Articulate - Clearly expressed and easily understood.
Copywriting, blogging & ghostwriting
Listening to What Birds are Telling Us About Sustainable Forests in East Texas
“About 15 years ago, IP was probably one of the largest private landowners in the U.S. with six million acres.” By 2006, as part of a larger tectonic shift in ownership of U.S. timberlands, IP had sold all of its timber properties. Although its land ownership status radically changed, its concern for sustainability did not.
When the Heart of a Park is a Little Boy, created for Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan news.
“Working with the Boone Watershed Partnership, they galvanized an outpouring of community spirit that resulted in local volunteers, students from East Tennessee State University (ETSU), and government and community organization support coming together to restore the Sinking Creek and its wetlands.”
How to make local governments want more green infrastructure, Gulf Coastal Plains & Ozarks web content/newsletter
“What if key communities and homeowners along the Gulf Coast knew they had an opportunity to save up to 20% per year on flood insurance premiums? And what if that opportunity translated into a decreased risk of flooding? Would they take steps to realize those savings? The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and researchers at Texas A&M University are betting yes.”
The Horror of Snake Fungal Disease for Tennessee Snakes and How You Can Help, created for Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan news
“If rattlesnakes are not high on your list of conservation concerns, consider this: a 2013 study conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland found that the Timber Rattlesnake indirectly benefits humans by keeping Lyme disease in check. How do they do that?”
The Interior Least Tern: How a small bird is changing our view of the big picture, Gulf Coastal Plains & Ozarks web content/newsletter
"Using sampling theory – the same theory that guides our analysis of the effectiveness of most medicines – Bart and Lott developed a range-wide sampling plan to accurately detect population declines for ILT at half the cost of current field efforts."
Turning “Bad” High Water into Good: A private floodplain reconnection project along the lower Mississippi, Gulf Coastal Plains & Ozarks LCC
“In years past when the Mississippi River rose high enough to overtop or break through the levee surrounding the Piazza family’s Loch Leven property, hundreds of deer have been trapped on high ground, facing a long swim to safety, and sometimes fawns would drown as floodwaters came rushing through the breach. ”
Thin Economics and High Quality Fat - How grass-fed meat can support health while sustaining western ecosystems (ghostwritten)
“We now have a national distribution arrangement with the Cooperative to provide fresh grass-fed lamb during a three-month selling season. Like Copper River salmon, our product is only available when it’s fresh – in our case, during the summer and early fall."
“We invented solar panels but China produces 70% of them,” Bob complains. “China now makes and installs more sustainable power capacity than the U.S. because their leaders recognize that all of their coal will not be enough. Plus, the cost of renewable technologies is dropping.”
Living with Weapons Near the Bed in Arizona (ghostwritten)
"For someone like me, who worries about the wildlife impacts of a continuous insurmountable fence across all 1,970 miles of the US-Mexico border, Jim’s testimony was sobering. My fear is that the war on drugs next door is too close for comfort or for safety, and when safety is at stake, of course, all other concerns go out the window."
Ranching for an Endangered Species (ghostwritten)
"The consultation agreement gave me the ability to say ‘now I want to help the frog.’”
Technical Writing & Proposals
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation proposal: Comprehensive Status Assessment and Conservation Plan for the Grasslands, Savannas, and Other Open Ecosystems of the Cumberland Plateau of KY, TN, AL, and GA
The Cumberland Plateau, at 22,616.31 square miles (14,474,381 acres), might very well be harboring the largest expanse of "hidden" grassland and savanna habitats in the Southeast outside of the Coastal Plain – historically open, but today masked by closed canopy even-aged forests, an outcome of a century of fire suppression and land use conversion.
K Gregg Consulting. 2017. Summary of select social science studies addressing farmer/producer/forest landowner outreach and extension for wetland easements. Tri-state Conservation Partnership.
“Promote peer-to-peer learning, as this provides a trusted and key source of information for many producers. Explicitly ask producers to share information obtained during the course of local NRCS meetings.”
Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan Team. 2015. Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan 2015. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Nashville, TN.
“When it comes to natural riches, Tennessee is a state of superlatives. Tennessee is one of the most diverse inland states in the country, ranked by NatureServe as second in freshwater fish species diversity, fourth in amphibian diversity, and 13th overall compared with all other states (Stein 2002)."
Limits to Management: A Philosophy for Managing Land, Written in 1996, as Projects Manager of the Center for Natural Lands Management, California, US.
“Nature is ephemeral, enduring, everchanging, evolutionarily capricious, delicately balanced, tenaciously persistent, humorously outlandish, complex, interwoven, lavish and harsh. Any attempt to prescribe a management regime for such an entity is immediately suspect for its hubris -- . . .”
East Gulf Coastal Plain Joint Venture. 2014. A Burning Issue: Prescribed Fire and Fire-adapted Habitats of the East Gulf Coastal Plain. 54 pages.
“While longleaf pine restoration has gained a high profile, there is a lot of ferment and activity focused on other habitats, which is quietly taking place. University programs in prescribed fire are increasing and scientific research publications are -- to quote one academic -- 'through the roof.'”
A Burning Issue Executive Summary + message list
K Gregg Consulting. April 2016. Gulf Coastal Plains & Ozarks Landscape Conservation Cooperative Communications & Outreach Strategy. GCPO LCC.
“Stovepiping is out, blurred lines are in.”
Elliott, K. Gregg. 2010. Special Report: Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of State Wildlife Grants in Tennessee. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency/The Nature Conservancy.
“Nothing could be a better indicator of ecosystem health than sustainable and diverse populations of wildlife.”
Elliott, Gregg et al. 2003. Developing and Implementing an Adaptive Conservation Strategy: a guide for improving adaptive management and sharing the learning among conservation practitioners.
“The leafy, shaded stretches of California’s biggest river are making a comeback as a result of the largest riparian planting projects undertaken in the West.”
Pelagic Working Group. 2002. Pelagic Predators, Prey, and Processes: Exploring the Scientific Basis of Offshore Marine Reserves.
“Marine Reserves could protect regions of high ocean productivity, prey concentration, and top predator foraging grounds supported by strong physical-biological coupling, and they may be particularly useful during stressful periods when ocean productivity decreases and species distributions are highly concentrated, thus becoming more susceptible to human impacts.”
RHJV (Riparian Habitat Joint Venture). 2004. Version 2.0. The Riparian Bird Conservation Plan: a strategy for reversing the decline of riparian associated birds in California. CPIF. PRBO Conservation Science/US Forest Service, California.
“Recommendation: Restore the width of the riparian corridor.”
Press Releases & and Publications
Georgia LandCAN, a New Resource to Conserve Farms, Forests, Ranches
Private landowners throughout the state of Georgia are invited to use a new, free resource that will help them “invest in their piece of the planet,” in keeping with the theme of Earth Day 2022. Organized with the landowner in mind, Georgia LandCAN provides a unique, interactive stewardship marketplace for the people who own or manage working lands in Georgia.
Saving America’s Great Southern Grasslands
“Sometimes you just have to pick your battles,” said Estes. “It’s hard for people to realize that prior to the 1930s, fires maintained large expanses of pine-oak savanna, woodlands, and glades in the South’s Interior Grasslands region, which includes the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama.”
Monarch Butterfly Conservation: Private sector, LandCAN step up as populations decline
Monarchs epitomize the plight of many wildlife, and now insect, species in North America. Once plentiful and abundant, these iconic orange and black butterflies suffered the loss of an estimated 165 million acres of breeding habitat in the United States in recent decades.
Mussel Maternity Ward: The unusual story of three heroes behind the Cumberland River Aquatic Center. Tennessee Wildlife magazine. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, 2016.
"Out with the vultures, in with the fish tanks!"
Tennessee's 2015 SWAP: Increased collaboration in exchange for excellent planning. Tennessee Wildlife magazine. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, 2016.
“In a state with seven of the eight most ecologically rich rivers in the country, it’s not surprising that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is focusing its conservation work in four of those highly diverse watersheds.”
Green Carbon: Forestry Offsets in California’s New Cap & Trade Program. The Link. North American Wholesale Lumber Association, 2011.
“Think about it,” says Murphy, “if you sell a ton of carbon at $10 to $12 bucks today, you are making a promise to keep it out of the atmosphere for 100 years. If you continue to increase your tons sequestered and sell more credits after 50 years, then those new credits will have another 100 years to go! It kinda gives you faith in humanity.”
The Brave New World of Ecosystem Service Markets. The Consultant, magazine of the Association of Consulting Foresters, 2011.
“Bobby Cochran believes society is waking up to the need to value nature and that ecosystem service markets are simply one way of doing this.”
A Bird’s Eye View of San Francisco Bay, four stories from the Pacific Flyway. Bay Nature, 2002.
"The flock alights near other diving ducks, on water ten body lengths deep; afloat, once more, in a medium as familiar as air. Here clams are plentiful in the sandy bottom, and mussels grow on every rocky outcrop. Here you can rest, and access to the open ocean is not far away. Here you will spend the winter. Here an instinctual longing is fulfilled. You have finally arrived at the protected waters of San Francisco Bay."
The S.S. Jacob Luckenbach: a ghost story. California Coast & Ocean, v. 18, no.2, 2002.
"It is probably safe to say that the saturation divers (two per team) who were eventually hired to rid the Luckenbach of its oil problem are complete strangers to the concept of claustrophobia."
Elliott, K. Gregg. “What Can’t Be Spoken.” Best Women’s Travel Writing 2007. Ed. Lucy McCauley. Palo Alto: Travelers’ Tales, 2007.
Republished in To Tell the Truth: Practice and Craft in Narrative Nonfiction. Connie Griffin. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2009.
"Memories of Sale faded in the sultry desert air of Marrakesh. For several days I explored the labyrinthine medina and gorged on succulent dates after being taught how to first pull them open to check for the worm that sometimes lives inside."
Please go to Contently to see more of my stories.