Conservation History Association of Texas
Texas Legacy Project
Oral History Interview
Nature Conservancy in Texas

Interviewee: Renee King
Date: October 25, 2022
Site: Houston, Texas
Reel: 4551
Executive Producer: Lydia Saldana
Producer: Jeff Weigel
Field Producer / Chief Interviewer: Lee Smith
Videographer: Curtis Craven
Writer / Editor: Ron Kabele
Transcriber: David Todd / Trint
Item: King_Renee_NCItem16_HoustonTX_20221025_Reel4551_Audio.mp3

[Bracketed numbers refer to the interview recording’s time code.]

Lee Smith [00:00:16] And so where did you grow up?

Renee King [00:00:19] I grew up. My dad was in the military, but I was the youngest of four kids. And so I was lucky. My brothers moved around a lot, but I spent most of my time in Texas. We moved here when I was six, six weeks old. So I grew up in West Texas, out in Abilene, Texas.

Renee King [00:00:40] My brothers, you know, they were they were older than me. And so I really kind of had this, you know, kind of blessed life. We lived near a pond, near a lake, and, you know, and I was the only girl. And so it was it was a lot of fun. It was a great place to to grow up.

Lee Smith [00:01:01] And the baby.

Renee King [00:01:02] Yes, I was the baby for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I was not planned. So.

Lee Smith [00:01:09] And and so you graduated from Abilene High or.

Renee King [00:01:14] I went to, I graduated from Cooper High School. I grew up in the ’80s. You know, if you see “Friday Night Lights”, I lived that. I mean, I was, you know, that was our district in football. Just, you know, that was a big part of our lives.

Renee King [00:01:30] I went on to A&M. I went to college at A&M and then got my master’s degree after that.

Lee Smith [00:01:36] And so what was your undergraduate degree? And then the Masters?

Renee King [00:01:40] My undergrad was in marketing, marketing and human resources management. So not your typical, you know, Nature Conservancy. I wasn’t a biology major or anything like that, but marketing. And then I got an MBA.

Lee Smith [00:01:55] And so was there any aspect of your early life that sparked an interest in the outdoors?

Renee King [00:02:02] Yeah. I mean, so my parents both grew up on farms in Iowa. And so that’s really … I’m a Texan, but but my roots are in Iowa. My mom and dad were the only members of their families that moved away from Iowa. So I still have both families, both sides of my families, in Iowa still farming.

Renee King [00:02:28] And that, you know, was just, it is what we did. We we got in the car. We spent the summers, we spent the winters, up there in Iowa, you know, helping with harvesting. I mean, all all those things. It was just it was an important you know, it just it was just our family and what, you know, what we did.

Renee King [00:02:50] And that that really kind of grounded me. It grounded all of us.

Renee King [00:02:57] You know, just on the on my dad’s side, they were dairy farmers, you know. And on my mom’s side, it was, you know, mostly corn. They tried a lot of different you know, they tried livestock and other things over time, but they stuck to kind of, you know, regular, regular crops.

Renee King [00:03:16] But yeah, that’s that’s and we played, you know, ice hockey on the creeks and, and just spent our our Christmases and all the holidays up there.

Renee King [00:03:28] Cast your mind back to your childhood. Was there an experience that connected you to the or a time of day or a season that was special to you, that kind of…?

Renee King [00:03:46] You know, I think I think when you think about a day or a time that was special, you know, I think Fall. Growing up in Texas, it’s obviously hot, but in the Fall, you know, across the street was a pond that I could go fishing or swimming in. Down the other street was another pond and then a lake. You know, all this within walking distance. So it was just what we did in the Fall, you know, in spending time outdoors.

Renee King [00:04:23] You know, I do think about, like in the ’70s, I was, you know, I was in elementary school, you know, on up to middle school in the ’70s. But, you know, certainly that was the period where people were much more aware of clean water, clean air, you know, taking taking responsibility.

Renee King [00:04:42] And and that was, you know, that that hit me. I can remember doing reports and studies and posters on the fish in the lake, you know, that I could walk to and, you know, could see that, you know, they had they died and, you know, just that that was just, that was what what we did. What I did.

Lee Smith [00:05:03] Was there a family member or mentor that…?

Renee King [00:05:07] You know, I think, so my mom and dad are obviously, you know, were pivotal but I have an uncle, Uncle Wayne, and and he’s still farming and I’m still very close to him. And I just, you know, was texting with him and my aunt. You know, he’s out harvesting right now.

[00:05:29] And and he he was he was also the baby of my mom’s family. And the only the only male. And I, I don’t know. But he had the responsibility. He’s the one that took over the family farm for my mom’s side. And I, I think he took on that responsibility of, you know, all of us cousins and nieces and nephews. And, you know, he had his own big family. But in mentoring my kids, I mean, that’s who, you know, really took them on and taught them when we went up to the farm and stuff. So, Uncle Wayne.

Lee Smith [00:06:08] Did you have anybody in your education, a teacher or a classmate, that was inspirational at all in that?

Renee King [00:06:15] Well, I, I, I certainly my biology teacher, Mrs. Brown at Abilene Cooper. That’s probably the most, you know, had the most impact. Just we we went to the YO Ranch and we had some unique experiences as a just a normal high school student. So those those memories kind of stick with me as well. Yeah.

Renee King [00:06:43] And what about popular culture? Was there any book or movie or magazine?

Renee King [00:06:52] The Exxon Valdez oil spill, which was in the late ’80s. I was I was working for an oil company out of college. I had just graduated from A&M. And I, I was kind of struggling because it was a it was a hard job for one. And it was a very technical, you know, kind of management training program.

Renee King [00:07:15] And and, you know, I remember my boss saying to me, “You know, this can’t bother you. You know, the the Exxon Valdez and things like this can’t bother you. If you’re going to work here, you know that that can’t impact you.”

Renee King [00:07:34] And I didn’t stay there that long to be honest, you know, because I was like, you know, I want to I want to do something that I feel good about. And there’s nothing against the oil and gas industry. But at that particular time, it it just didn’t feel right.

Renee King [00:07:51] And and I don’t know what he saw in me to say that, but but he did and he he said it to a group of us. But that was a huge thing that that shaped, you know, at least in my generation, it was the biggest oil spill, you know, in the United States. And yeah, so so that I would say that as much as anything, you know, kind of shaped me.

Lee Smith [00:08:21] So how did you first come to work for something conservation-oriented?

Renee King [00:08:27] I so I, I left the oil company. My husband and (I wasn’t married at the time), but I met my husband and he was in the Air Force. And so I was working at the time working for the Defense Department, doing environmental contracting. You know, we were doing we were really ahead of our times, you know, setting aside lands. We weren’t mowing it. I helped build a recycling center that (I didn’t, I did the contracting work), you know, for 100% recycling of all the the waste at the military base. So so that was what I was, you know, career-wise, had gotten gotten started in.

Renee King [00:09:15] And then Scott got assigned, my husband, and we were dating at the time, he got assigned to a base in Florida. And so I wanted to go be with him.

Renee King [00:09:25] And so he he was out kind of scoping around job opportunities for me. And at the time, the Nature Conservancy was just really getting started working with the Defense Department to manage their lands for endangered species.

Renee King [00:09:47] And they didn’t know, you know, how to how to work with the Defense Department. I mean, our scientists did. But from a, you know, an accounting and finance and contractual side of things. So they hired (there were two of us in the United States) that were our first kind of grants administrators. And that’s that’s how I got started. I got started on the finance and and, you know, public grants side of things.

Lee Smith [00:10:16] So this is Nature Conservancy – Florida?

Renee King [00:10:19] In Florida. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve worked for the Nature Conservancy for 28 years. I’ve worked for them in three states. I’m from Texas. I will say that first and foremost. But I got started in Florida.

Renee King [00:10:34] It was a really neat background, kind of understanding how all of our financial systems work and accounting. And I worked with our conservation staff to build budgets, all of that.

Renee King [00:10:47] And then I, we got moved to Texas. And so I transitioned over to fundraising. And this honestly is like in 1997, so a long time ago, I transitioned over to fundraising. We moved to Texas and then we moved again up to Nebraska. And I worked up there for ten years for TNC, and then we moved back to Texas. So.

Lee Smith [00:11:15] Scott is in the Air Force and he’s being…?

Renee King [00:11:16] He was and he got out, you know, midway through this process. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Lee Smith [00:11:23] Why did you go to Nebraska?

Renee King [00:11:26] It’s a long story. No, no. I mean, we moved to Nebraska because his kids from his first marriage were up there. And so we had been, you know, driving over the weekends up, and we literally would go up to Omaha, get the kids, and then head over to my family’s farm, which was an hour and a half away, spend a long weekend with them. And we did this every six weeks for a couple of years.

Renee King [00:11:53] And so then we decided, he got out of the Air Force. I got a job opportunity with TNC, and so we made that our home to raise raise his kids from his first marriage. And we had our kids there too.

Lee Smith [00:12:08] Cool. So. And you’ve been in fundraising?

Renee King [00:12:14] Yeah, pretty much for about 25 years. Yeah.

Lee Smith [00:12:17] And so what are the challenges in fundraising for the Nature Conservancy?

Renee King [00:12:23] I don’t know that it’s, I don’t think it’s challenging. I wouldn’t describe it as challenging. I think there’s. We’re so fortunate. We’ve got a mission that brings so many people together. So, you know, we have so much opportunity and we’re really fortunate.

Renee King [00:12:46] But I think our challenge, I guess, if you asked, our challenge is that we’ve got so much to do and we’ve got to prioritize our work. And so, you know, just there’s not enough money to go around.

Renee King [00:13:02] But but I think we’re we’re really, really fortunate. We’ve got donors that have been with us for years, years, and we have these long-term relationships.

Renee King [00:13:13] And and like I said, you know, we we work with everybody. And so everybody sees a win and we have tangible, lasting results. And so that that is a recipe for success.

Lee Smith [00:13:29] So how do you go about it?

Renee King [00:13:32] How do you go about fundraising?

Lee Smith [00:13:33] How do you go about fundraising?

Renee King [00:13:35] Well, the fundraising that we work on at the state level is, you know, it’s really kind of one-on-one relationships. So we have a membership base. Our our headquarters handles all of that. So that is great because they they take care of that and that, you know, builds that kind of grassroots coalition of supporters.

Renee King [00:13:57] And we work on kind of the larger gifts.

Renee King [00:13:59] It’s, it is one person at a time, one-on-one relationships, figuring out what our donors want to accomplish. And that could be a gift to Alaska. It could be a gift to Africa. It could be a gift to Texas.

Renee King [00:14:19] So it’s really, it’s really fulfilling. You know, on our side, we do not lack for, we are constantly learning and working with others, you know, to figure out how to raise the biggest gift for conservation and meet, you know, those donors’ needs.

Lee Smith [00:14:39] Well, we were talking to Michelle, about the Legacy Club.

Renee King [00:14:41] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, and that’s a huge component too of our work. And TNC invested in planned giving, you know way early on. And so that is a huge foundation for our work. Yeah. Yeah. We wouldn’t be where we are today without our Legacy Club donors. Yeah.

Lee Smith [00:15:09] So how has it evolved over the years?

Renee King [00:15:12] Fundraising? How has fundraising evolved over the years? It has changed a lot. It it, you know, and it’s changed a lot just in the last, I’d say 3 to 4 years. It’s changed probably more in the last 3 to 4 years than in my 25 years.

Renee King [00:15:32] I think that, you know, we’re having our time – conservation is, the environment is. You know, back 20 years ago, you would look at a chart of giving and and conservation, or the environment, wasn’t on the chart.

Renee King [00:15:50] And then we broke out and we got, you know, 1% and 2% over the years. And now, you know, it’s just, you know, this new generation as well as folks that are, you know, our more traditional donors, they care. They see land being broken up and subdivided.

Renee King [00:16:13] You know, you’re not going to get land back, you know, and and so you’ve got that next generation that has grown up with a, you know, a little different appreciation of the environment. They may look at it a little bit differently, but it’s a higher priority.

Renee King [00:16:31] And then you’ve got, you know, our traditional donors, you know, that that are seeing, you know, places that they knew, you know, go away. So so it’s it has changed in that I think the pie is growing.

Renee King [00:16:47] And we’re having to respond faster. Everything is moving faster. You know, land deals are getting more complicated. How to put together money is more complicated. You know, it’s it’s not where we can, you know, just go in with a, you know, a private contribution. Things are expensive. You’ve got to figure out public funding and, you know, other, you know, a lot of different types of money to pull things together.

Renee King [00:17:18] Because it really has changed a lot.

Renee King [00:17:21] Like we we used to, you know, in the past, we would have a big vision statement and projects that fit within that, you know, for our fundraising, just like the university, you know, they’re raising money for their school, you know. And so pulling together, you know, strategic priorities.

Renee King [00:17:45] Over time, and I probably have been involved in five capital campaigns with the Nature Conservancy. So they you know, it’s a it’s a campaign that lasts anywhere from 4 to 7 years. And, you know, you’re you’re trying to raise big, big gifts and, you know, based on kind of strategic planning priorities.

Renee King [00:18:11] We had our I think our most, the one that I remember the most fondly, is like “Saving the best of Texas” just because it just means you know exactly what it says.

Renee King [00:18:25] So that’s that’s how we have traditionally raised money for big projects.

Renee King [00:18:30] Over time, and I mean, recent time, we’ve had to kind of continually be in in a capital campaign because we’ve got projects kind of, you know, all the time.

Renee King [00:18:43] And so so I think that’s what has changed a lot, is that we’re kind of constantly in a campaign.

Renee King [00:18:51] We just this past year worked with our partner to raise 8 million dollars for a 25 million dollar acquisition. So when I say 8 million dollars, I mean private funding and then another 17 million of public funding. And so that would be a campaign, you know, a big capital campaign.

Renee King [00:19:13] But we’re kind of doing this like all the time now because, you know, there’s just opportunity, there’s need. And, you know, the public funding out there is is is unprecedented. And so we’re trying to be able to move fast and, you know, continue with fundraising.

Renee King [00:19:35] Did I do okay on that? All right.

Lee Smith [00:19:42] So how did you … I asked earlier about the challenges and you said, “Well, it’s a product that sells itself almost.”

Renee King [00:19:51] Yeah.

Lee Smith [00:19:51] And so my next question is how do you get donors excited.

Renee King [00:19:56] You know, how do I get donors excited or how do we get donors excited?

Renee King [00:20:02] You know, when, when they meet or see our work, they’re excited. It just is. It’s you go into a special place when you when you’re walking on the land, if you’re out at the Davis Mountains or if you’re on the coast, you know, you just feel it.

Renee King [00:20:21] Also our conservation staff are are the you know, that’s really the key. I tend to you know, I know our donors really well. They’re friends. I have long-term relationships.

Renee King [00:20:36] But I will normally kind of step back and, you know, I’m there to help and help facilitate. But it’s our conservation staff. It’s the places. It’s the urgency, you know, that that motivates, you know, folks to give.

Lee Smith [00:20:57] And it’s almost like you just. What do you like to do? What do you. What habitat do you like?

Renee King [00:21:02] Right. We’ve got it all.

Lee Smith [00:21:04] Take them to that.

Speaker 2 [00:21:05] Yeah, we do. We do? Yeah. I mean, it’s, you know, that’s the the beauty of the Nature Conservancy. You know, whether, you know, whether it’s the land, whether it’s water, whether it’s climate, you know, whether it’s sustainable working lands. I mean, yeah, we we can find something, whether it’s Africa, you know. Working with women, I mean. Yeah. Indigenous communities. Yeah.

Lee Smith [00:21:33] You know, tell me about some of the great successes that you’ve been around to see.

Renee King [00:21:42] So I’ll tell you two stories.

Renee King [00:21:45] The first one, when I first started with TNC in Texas, we had just closed on the Davis Mountains Preserve, which is a, you know, just it’s the foundation of our work in Texas. There’s there’s no better example of conservation, and conservation at scale. So I was fortunate that, you know, we had just purchased that property and we had also done really significant easements. And I you know, I just I felt such a, you know, I was really proud, you know, of this.

Renee King [00:22:24] I moved away to Nebraska. I mentioned that I moved away for ten years. And, you know, the Davis Mountains was the place that that I went to. It was my first place to always go to, you know, of any of our preserves or any place in Texas. And I know I I’d moved away for ten years and I was really anxious about – and I hadn’t seen the Davis Mountains and in that time – about what it might look like. You know, I knew that we had built an education center, but I just, you know, wanted it to be the same.

Renee King [00:23:01] And I came back, you know, just over ten years later, and I went out and it was exactly the same. There was an education center that, you know, really is in the landscape. It’s not you know, it’s not something that sticks out.

Renee King [00:23:19] It was the same. And that is what we do, right? We try to, you know, preserve and and, you know, our mission is biodiversity, but it’s also, you know, maintaining and and keeping things intact, keeping landscapes intact and that feeling of, you know, just place. So.

Lee Smith [00:23:45] Well we also talked about when it first got set up, there were these signs around.

Renee King [00:23:51] I know, right?

Lee Smith [00:23:54] “Stop the…”

Renee King [00:23:54] Right. You were there. Yeah. Yeah.

Lee Smith [00:23:56] You come back.

Renee King [00:23:57] Yeah.

Lee Smith [00:23:57] Those signs aren’t there.

Renee King [00:23:58] No, they’re not. And my gosh, we’ve got. I mean, we’ve had several, or not several. We’ve had a couple of outreach coordinators over the years that are just awesome people. And so we have, you know, the community enjoys the preserve. We we sell out, you know, when we have open days.

Renee King [00:24:19] So it is an asset for that community. And, you know, you think back to where we were, you know, 25, 30 years ago, 40 years ago when we got started. And that feels great. I mean, that’s that’s why we’re here.

Lee Smith [00:24:36] And what was the other one?

Renee King [00:24:37] The other one I have I work with, I’m fortunate to have a lot of donors as friends. And and Frank Klein is, you know, he’s just a unique individual. I know that you all interviewed him for this, you know, for this film. But Frank, Frank and I have known each other for about a dozen years now.

Renee King [00:25:04] And, you know, Frank, Frank is so unexpected. He he cares about the land, it’s deep in his faith. And that’s what motivates him. He cares about wildlife. He cares about birds. He cares about flowers. I mean, everything.

Renee King [00:25:25] And so we had, we had done a couple of really big land deals. And, you know, this is maybe ten, 12 years ago and kind of gotten out over our skis a little bit on on two of them in particular.

Renee King [00:25:43] When we bought the Bracken Bat Cave, what is now been added to Bracken Bat Cave and it’s known as Cibolo Bluffs Preserve. It’s actually known as Frank Klein Cibolo Bluffs Nature Preserve. We had to raise a lot of money. We were working with our partner, Bat Conservation International. But, you know, we we had to raise, you know, 10 million dollars. And it took us a long time to do that.

Renee King [00:26:11] And Frank Frank said to me back in 2014 and he had he had made, you know, a modest gift at that point. He was new to philanthropy. He was new to wealth. And he was, you know, just really kind of developing that in him and learning.

Renee King [00:26:32] And so he said, you know, “I’m going to I’m going to help you with that bat cave, you know?” And I said, “That’d be great. That’d be great.” And he said, “No, I’m going to I’m going to help you. You know, how much do you need?”

Renee King [00:26:44] And I said, well, we’re at that point we were down to 5 million. And he goes, “Okay”, you know. And I said, “Frank, anything you could do would be awesome.” And we raised a little bit more money, but we were we were like stuck at 4.5 million. And he says, “I’m going to finish that off for you.”

Renee King [00:27:02] And and this was, you know, like I said, this was back in 2015, 2014, 2015. And so over time and he says he goes, “I don’t do pledges. You know, I do everything on trust and you know, a handshake.” And and so, you know, I said, “I trust you.” You know, and so over time, he made gifts as he, you know, different things happened in his life. And he was able to.

Renee King [00:27:32] He and I, I can’t tell you how many lunches we had together. I, you know, we we are good, good friends. And we have certain things that, you know, I, I he loves my enchiladas. He likes red velvet cake. We have things that we just I’m going to have lunch with him on Thursday.

Renee King [00:27:51] But he was he was ready. And he called me, and he actually he texted me and said, you know, “I need to meet you on Monday. Are you available?” This was on a Saturday. And I said, “You bet.” You know, and and he made the final gift to pay that off. This was just over a year ago. And, you know, it was just under 3 million dollars by that point.

Renee King [00:28:17] And I cried. I took a picture of it. I did. You know, it was it was like a miracle, you know, because we say we raise all this money, but this one was hard to get over that hump, you know. And, and after you’ve bought something, it’s a little harder to kind of finish it off.

Renee King [00:28:39] But he he’s a man of his word. And he did that. And we named the preserve after him. And, you know, he just, he’s just the most, you know, unique and and special person that I know. I’d do anything for him. But he he’s a man of his word. And and I hope he knows that I’m a you know, I’m a woman of my word.

Lee Smith [00:29:11] Done anything else with him other than Cibolo?

Renee King [00:29:15] So he’s also, Frank has also supported our work out at Love Creek. He’s got another ranch not too far from there. And so he’s helped us with land purchases out at Love Creek as well, which is out near Lost Maples and the Bandera Canyonlands. Yeah. Yeah.

Renee King [00:29:36] And then, Frank, also, you’ve mentioned that you interviewed Michelle regarding the Legacy Club. So he is leaving a significant portion of his estate to the Nature Conservancy for for land protection in Texas. Yeah.

Lee Smith [00:29:57] And what other donors have inspired you?

Renee King [00:30:01] I, I worked with this professor in Nebraska, and his name was Dr. Wilhelm. Gosh, I, I love him dearly, too, and got to know his daughters, you know, over the years as well because he was he was wanting to have – his daughters were my age – and he wanted to pass on his philanthropy to his daughters and and and have you know, have me kind of, you know, work with them on that, too.

[00:30:34] So. So Dr. Wilhelm, you know, his passion was Michigan. And we raised money wherever, you know, where we we follow wherever people will go. And and so. So John, John did several million-dollar gifts for for, you know, land protection in Michigan.

Renee King [00:31:00] But what I what I remember the most or I think about the most with John. He went on a trip to the Great Bear Rainforest, which is a big project. We had a big campaign to protect the Great Bear Rainforest. And John had taken advantage of some matching funds that we had kind of from a donor. And so he went on this this trip to the Great Bear Rainforest.

Renee King [00:31:28] He came back and he said, you know, “I want to make a gift. I want to help with that.” And he said, “You know, I can do 100,000.” And I. I said, “Well, John, that’s wonderful. If you want to get the match funds, you’ve got to give a million.” And that was that was true. You know, just the way the matching fund worked. And and and so and that was hard to tell him that, you know, I hadn’t done that before.

Renee King [00:31:58] And so, you know, I said, “You think about it.” I said, “We are grateful, you know, but if you want it…”, it was called the Wilson match at the time, Bob Wilson, that really kind of transformed the Nature Conservancy’s international fundraising.

Renee King [00:32:16] And so he called me back the next day and he says, I’m going to do it. And, you know, and I just I think of him a lot. You know, I haven’t seen him in probably, you know, ten years. I’ve seen his daughter. But, you know, he just, he was there for whatever was needed and gave big. So.

Lee Smith [00:32:46] So what is the future of fundraising for conservation look like? You said, it’s changed a lot in the last three years.

Renee King [00:32:53] Yeah. Well I think that, I think there’s, there’s greater concern, there’s greater urgency. There’s greater concern. This next generation is really focused on outcomes. And so as an organization, us and our partners, you know, we’ve got to ensure that we, you know, have outcomes, that we deliver, you know, in our conservation work.

Renee King [00:33:22] And so, we just finished strategic planning, you know, with our chapter, we have our 2030 goals as an organization and, and that portion, you know, that that outcomes and impact is is really important to this next generation in particular. I think it’s important to of all funders you know.

Renee King [00:33:46] You know it used to be that there were, people would reach out to their friends, you know, and you make a gift here. I’ll make a gift there. That doesn’t happen. I’m sure it happens in some places, but but that is not how how we see things play out.

Renee King [00:34:05] It’s people are making their own decisions with their money and they look at it as an investment. And so there’s you know, there’s much more scrutiny in that. But I, I am proud of where I work and who I work for because everything we do is outcome-based. You know, it’s tangible.

Renee King [00:34:28] And so I think that, you know, that certainly bodes well.

Renee King [00:34:33] We are doing more fundraising to help partners. You know, we all work in partnership and, you know, that’s just the way we do business, all of us. You know, in conservation is a really collaborative, you know, field. But we we’ve done more fundraising, you know, for priorities that are ours, but maybe our partner is the lead on. And so we are bringing public and private money to the table there to help, you know, and in most cases that’s smaller organizations that may not have as much capacity.

Lee Smith [00:35:13] So what does the future look like? Or actually, what what advice do you have for young people coming into the field of conservation?

Renee King [00:35:23] Well, I mean, I think that there is, I would tell them absolutely, you know. There’s so much concern for water. And you look at the impact of of climate change there and it’s only growing. You know, I talked about that piece of the pie and, you know, not being on the pie. The pie is growing.

Renee King [00:35:47] And so, you know, career-wise, you know, donor-wise, it’s it’s definitely we’re not we’re not a movement. You know, this is mainstream. We’re we are all in it together. And it is it’s a way of life, you know, that that people expect and value.

Renee King [00:36:11] So what does the future look like do you think? Are you optimistic?

Renee King [00:36:14] I’m an optimist. Yeah, I’m absolutely an optimist. I, you know, I think there’s so many people working in the right direction, helping each other and caring. And, you know, in our field, conservation is nonpartisan. You know, everybody you can see yourself, everybody can see their self in in our work.

Renee King [00:36:45] So I, I, I’m definitely bullish, you know, on on what the future looks like. I think that we’ve got a a very short window, you know, to really make some gains. But you know you look at just the technological advances that are happening too. I mean I you know, that all is going to help as well. I think if we can keep up on the land and water side and then the technology side, you know, we’ll make up, we’ll make up some gains. I didn’t say that very well, but.