio.  We're not your average social network.  We're a community of professionals, enthusiasts and students taking sustainability to the next level.  Join us on our journey and get inspired by Earth Heroes just like you.

Cassie:  00:20
Welcome back to another episode of SolPods Studio! I’m Cassie Freyeisen, and I am joined here today with Kate Burgess, a Conservation Program Manager with the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators. When she is not outside in nature, Kate spends most of her time collaborating with US legislators on a variety of land, water, wildlife and human issues. Her approach to conservation is rooted in principles of equity, justice and community collaboration.  Kate is big advocate for our planet and really is a true Earth Hero! Kate, we are so happy to have you here today, and we cannot wait to learn more about your journey. 

Kate:  00:57
Thanks so much for having me Cassie.  I'm excited that you've launched SolPods, and you have a podcast going, and it's "top" to be here.

Cassie:  01:03
Thanks so much Kate! So what led you into a career in conservation with the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, and what really inspired you to pursue a career in sustainability?

Kate:  01.13
Yeah, so I've always been easily excitable and inspired and committed to leaving the world a better place, and that has led to lots of answers to the "what do you want to be when you grow up" question.  So, when I was little, my responses ranged from pastry chef to FBI agent to jazz singer to professor.  So by the time I'd reached high school, I kind of miraculously settled on, randomly neuroscientists, but mostly because I just had so many concussions from sports and just existing.  I wanted to help and understand and address the brain so other people wouldn't experience what I did. And then that plan significantly stalled. Not only because I had the fine motor skills of an underwater chicken, but also because I took a class my senior year of high school that reminded me, in spite of the merry-go-round of professional interests, that there was actually one constant throughout my life, and that was nature.   The class that inspired this was an environmental science class, and it completely revitalized the energy that I'd had when I was little running through the woods with my brother, looking for foxholes or sledding in the backyard or feeling the adrenaline and awe of a 40 degree frigid Atlantic Ocean swell just like pummel me every summer. And so it also taught me a lot about the threats to our Earth, and that really concerned me. So I pivoted from neuroscience and decided to major in environmental studies in college, and then the rest is completely history. I just loved it.

Cassie:  02:37
I love your story, and I love how you took your interests and your passions and your childhood experiences, and all that really trickled down into who you are today and what you're doing.  And the NCEL's vision is state leadership that advances a clean and healthy environment for all. Can you tell us about NCEL's work and why it's so fundamental when it comes to supporting legislators with resources and tools to pursue environmental policies?

Kate:  03:04
Yes, thank you for asking. I'm going to nerd out for a second. State legislatures are essentially policy test kitchens, except with a lot less salt and no Guy Fieri. They're basically where innovative measures can be piloted and then repeated in other states or ultimately with enough traction at the federal and even international levels. And we know that state leadership can either promote or dismantle democracies, as we've seen recently with, for example, reproductive rights, gun reform, racist restrictions on voting access, LGBTQIA+ erasure, etc.

So all that's to say, states are super important in setting legal narratives, especially when it comes to environmental issues. So NCEL's work, I believe, is fundamental because while the impact of state legislatures can be immense, the resources that are available to these decision makers to actually advance innovative policies are not so immense. So, for example, New Mexico. States like New Mexico are citizen legislatures, which basically means they have full time, year round jobs on top of being a legislator, and they barely have staff, let alone an office or any compensation to help them make the laws that just govern our society. No big deal! Puerto Rico is another example, which is a US territory, lacks a voting representative in Congress, as is the case with American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. So what they do with the state or territory level matters incredibly when that federal recognition is absent.

So at NCEL, our role is really just to provide the capacity and support that legislators don't always have but need in order to advance equitable environmental policies. And so we often call ourselves "remote environmental staff" and are just at the ready to provide research, briefings, connections to other states, best available science and knowledge systems, just anything to make their jobs a little bit easier.

Cassie:  04:56
Thank you for this. This gives us a good picture of what you are trying to achieve. And I love the "remote environmental staff", the way that you framed that. And as you are out there working on so many different issues, can you tell us a bit about the different topics that the NCEL covers, such as water scarcity, biodiversity, endangered species, climate justice, anything else that you would like to cover today. 

Kate:  05:25
Yeah, we really run the gamut. We have four buckets of programs. So that's oceans, climate and energy, environmental health and conservation, which is the program that I manage. And so you named a few right, endangered species, biodiversity, water scarcity. We also work on more recently, state and tribal issues relating to species protection and land conservation. We do you know how to strengthen state wildlife agencies which are the backbones or foundation of how wildlife is protected across and within each state. We work on the "Green Amendment" which is a constitutional amendment that would enshrine the rights to clean air, water and a healthy environment in the state's constitution and then across the other program areas, we have amazing staff who are really awesome at looking at the kind of intersections between their issue areas and public health or education or even art or you know, technology. So we cover a really big breadth.

Cassie:  06:22
I bet you and your staff are extremely busy! So, today we are realizing more and more increasingly how biodiversity loss and climate change are really going hand in hand. Can you shed some light on how these two are so interconnected and what you're seeing?

Kate:  06:37
Yeah, thank you for asking. It's really refreshing to hear the word biodiversity in the same sentence as climate change. Climate change has gotten a lot more press and media attention over the last 20 years. But they're really twin crises. I think the UN recently referred to them as "sister" or "twin crises". And the reason being is climate change, fuels biodiversity loss and biodiversity loss, fuels climate change.

So for example, the data show that climate change is leading to warmer oceans, right? So coral reefs and other coastal species are sensitive to shifts in temperature. And as a result, we're seeing those populations of a species decline. And on the flip side, biodiversity loss, for example, habitat fragmentation. Think large scale forest destruction is taking out these large carbon sinks that could have otherwise been helping to mitigate climate change by taking carbon out of the atmosphere. 

And they're also linked from like a solution standpoint, not just the problem standpoint. So there is reason for hope, right? So nature-based solutions is an emerging field of solutions or ways to address the biodiversity and climate change crises. And they're essentially just projects that center biodiversity conservation and can be hugely effective in mitigating both species loss and climate change.

For example, wetland restoration, land conservation, increasing tree canopy and protecting old growth forests, designating and developing management plans for marine protected areas. The list goes on. All of those solutions are centering nature in addition to kind of helping decarbonize the air and also our economy and those solutions have to happen in tandem if we want to be effective, we can't just decarbonize and transition to renewable without protecting land and species that are really key to kind of preventing climate change from getting even worse. And a lot of these solutions have been practiced by indigenous communities around the world for thousands of years. And we are just now, western leaders are just now catching wind that these solutions are effective. So the credit really goes to indigenous communities who have been doing this for many, many years.

Cassie:  08:51
I really like how you referred to biodiversity loss and climate change as the twin crisis. And it's something to really think about how these problems are really so interconnected as well as the solutions. Some indigenous communities may be vulnerable to climate change. How does NCEL support indigenous communities?

Kate:  09:12
Sure, I'll share one example. So we recently established a partnership with a phenomenal group called Native Americans in Philanthropy or NAP.  They are changing the landscape of funding as we know it across a variety of issue areas. So to put it in perspective, their work in perspective, in 2020 the total charitable giving in the US was about $471 billion. So from that 0.4%, not 4% but 0.4% of that from large US foundations is directed to Native communities. And so NAP is making tidal waves to change this through work with big funders, policy and advocacy, and education. And so we work with them specifically on their environmental policy portfolio, looking at ways to highlight successful, specifically state and tribal co-management of lands and species like bison or in the transfer of land back to tribes who are the original stewards of all of we know of North America at this point. And so before we do that, we kind of need to back up and launch first like a messaging campaign in a learning series aimed at state legislators to capture some of the basics of state and tribal relationships. So that any policy measures that come out of that from an environmental standpoint is done in earnest and with the full context.

The way I like to think about it, and I have been told before is that non native peoples like me, are treaty partners. We have a very clear legal responsibility to tribes who are completely sovereign nations. So NCEL is very serious about and committed to making crystal clear this responsibility and also just to illuminate the very unique relationship that state governments have to tribal nations.  We are completely committed to upholding tribal sovereignty. You may have heard about tribal consultation in the past. That's not enough. Tribes need to consent to projects relating to their land, especially because they are the original stewards of that. It's that simple.  I just think that we will fail at reversing the climate and biodiversity crises if tribal nations aren't centered in decision making.  It's that simple to me. So NCEL, since we work from the state legislator perspective, we are really committed in working to making sure that state legislators, our audience, understand some of the basics, the legal basics, the history around working with tribal nations. So any sort of conservation, land, water wildlife policy that comes out of that, is done in a way that actually matters and that tribes are actually consenting to, which is has not been the case, historically.

Cassie:  11:47
How could we help better support indigenous communities, and how can we also help to bridge this gap in terms of, you know, their vulnerability to climate change? How can we help make an impact for them?

Kate:  12:01
Good question. I'm still trying to figure out the answers to that myself. I'm not a tribal member, and so I can't speak on behalf of any indigenous communities. I can talk about what I've done as a non-Native person, which is to first start to understand the history of state and tribal relations, of federal-tribal relations, understand what treaties are and what role they play in our legal system, understand what lands you are on and the fact that the land that I am sitting in, in my apartment right now does not belong to the city of Somerville. It has been like stolen, essentially. And so making clear that there is like a racist, a violent, a long standing history that has been taking land and resources and power away from tribal nations, I feel like is an appropriate place to start, but it's not the place to end because tribal nations are incredibly capable of governing themselves and also making decisions that have long standing positive solutions for the land. And so understanding that like there's a long history that's really, really bad. Tribal nations and native people are still very much here and thriving and going towards the future, they need to be centered in any decisions related to the environment.  I think those kind of three steps are a lot. I know the Nature Conservancy put out a really amazing tribal governments 101 training.  It's very bite size. You can watch like three minute clips. It does an excellent job of giving you kind of dipping your toes into, you know, tribal history. And so that's, that's one like actionable recommendation I might have for folks looking to, to start in this world.

Cassie:  13:47
That's awesome. Thanks for that referral.  Over the past three years of working as a conservation program manager, have you been able to witness some of the positive effects that your work has made in various land, water and wildlife ecosystems as well as maybe in the community.

Kate:  14:05
Yeah, it's awesome to have a job where you get to see progress. I've been in it for only a few years and so I've only been here for one kind of full legislative session because the first one I started was short because of COVID and states alternate, you know, long and short every year. So this is the first one that I've witnessed a lot of bills of, of a lot of substance pass. And you know, while it's nice to see bills introduced or even enacted, I think the rubber really hits the road with implementation. So I am always looking for bills that I've seen past that I've worked on the in the past turn into actual projects. So for example, we've been working with dozens of legislators over the years on measures to help increase habitat connectivity for species. Both because species need a lot of land and connectivity for migration and just to exist. But also this can be hugely effective in reducing wildlife vehicle collisions and promoting just general safety. So the idea is you know, building bridges over highways or underpasses or just expanding land that species can use. So they're not trying to cross really busy highways, right? Makes sense. It's one of the more bipartisan issues that we see in state legislation. And so since those bills have been enacted, we are seeing the completion of wildlife habitat connectivity management plans. We're seeing fences and wildlife crossings go up over highways. We've seen shovels break ground. I went out to a project in Colorado where we built one of the fences. And so we're actually starting to see the impacts of these measures on the reduction of roadkill and on the reduction of people hitting species with their car, which is amazing. And I'll just close with, you know, another benefit which is kind of our main stick is that I love it when I see legislators able to expand their knowledge base, we don't lobby, we're nonpartisan. And so our, our big role, our bread and butter is just in education and capacity building. And so, for example, last year, I was at an event where we had about 200 state legislators from all over the country in Denver. And I spoke briefly about the importance of biodiversity. And then afterwards, a legislator, I think from Maine came up to me and goes, you know, this biodiversity thing, that's a new word for me. And then the following year I saw her name as a co-sponsor and several bills related to biodiversity in her state. And so the impacts are not always these like slam dunks, you know, major bills passed, but we do see incremental steps towards success and just and greater like collective understanding that biodiversity is one of the twin crises, which for me is a win.

Cassie:  16:41

I'm sure that felt really, really good. And the more we can build awareness and create those, you know, educational opportunities for people to learn more, really. What is biodiversity. What does that mean to you? What does that mean to your local community? I think that's so important, so well done. I think that's a big win, I'm sure. Yeah, exactly. A good team effort. And you highlighted, you know, some of your current projects, one of them being the, the Nature Connectedness in Colorado. Are there any other projects that you're currently working on that you want to highlight or share with us and the impact that you hope that it will have in the future in the years to come?

Kate:  17:18
Oh, gosh. Do you have all day? We have so much going on this summer, which is awesome. I'm learning constantly. One of the things that we're working on most recently is helping legislators strengthen their state endangered species law. So you may hear about, you know, the ESA, the Endangered Species Act from the seventies that helps list species at a federal level. Well, states also have the ability to manage and protect wildlife and within their own state before they get listed federally. And so we're helping legislators understand, you know, what is already on the books in your state. We just put out this 170 page report on our website if you are bored and needs something to read for a few hours and basically helping them understand like, cool, what's, what's in your statute already? What are other states doing that are, that are effective, right? So Puerto Rico, Massachusetts are some of the best statutes in the, in the country right now in terms of protecting species. So saying, like what is Puerto Rico and Massachusetts doing that I could adopt in Iowa or Indiana? And then maybe helping them connect with their wildlife agencies to get that conversation going.

And that has been a really cool project. We're also working with states I think at least 14 at this point to codify the right to clean air, water and a healthy environment in their state constitution's Bill of Rights. It's essentially an environmental justice tool legally. We're working on expanding outdoor access and reducing barriers for enjoying nature and closing the historically very racist nature gap. We're increasing understanding of state and tribal relationships like I mentioned. And then we're about to start working on some Bison restoration projects, which is really exciting because we don't typically work on single species. And bison are these like charismatic megafauna that have a lot of symbolic and cultural importance to lots of different communities out West. And so that's one that I'm really excited to dive into.

Cassie:  19:10
And I had no idea that the states have the ability to raise that awareness for their endangered species list. I had no idea. So that's, that's really cool and then be able to filter that to the federal level. I never knew this before. Thank you for sharing this.

Kate:   19:26
I'm so glad.

Cassie:  19:27
What endangered land species here in the US would you personally like to raise awareness on today and why? I know you just mentioned Bison. But is there another species that you would like to call attention to today?

Kate:  19:39
Yes, I'm gonna cheat and I'm going to name a category of species, invertebrates. So the little things that run the world as biologist, E.O. Wilson called them, mostly just because they sustain life for all of us. They pollinate crops, they enrich the soil, they disperse seeds, they recycle waste, they help with pest control, food chain support. They're incredible and even more broadly just pollinators in general, right? Birds, bats, amphibians, reptiles, fish, all the little critters that we don't often think of as these like charismatic megafauna, elephants, tigers, bison, right? But the little, the little workers that are doing so much to just to sustain very quietly and silently our world. So invertebrates and pollinators.

Cassie:  20:31
That's awesome. And for these pollinators, do you have some tips how to best help support them in different local communities? Do you have any tips that you can think about sharing with our members today?

Kate:  20:44
Yeah. One of the best things you can do is to reduce or really just stop using pesticides in your garden or in kind of commercial areas or in landscaping. There are lots of alternatives although they can be costly, but there are some available to using pesticides because pesticides are destroying pollinators and invertebrates at a rate that is really difficult to reverse. And so if you want to help use natural solutions in your garden.

Cassie:  21:15
So I can testify to this. So I use no pesticides at all for my garden. And what I like to do, thank you. And what I like to do is I like to plant different crops that will help compliment one another and will help to, you know, keep those bugs away because they will be kind of scared off by that plant that you plant next to it. So that's what I like to try to do and no pesticides in my garden.

Kate:  21:39

Yay,  you're doing Nature Based Solutions, Cassie!

Cassie:  21:43 

So, Kate, you recently earned a master's in Global Conservation Leadership from Colorado State University. Could you share your experience in this program?

Kate:  21:52

Yeah, this program changed my life. It is the reason not to be dramatic, but it is the, the reason I went into policy. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I went to this master's other than I knew that I wanted to work in conservation, hence the title. And when I got there, there were so many opportunities and so many brilliant people that honestly could have been teaching the master's classes themselves. And I got sent to an event where I was volunteering at the Salazar Center in Denver. And I saw this woman speak about this thing called State Environmental Policy. And I was like, oh no, that's my life. Like that's what I have to do now. I was so inspired. Her name's Ruth Musgrave. She now works in Governor Inslee's office. She's the senior National resources advisor.

She taught me everything I know. And I wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have considered, considered a career in policy, if not for her and if not for this program. So it was just a cohort of incredibly brilliant out of the box thinkers. I mean, I'm going to one of their weddings in a few weeks. Our group chat is exploding every day whenever someone gets like engaged or gets a new job. So it's a community of such passionate people, very, very small community. And it taught me how to look at complex problems from many different lenses. So very grateful especially to my advisor, Dr Jen Solomon, who we recently just published our master's thesis with my co-investigator, Nathan Smith and Caitlin Clements. So huge shout outs to them.

Cassie:  23:22

That's so cool. Thanks so much for sharing that experience. And I'm sure in that group chat with your fellow students or your fellow classmates, I'm sure you're celebrating your wins on the conservation front too. And you know, sharing those, you know, awesome stories that you guys all can highlight. So that's really cool. And other than Jen, who you look up to so much, are there any other key environmentalists or conservationists that you really look to for inspiration? You know, on my side, for example, I'm a big Jane Goodall fan. I'm currently reading the "Book of Hope", which is so amazing. It's coauthored by Douglas Abrams. Do you have anything else that you look to for inspiration?

Kate:  24:02

Oh, man, Jane is my hero! Yeah, I mean, Jane was one of the people that got me into this world. I remember when I was eight years old, I went door to door collecting donations in order to adopt a chimpanzee. And then I waited, I made my mom wait in line with me at the local zoo for like four hours in January in Boston to meet her and to give her that check because I was just so in awe of her. So Jane is a huge one. My advisor, Dr Jen Solomon has done a ton of work around women in Conservation Leadership and, and really, you know, paving that space for women to have awesome leadership jobs in, in this space. Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, she's the founder of the Urban Ocean Lab. Tara Houska, she's an Indigenous Land and Water Advocate and Tribal Attorney. All of the legislators that I work with are really inspiring. Alexis Pauline Gumbs who wrote the book "Drowned" Is amazing. And then of course, Gina McCarthy or as she'd say, "Gina McCathy", who's from Dorchester, Boston area who worked for NRDC in a presidential cabinet and she's just so tough and straightforward and direct and I really admire her approach. Just all of these strong women in conservation are my real heroes.

Cassie:  25:21 

All of these women, you look to them for something and you aspire, you know, to be like them as well and making a change and making a difference for the world. And I think that's amazing and I think it's great that you have a lot of people that you can look up to and you can also go to for support. So I think that's amazing. Like having your mentor Jen, for example, to help guide you in your career. I think that's just incredible. And I love that you called out all these amazing women leaders as well. It really says a lot. 

Here at SolPods, we're always trying to educate our community members on best practices and, you know, really trying to help guide them, give them tangible tips whether that's, you know, in the community or what they can do, you know what they can do locally, but also what they can do broad scale you know, across the globe.

So do you have any tips for our SolPods community? How they can get involved in conservation, be it in their, you know, backyard or whether it's getting involved with some nonprofit organizations, where would you tell our members to really start?

Kate:  26:24

Great question. I think the phrase that caught my attention before I really knew what I was doing. And I don't still really know what I'm doing in this field, haha, but is to think globally act locally. And so it can be so overwhelming with all of these documentaries coming out about these large scale environmental disasters. And the reality is there's not a whole lot we can do as one person for a global issue, right?

So I like to act locally in order to have, you know, small incremental steps like I mentioned earlier with, with state policy that can be piloted in other states and that can have a really big ripple effect on other regions of the world. And so acting locally, I think can make a huge difference. And so what I mean by that is first of all learning, your local representatives learning who runs your city, your municipality, your county, who is your state representative and senator?

And what committees are they on? Are they on a Natural Resources Committee? Are they on an Energy Committee? Are they on an Education Committee? What bills have they sponsored? All of this is available on your state's legislature website. And so doing a little bit of digging about who the people are that are representing you? And how are they fighting for your community and and your kind of right to clean water, air and healthy environment. How are they advocating for that? And if they're not, there's an opportunity for you to say, "huh, OK. Well, what are other states doing right?" And you can go to our website and see what other states are doing and say, "I want my state to do that. I want my state to make state park passes free for veterans. I want my state to introduce a law to codify the right to clean air, water and a healthy environment in my state. I want those things." So what you can do is call a representative, organize your friends, get in touch with some local nonprofits say, "hey, we, we really want this, we're willing to help you fight for this." And it's possible that they will introduce a bill and get that, you know, passed into law. And so you have so much power as an individual as long as you know, the context of your community and are you're willing to just say, "hey, I want this!"

Cassie:  28:32
These are great tips. I love that. So act locally, think globally and use your voice when and where you can to really help push things forward. Awesome. Kate, I have one last question for you. We love to ask this to all of our Earth Heroes: what would your sustainability superpower be and why?

Kate:  28:54

Great question! OK, I think it would be to instill the proclivity of a pollinator into everyone. So I'll explain, pollinators are constantly engaging in acts of reciprocity. So they go from plant to plant, they give and they take, they give and they take. I mean, they're responsible for one out of every three bites of food. So they're constantly engaging in acts of service. And so I think if I was able to make everybody adopt this kind of symbiotic, pollinator mindset of reciprocity, I think we'd all be a bit better off. Either that or if all of the lion fish which are invasive in Florida were just gone. That's the cheater one. That was my thesis and the bane of my existence, truly my enemy. But I'll stick with the pollinator one.

Cassie:  29:45

I love it. We need a little bit more of give and take. I love that. Well, Kate, thank you so much for being here today. We cannot thank you enough and for really teaching us about your efforts. And you know how NCEL is really helping to move the needle for so many different topics that are just so important right now. And thank you for all you do for Earth, for planet Earth, for nature, for the community as well. And thanks again for being here!

Kate:  30:16

Thank you for your curiosity and time. I really appreciate it.

Cassie:  30:20

Appreciate it. Have a great day.

Closing:  30:27

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