(crickets chirping) (footsteps)
- [Casey Brewster] I'll tell you it's, in some ways,
it's sort of a dream job.
This doesn't pay the best.
You know, it's not like I'm (laughing)
I'm running around in a Lamborghini
out here chasing lizards.
But in terms of getting back from the things
that I appreciate, that are important to me,
I'm actually able to, boots on the ground,
physically be a part of a lot of these different things.
(guitar strumming)
That's one beautiful thing about
working on conservation projects;
is more often than not, there are things
that you can actually do and be a part of
and witness with your own eyes, those improvements.
The Eastern Collared Lizard in the Interior Highlands,
they're not doing well.
We've seen populations crashing at an alarming rate.
They're very different than any other lizard
you would see in this part of the country.
But also the habitats they're a part of are very unique.
They are part of these glade habitats.
Sort of like little miniature rocky desert areas
in the middle of the Ozarks or the Ouachitas.
- These glade communities are real
sort of hotspots of biodiversity.
You can think of them as sort of like,
little islands in an otherwise typical forest or woodland.
- The world of the glade is,
like a microcosm of strange looking plants.
They've got fleshy leaves.
They've got hairs, they've got spines.
They're doing whatever they can to survive
in this particularly harsh environment.
But, they obviously do it well,
because they've been here for millennia.
I mean, they've survived much longer
than we've been on this planet.
- [Gabriel] Historically in certain parts of Arkansas
Glades would have been a significant
component of the natural landscape.
And a lot of those have been lost.
(solemn music)
- When we first found glades,
they were small little pockets;
islands within a forest.
But, they were so thick and overgrown.
They were once actually referred to as cedar glades,
because when a person would see this Glade,
it would just be covered in Eastern Red Cedar.
After doing some research,
we realized that before fire suppression,
those Glades were open expansive habitats.
They were connected for miles.
- [Virginia] I think because we're the ones
that decided to suppress fires,
the humans are the ones that,
kind of made this decision to stop burning.
We're somewhat responsible, for fixing what we did wrong.
You know, this was what we thought was best,
a hundred years ago.
And now we've discovered that,
that wasn't the right decision.
We started realizing, wow, we have these
amazing large glades, but they need help.
They're being encroached by cedar,
they're being encroached by other woody species.
We began to understand what could be done.
And the fact that if you did manage the area,
that the species diversity would increase.
- [Gabriel] Even just removing the cedar alone,
you see just an explosion of growth.
It really greens up after you cut the cedar.
It's amazing to see.
And then after a prescribed burn or two,
to remove some of that woody debris,
and sort of reinvigorate that ground flora,
we really see an incredible response.
You can relatively quickly reverse
that degradation that has occurred.
- [Jessica Hawkins] We monitor those sites.
We analyze that data,
and that tells us exactly
what kind of effect we're having.
Now, we've got species that we didn't have before.
We have rare wildflowers that were just lying dormant.
They were waiting on someone to save them.
You know, there's pollinator species,
just flourishing in these areas,
that weren't here before.
- [McRee Anderson] It's a huge opportunity.
Why not open them all up and see what happens?
There's more bird life in those open areas.
There's more bats that are flying
through there at night, eating all the insects.
Opening them up has just really
made this whole area just come alive.
(contemplative music)
- [Jessica] I feel like it's human nature,
to want to leave this world better than we saw it.
And Glades are one of those, you know,
rare ecosystems that we have an opportunity
to bring back to life.
To know that you've used all the knowledge
that everyone at the table has had,
to do that good, to provide that habitat,
to bring that species back from the brink of extinction.
It's just a great feeling.
- [Casey] From a big picture standpoint,
it's pretty easy to point out the importance of
habitat restoration for this really pretty,
charismatic species that I can take lots of pictures of.
But the end of the day, it's a lot more
than just the Eastern Collared Lizard.
It's the entire community.
You hear from ecologists, and conservation biologists,
and anyone that's in natural resources.
You know, all the doom and gloom stories, right?
That's the reality of what's going on with our planet.
But whenever you have those that
are actually positive stories,
as you can imagine, are huge uplifts,
and make you feel like we're getting it right.
And we're making these improvements
and we're getting to see this.
And you know, my kids are going
to be able to come out to some
of these spots and see this critter.
You know, that stuff makes it all worthwhile.
(hopeful music)