ACI in the Garden State

Building Diversity in the Outdoors with Alix Pedraza

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 Tim Akimoff, of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, talking about how she built this program. If you want to learn more about Alix Pedraza and her program, please feel free to reach out to her. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources [https://www.dnr.sc.gov/] Alix Pedraza - Director of Community Engagement Office of External Affairs P.O. Box 167, Columbia, SC 29202 Phone: (803) 734-9885 Email - pedrazaa@dnr.sc.gov

Conference Season with GSMCON's Kristy Dalton

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 Monopoly with social platforms and the rise of AI. Learn more about GSMCON [https://www.linkedin.com/company/government-social-media/posts/?feedView=all] Connect with other government social media professionals [https://www.facebook.com/groups/624337427770655] Connect with Kristy Dalton [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristymdalton/]

Global Conservation with Danielle Brigida

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 and has often bounced ideas off of her and leaned on her vast experience over the years. It seemed a long podcast conversation was overdue, so pull up a chair and have a nice eavesdrop session on a conversation between two friends who have been bantering about conservation communication and the many challenges therein over the last decade. Learn more about the World Wildlife Fund [https://www.worldwildlife.org/] Contact your host Tim Akimoff timothy.a.akimoff@odfw.oregon.gov [timothy.a.akimoff@odfw.oregon.gov] (907) 887-4496

Immediately Past with Blake Podhajsky

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 [https://www.aci-net.org/]. Blake has become a good friend to me over our years together in the association, and I thought it would be fun to poke around the areas of his life many of you may not know much about to hopefully reveal a bit about who Blake is, his vision for ACI and where he thinks we're going in the future. And if you are a fan of good practical jokes, stay tuned for a good one from ACI friend and mainstay, Eli Garnish. If you have podcast topic ideas for me, please contact me at Timothy.A.Akimoff@odfw.oregon.gov

ACI in the Garden State

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 [https://www.aci-net.org/conferences/] for more information and to register for this year's conference.