- Modern Conservationist is an online publication covering today’s most pressing conservation topics and issues
- Modern Conservationist was founded by St. Louis couple Alexandra and Michael Vollman
Modern Conservationist, based in St. Louis, wants to build a better world by connecting people of all ages, races, ethnicities, capabilities, and interests with conservation causes. Founded by married couple Alexandra and Michael Vollman in 2018, the online publication covers today’s most pressing conservation issues, including topics such as funding, climate change, wildlife management, and more.
“Some of the bigger, more controversial stories have gotten a lot of attention from our readers,” said Michael, “like wild horses out West or endangered species.”
“It’s provided an opportunity to educate ourselves and sharpen our skills,” said Alexandra. “Some of the topics are incredibly complicated, and I can see why things are divisive. However, we try to distance ourselves politically and be as unbiased as possible.”
The impulse to start the publication grew from a lifelong love of the outdoors. Alexandra is an experienced hiker and trained journalist and content strategist. Michael is an enthusiastic hunter and award-winning creative director.
“We’ve always been entrepreneurial minded, and the more we learned about conservation, the more we wanted to learn,” Alexandra said. “We saw an opportunity to cover topics that weren’t being discussed anywhere else.”
“The idea of passing on information to diverse groups is really important to us,” added Michael, “so everybody understands conservation’s relevance to their lives.”
The work has been satisfying, as well as humbling.
“Making connections with the leaders in conservation in North America and getting their perspectives, being able to talk to these people and hear their ideas and challenges is really, really great,” said Michael.
“And they’re super grateful to get the information out there,” added Alexandra, “and that’s been very gratifying.”
Most recently, Modern Conservationist has extended its expertise to offer custom marketing services and solutions to conservation agencies and organizations.
“As traditional sources of funding for conservation continue to wane and more people are getting outside — recognizing the many benefits that nature provides — we saw an opportunity to instill in these newcomers the importance of conservation, as well as grow support for such efforts,” said Alexandra. “Our hope is that we aren’t only developing ad campaigns and social media posts. Our goal is to come at this from a holistic perspective and develop custom solutions for building a more sustainable future.”
“Maybe the stories we tell are just the tip of the iceberg. We thought that maybe we could do even more for conservation,” said Michael. “We started to see the idea of relevancy pop up across the country. There’s an initiative throughout all conservation to bring people together. We looked at the idea of relevancy and thought, not everyone is being spoken to in a way that’s going to get them interested in conservation — maybe we can help here. We want to help in any way we can.”
Author: Brad Kovach is the editor/publisher of Terrain Magazine.
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