Season 3: Episode 14: Forests, Wildlife, and Private Lands: Conservation Beyond Public Ground.

What does the timber industry have to do with hunting, fishing, and wildlife conservation? More than most people realize. In this episode of Connecting with Conservation, hosts Jon Gassett and Jim Curcuruto sit down with Darren Miller, Vice President of Forestry Programs at the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) to explore how private forest lands, responsible timber management, and science-based research are quietly driving conservation outcomes across the country.

Darren brings a career that bridges academia, corporate environmental stewardship, and applied wildlife science. After earning his graduate degree at Mississippi State studying black bears and wild turkeys, he spent more than 20 years as a wildlife scientist and research program lead for Weyerhaeuser Company, managing environmental research across millions of acres of southern timberlands. He joined NCASI in 2018, where he now leads a team of wildlife scientists, forest hydrologists, and carbon and climate specialists serving the forest products sector. The conversation covers the often-overlooked role of large private forest ownerships in supporting biodiversity, from game species like white-tailed deer and wild turkey to pollinators, songbirds, bats, gopher tortoises, and rare aquatic species. Darren explains how the Wildlife Conservation Initiative, a collaborative partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Alliance of Forest Owners, has documented 25 species of conservation concern on actively managed industrial forest lands in a single South Alabama landscape, and how that work is now opening doors to endangered species reintroduction on private lands.

The episode also digs into practical topics: how sustainable forestry certification standards (SFI and FSC) protect wetlands, vernal pools, and unique ecological sites; how forest thinning and regeneration cycles benefit pollinators; how eDNA technology is revolutionizing rare species surveys; and the remarkable recovery of the Louisiana Black Bear — a story that started with Darren's own master's research and came full circle when a bear showed up on his Mississippi property last November. This is an episode about the science, the partnerships, and the private landowners who are making conservation work on working lands.

For more information:

Wildlife Management Institute: https://www.wildlifemanagement.institute

Outdoor Stewards of Conservation: https://www.stewardsofconservation.org

National Council for Air and Stream Improvement: https://www.ncasi.org

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