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In the Arena: Gregg Flores
TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.
Gregg J. Flores
Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Occupation: Filmmaker and mechanical engineer
Conservation credentials: Making films that make an impact for conservation
Gregg Flores has been behind the lens for multiple TRCP video projects focused on water resources in the Colorado River Basin, and we’re very proud to work with someone with his talent and commitment to conservation.
For this and many other reasons, he’s someone we think you should know. Here is his story.
My dad, Gregg Flores Sr., was a passionate fisherman long before I was born and introduced me to fishing as soon as he could. I recall mainly using nets to catch catfish and bass in ditches adjacent to the Rio Grande River in Central and Southern New Mexico. I eventually discovered flyfishing and have since guided other anglers on many Northern New Mexico trout streams.
No one in the Flores family was hunting in the 1980s, but in 2015, I reignited that tradition when I applied for and drew my first deer tag in New Mexico. I didn’t harvest a deer until 2017, on a muzzleloader hunt with my younger brother, Michael, and that moment was incredibly special. The journey I had begun two years earlier to reignite our family’s hunting traditions had come full circle.
Sharing that moment with my brother meant the world to me, and bringing meat home sparked an interest in hunting that rippled throughout the entire family. I am proud to say that hunting is once again a large part of our family’s culture.
I understand and appreciate that some people love being in the wild alone, but one of the single biggest reasons I get outside is to spend quality time with my family. And conservation provides a sustainable way for me connect to the land, water, and wildlife with my loved ones. Those times are precious to me and absolutely priceless.
I have a dream of flyfishing and hunting in British Columbia. Wild steelhead and caribou AND moose? Yes, please! It would be a dream come true.
The Rio Grande, like the Colorado River and many other Western watersheds, is facing the devastation of drought and overuse. Saving these river basins is one of the biggest conservation challenges in our region right now.
I make a living using film and photography to tell stories that are focused on the connection people have to their loved ones and to land, water, and wildlife. That connection is impossible without conservation.
I don’t tell stories to simply make a living. I make an intentional effort to tell stories about people who care about the resource they are using and are also doing something to protect those resources. In my mind, these stories are slowly creating a legacy I can be proud to leave behind.
Follow Gregg @wheretheriverruns on Instagram and Facebook. Do you know someone “In the Arena” who should be featured here? Email info@trcp.org for a questionnaire.
Boozman, Cortez Masto, and Jordan Receive TRCP’s Conservation Awards
MeatEater’s Steven Rinella co-hosts the hybrid in-person/digital celebration with D.C. luminaries, outdoor industry leaders, and TRCP supporters
At its 13th annual Capital Conservation Awards Dinner, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership was proud to celebrate the conservation achievements of Senator John Boozman (R-Ark.), Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Kim Jordan, co-founder of New Belgium Brewing Company and founder and Board chair of the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation.
“Like TRCP founder Jim Range, our honorees are pragmatic conservationists, who understand that people are a part of the land and believe we are duty-bound to leave a natural legacy to future generations,” says Whit Fosburgh, TRCP president and CEO, who co-emceed the event from the historic Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. He was joined via livestream by Steven Rinella, who helped to present the awards and select sweepstakes winners from the MeatEater studios in Bozeman, Mont. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland gave the opening remarks in D.C.
Sen. Boozman has used his long tenure on the Senate Agriculture Committee to enhance important incentives for fish and wildlife habitat conservation on private lands. As ranking member of the Committee and a member of the Migratory Bird Council, Boozman is a strong leader on Farm Bill conservation programs and a champion of wetlands conservation.
Sen. Cortez Masto has led the fight to protect Nevada’s Ruby Mountains from development, engaging a diverse coalition of hunters, anglers, Tribes, and outdoor enthusiasts. She also serves as Chair of the Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. She was a key supporter of the Great American Outdoors Act and has been a strong proponent of sensible oil and gas leasing reform.
Kim Jordan co-founded New Belgium Brewing, one of most respected craft breweries and innovative businesses in America. Since 1991, giving back has been a part of New Belgium’s guiding principles thanks to Jordan’s leadership. After selling the company to her employees in 2012, she remained an outspoken champion for clean water and the environment, and through the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, Jordan and her family have become philanthropic leaders in the areas of climate change, sustainable food systems, land and water conservation, and social justice.
“John Boozman, Catherine Cortez Masto, and Kim Jordan understand that conservation is not a partisan issue—it is something that should connect us all as Americans,” says Fosburgh. “We’re thrilled to recognize them for their stalwart commitment to conservation, habitat, and access.”
New Report Details Next Steps for Big Game Habitat Conservation in Colo.
Report outlines strategies and policy recommendations to safeguard migration corridors
In Colorado today, Governor Jared Polis announced the release of a report highlighting the need for new policy to conserve the state’s big game populations and the variety of habitats on which they depend for their survival.
Opportunities to Improve Sensitive Habitat and Movement Route Connectivity for Colorado’s Big Game Species, which was developed by the Colorado Department of Natural Resources in cooperation with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Colorado Department of Transportation, marks yet another step forward on this issue resulting from Governor Polis’s 2019 executive order, Conserving Colorado’s Big Game Winter Range and Migration Corridors.
“This document is the product of two years of leadership by Governor Polis and his agencies to conserve big game migration corridors and seasonal habitats across Colorado,” said Madeleine West, director of the Center for Public Lands for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “It clearly lines out the next steps necessary to conserve our big game populations, acknowledging both the important roles of a broad set of state agencies, as well as those of federal public land management agencies, private landowners, and nongovernmental organizations. We look forward to working collaboratively with all of these stakeholders to implement the report’s recommendations.”
In the report, the governor calls for a comprehensive approach to improving habitat for Colorado’s iconic big game species, such as elk, mule deer, and pronghorn, including the development of a statewide habitat and connectivity plan that would clearly define priority landscapes in the state that support big game and other wildlife species. The report builds upon a 2020 Colorado Parks and Wildlife publication, Status Report: Big Game Winter Range and Migration Corridors, which assessed the challenges and threats facing these important habitats.
Other recommendations in the report include:
- Development of a statewide conservation and recreation plan that balances the need to expand recreational opportunities with wildlife conservation values, including the conservation of wildlife routes and priority habitats for big game.
• Encouraging the Colorado General Assembly to create dedicated funding for transportation projects that conserve wildlife populations and protect human health. - Support for new staff at CPW and CDOT to continue collaborative work between the two agencies to conserve wildlife corridors and limit wildlife-vehicle collisions.
- Direction to CDNR and CPW to work with the Bureau of Land Management to initiate a statewide resource management plan amendment to conserve big game migration corridors, as well as a recommendation that the BLM, pending completion of the plan, issue guidance requiring the adoption of best management practices for conserving big game habitats.
- Direction to CDNR and CPW to convene an interagency task force to explore opportunities to minimize the impacts of renewable energy development on big game habitat.
- Support for continued investment in state programs like the Colorado Wildlife Habitat Program and Ranching for Wildlife that finance activities on private land that conserve wildlife habitats.
“Healthy, intact habitats, and particularly the corridors that allow for seasonal wildlife migrations, are essential for sustaining our big game herds,” said Jon Holst, Colorado field representative for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “More than anyone, sportsmen and sportswomen know the value of Colorado’s elk, mule deer, and pronghorn, as well as the spillover effects that benefit all species when the conservation of these landscapes is prioritized.”
The release of the report was timed to coincide with the governor’s proclamation to officially designate September 29 as Wildlife Habitat and Connectivity Day in Colorado.
To read more from the report, click here.
Photo: Jeff Wallace via Flickr
Congress Could Make Transformational Investments in Private Land Conservation
A plan has been announced to boost agricultural conservation spending by $28 billion through the budget reconciliation process
The TRCP and our partner groups have been outspoken for some time about how oversubscribed our Farm Bill conservation programs are. Our research has shown that nearly 40 percent of landowner applications go unfunded, leaving the conservation of over 13 million acres on the table each year.
These core, voluntary-incentive programs are ripe for investment, particularly as we evaluate how to enhance climate resilience through habitat improvements and meet our land conservation goals in the years to come. Now—through the budget reconciliation process that the TRCP has been tracking closely—Congress could be on the threshold of increasing private land conservation spending in an extremely impactful way.
For the better part of Friday, September 10, 2021, the House Agriculture Committee debated a more than $65-billion spending package for climate research, forestry, and rural development programs. Committee Democrats approved the package, with the assertion that an additional $28 billion in conservation spending would be included as an amendment on the House floor.
While the spending bundle is delayed on account of budget analyses, we’re getting a glimpse of what’s included. Here are the highlights:
- $9 billion for climate-smart working lands practices under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program
- $5 billion to support a $5 to $25 per acre cover crop initiative
- $7.5 billion for landscape-scale conservation through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program
- $1.5 billion to support agricultural and wetland easements
- $4 billion to support whole-farm conservation assistance through the Conservation Stewardship Program
- $200 million to build technical assistance support at the Natural Resource Conservation Service
- $50 million to support USDA’s Climate Hubs
- $6 million to support greenhouse gas monitoring
There is still a long, narrow road that this legislative package must travel between now and passage. Broader political disagreement threatens to shrink the topline of the Democrats’ proposed spending package, downsizing conservation dollars as well. But as lawmakers and staff count dollars and cents, it’s important to acknowledge the proven value of these programs—direct impacts on water quality, habitat improvement, and carbon reduction, as well as resilience and risk reduction for farmers, ranchers, and forest owners.
Our organization and partners will continue to support these important investments. If you’d like to speak up for Farm Bill conservation funding, click here to use our simple advocacy tool.
Top photo by USDA/Lance Cheung
HOW YOU CAN HELP
CHEERS TO CONSERVATION
Theodore Roosevelt’s experiences hunting and fishing certainly fueled his passion for conservation, but it seems that a passion for coffee may have powered his mornings. In fact, Roosevelt’s son once said that his father’s coffee cup was “more in the nature of a bathtub.” TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to bring together his two loves: a strong morning brew and a dedication to conservation. With your purchase, you’ll not only enjoy waking up to the rich aroma of this bolder roast—you’ll be supporting the important work of preserving hunting and fishing opportunities for all.
$4 from each bag is donated to the TRCP, to help continue their efforts of safeguarding critical habitats, productive hunting grounds, and favorite fishing holes for future generations.
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