The Outdoor Communicators Podcast

The Annual Association for Conservation Information conference is coming up soon in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Things you can expect. Wavin' wheat that can sure smell sweet, wind coming right behind the rain, and, of course, beautiful mornings, beautiful days and wonderful feelings. Rodgers and Hammerstein brought Oklahoma to life in one of the more renowned musicals, and now the Oklahoma Department...

Alix Pedraza is the Director of Community Engagement at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Over the last decade at the department, she has been working with Communities of Color, forging a relationship that empowers people to spend time in the outdoors recreating responsibly and connecting them to agency resources. Alix spent some time with The Outdoor Communicators Podcast host T...

Kristy Dalton founded the Government Social Media Conference, (GSMCON) in 2015 after realizing there was a big need for navigating the fast-moving world of government social media. Now in its 11th year, GSMCON is the largest government social media conference in the world. We spoke with Dalton about the starting the conference, growing it and where things are headed with billionaires playing Monop...

Danielle Brigida is the Senior Director of Wildlife Communications & Strategy at the World Wildlife Fund. Prior to that role, she was a Deputy Director of Digital Strategy at the U. S. Department of the Interior and the National Social Media Manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Your host, Tim Akimoff of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, first met Danielle in her earlier roles...

If you don't know Blake Podhajsky, Immediate Past President of ACI, you've been hiding under a rock. Blake has been a presence at the Association for Conservation Information for more than a decade now, and his recent two-year stint as president of the association resulted in a revamped conference planning process, a new association logo and a brand-new website . Blake has become a good friend to...

The 2025 Association for Conservation Information Conference will be held in Atlantic City, New Jersey July 21-24, and The Outdoor Communicators Podcast caught up with  Linda DiPiano, supervising biologist with the Bueau of Information & Education at New Jersey Department of Environmental Protect Fish and Wildlife.  Please see this link for more information and to register for this year's conferen...

Graphic design is a big part of communicating conservation, and even though it's a visual art, it often takes place behind the scenes in a busy communication team setting. Smokey Solis is the graphic designer for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, and like many of us, he wears many hats and has other duties as assigned, but it all comes back to good design. Smokey talked with the Or...

Invasive species are an increasing concern everywhere and a challenge for conservation communicators. The Hawaiian islands are next level when it comes to the challenges of dealing with invasive species and communicating to the local audience as well as the millions of tourists who visit the popular islands every year. Hawaii DNLR's Senior Communication Manager, Dan Dennison, spent some time talki...

Do you work for a fish and wildlife agency, and have you ever wondered what life is like at a Department of Natural Resources, which might encompass many agencies under one roof? You're not alone. This podcast host (Tim) has forever been curious about the differences between fish and wildlife agencies and Departments of Natural Resources in terms of communications.  I sat down with Jess Brown, soc...

If you attended the annual ACI Conference in Roslyn, Virginia in July, 2024, then there's a good chance you saw us make this episode on stage in front of a live audience. Jason Harmon, Communications Manager for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and Emily McCabe, Information and Education Director for the Maine Department of Fisheries and wildlife guest-starred on this episode and filled in...

The Outdoor Communicators Podcast hosts Ashley Zeme and Tim Akimoff talk imposter syndrome with a varied group of guests this episode, including Wisconson Department of Natural Resource's Katie Grant, PayIt's Samantha Pedder, former Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation social media coordinator Sarah Southerland, historian and influencer Ashley Lewis and featured guest Dr. Rob Munjal. Impos...

If Virginia is for Lovers (the state slogan) then it stands to reason all the members of ACI, who are lovers of the outdoors, hunting, fishing, conservation and communicating about all of the things we love, then Virginia is also for ACI. It's also the place where most of us (we'll miss you Ashley) will be gathering in July for the annual ACI Conference. In this episode, your hosts Ashley Zeme and...

Ron Kabele, now retired, has more than 40 Emmy Awards as a video producer for Texas Parks & Wildlife over the course of his career. Garrett Graham is the newest member of the the legendary team that has produced so many award-winning, personality driven videos for the TPW Television Series. Ashley Zeme of the Nevada Departmen of Wildlife and Tim Akimoff from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildl...

Hosts Ashley Zeme and Tim Akimoff tackle the world of conservation marketing with the legendary Jenifer Wisniewski of the National Deer Association in this episode of The Outdoor Communicators Podcast. Marketing has long been a whispered term around many state fish and wildlife agencies, but that is no longer the case, according to Wisniewski, who has tried everything from putting ads on dating ap...

Crisis communications is a big part of what we all do working in the conservation communication realm. Utah Department of Natural Resources Public Information officer and Outreach Section Assistant Chief Faith Heaton Jolley talked about this subject last summer at the ACI conference Lake Tahoe, and your hosts Ashley Zeme and Tim Akimoff wanted to follow up with Faith on the topic and delve a littl...

Sarah Southerland is part of the secret sauce in the legendary social media presence of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation . What you may not know is that she works with a team of amazing creatives to achieve that perfect tone and to stay atop the digital zeitgeist. In this first episode of ACI's The Outdoor Communicators Podcast, hosts Ashley Zeme ( NDOW ) and Tim Akimoff ( ODFW ) c...