Anja Thiessen calls the Mississippi Delta region "a place of perseverance and grit and resilience." As co-director of Spring Initiative in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Anja works to "empower young people to beat the odds, access the opportunities they deserve, and build successful, hopeful, and happy lives."

Mark 'River' Peoples believes in the Mississippi River’s power to heal, teach and inspire. It's why the Clarksdale, Mississippi canoe guide shares the river with underserved youth in the Delta region of Mississippi and Arkansas.

Healthy rivers create more prosperous communities.

Utah's Escalante River is a place of respite for outfitter Nathan Waggoner. “It really recharges the soul to be out on the river and fishing," Nathan says. "It's a nice, calming place to be." Nathan's appreciation for the Escalante's natural beauty drives his concern about the environmental threat posed by the invasive Russian olive tree, which overtakes native riparian species and alters water flow and temperature on the river.

In just over 20 years, the global seafood sustainability movement has helped turn the tide against overfishing that has damaged or destroyed fisheries. Teresa Ish of the Walton Family Foundation explains how seafood companies that once paid little heed to sustainability are embracing the pressing need for fisheries reforms, recognizing they can’t sell fish if there are none to catch.

Performance measures play an important role in grantmaking – to help grantees and the Walton Family Foundation understand if goals have been achieved during the grant period. In this video, grantees will learn how to establish performance measures, which can determine the success of project and provide valuable learnings along the way.

Bill Brandau has lived more than 30 years and raised his family on his ranch along the Gila River in southeastern Arizona. He is working with the Gila Watershed Partnership, and RiversEdge West to restore the river's riparian ecosystem and remove invasive species.

"I come to work every day because I feel like I am really making a positive impact," says Emily Kasyon. As watershed program coordinator for the Southwest Conservation Corps, Emily is helping protect the Dolores River from invasive species, such as tamarisk, that are crowding out native plants and damaging riparian habitat throughout the Colorado River basin.

We found that millennial parents are open to a wide range of methods to hold schools accountable for making sure students are learning properly. We were interested in who millennial parents believe should be held accountable when a school is not living up to that responsibility. We asked our focus groups, “What should happen if a school is consistently failing?”

We know millennial parents use a variety of ways to measure their kids’ success in school. Next, we wanted to know how millennial parents evaluate the schools themselves. School culture? Test scores? Extra-curriculars? We asked our focus groups to sketch out what criteria they use to judge a school.

Millennial parents use many different criteria to judge if their kids are getting the skills they need. We wanted to learn how millennial parents are evaluating if their kids are being properly prepared for the future. Grades? Conversations with teachers? Test scores? A combination? We asked our focus groups, “What are the important things you look at to measure how much your kid is learning?”

Millennial parents care not only about their kids’ academic skills but career and life skills. We asked our focus groups, “What is the purpose of a public education?” and “What skills do you expect your kids to have upon graduation?”

Millennial parents expect a lot out of their kids’ schools. We wanted to know how education has changed since millennial parents themselves were in school. We asked our focus groups, “Is millennial parenting different than the way you were raised?”

We're proud to showcase the special regions we’re trying to protect through our Environment Program and feature the voices of the people whose commitment to conservation demonstrates the power of individuals to make a difference.

Captain Bobby Kelly credits the Magnusson-Stevens Act, passed by Congress in 2006, as the catalyst for the recovery of the red snapper population.