So Jeff, what inspired you to become a biologist and wildlife conservationist? And how did that later lead to your sharing your expertise with the world on TV?

Well, I've always loved adventures and I've loved wildlife and the last 30 years I've had the great joy of traveling around the world and sharing my passion for nature and conservation with my audience.

And now I have a new opportunity and that's to tell the story of wild North Carolina.

It's an incredible expedition each week, every Saturday.

And in the weekends in ABC, we're taking our audience on this odyssey, a journey to some spectacular wild space to discover some spectacular wild creature that only lives in North Carolina.

And our partner to tell this story is Lees-McRae College.

And while you're at it, why don't you tell me a little bit about some of your most memorable first experiences that you've had in filming your series?

Feathered friend.

Yes

... who was risen from the dead, and that's the story o- of the tangerine darter.

The tangerine darter was a species that was extirpated from the Swananoa River, and it hadn't been there for 100 years.

So we got to be there with the professor from Lees-McRae College, along with one of the leading s- uh, the leading fish biologists for the state of North Carolina, as we took it from one river, I think it was the French River-

[laughs]

And, uh, where we basically got to be a part of this amazing restoration process, and that really is the spirit of this series.

It's the resiliency of the state of North Carolina.

You find that in the people that live there, but you also find that in the environment.

to now jeff you said something while setting the fish free and i just want to make sure that i heard it correctly and a big chance i didn't but you i i swear i heard you say lazarus in the way of setting that fish free in the way of giving it a second chance in a brand new creek or river

Yeah, so most of us know the story of Lazarus who was risen from the dead.

And that's the story of the tangerine daughter.

The tangerine daughter was a species that was extirpated from the Swannanoa River.

and it hadn't been there for a hundred years.

So we got to be there with the professor from Lees-McCrae College, along with one of the leading fish biologists for the state of North Carolina, as we took it from one river, I think it was the French River, and then we reintroduced it into the Swannanoa River to, you can hear my Massachusetts speak in that river.

And where we basically got to be a part of this amazing restoration process.

Oh, my God, Jeff, you took me back home to Montana with that flying squirrel.

No, I didn't know it was that good.

Yes.

So green turtles were critically endangered.

Loggerheads, critically endangered.

Leatherbacks, all the sea turtles endangered.

were critically endangered.

Some now are endangered, but like loggerheads have drifted their way into threatened status.

You have like one toe

But why do you say conservationists are, would be reluctant to do it this way?

Well, Adi, I don't know if we're reluctant about this technology because it is exciting and it has some promise there, right? And it's flashy and it's interesting and it's a scientist.

I love that stuff.

But I'm talking about the practicality.

We are in a war.

We are in a battle to save our species and we are in the triage state, right? So if you have all these soldiers lined up to get in a helicopter, you're not like saying well that was going to need cosmetic surgery and that one you know is going to need some lift in his shoes it'd be like that soldier's going to live and that soldier's not going to live we have 70 job in rhino we have 10 the key to porpoises left 40 sumatran rhinos i want people to think about this in the north america only 350 north atlantic right whales uh what are we only 100 alala crows in hawaii they're all in captivity We are in an urgent state where we need practical, real solutions today.

And when we look at the amount of resources it takes to recrystallize a species that's been gone for tens of thousands of years, What could we do with those resources today? I love the idea of exploring of bringing back a mammoth or fixing the wrongs of the loss of the thylacine, the Tasmanian wolf.

So what are you going to be listing for out of this company? What do you think are the things we should be paying attention to going forward as people keep talking about this?