Larry Jarrett

Intelligent Optimist Larry Jarrett was born and raised in rural Union County, Mississippi. A maverick independent small businessman, he has helped promote sustainable forestry practices, including nature based tourism, non-timber forest products and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.

As an Audubon Board member, he helped launch the Audubon Naturalist Program at Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in Holly Springs, Mississippi. After graduating from the program he went on to get a Master's degree in Environmental Studies with a focus on Sustainability from Prescott College, which opened the door for his current position as a Greenways Coordinator for Desoto County, Mississippi. His crowning glory, however, is the Natural Resources Initiative(NRI) (www.nrims.org) volunteer networking group he launched in 2001, bringing together a wide range of community and government organizations, all with a like-minded goal to stimulate effective new programs in sustainable growth.

The Natural Resources Initiative served as a catalyst in a number of important programs, and is a sustaining sponsor of the 2009 Sustainability Exhibit at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. In addition to launching the North Mississippi Native Plant Society, a Rain Garden at the library, and the first Sustainability Conference in North Mississippi in 2007, NRI has helped local governments with the development of comprehensive conservation planning, helped organize a State-wide Nature-Based Tourism Task Force, and helped to provide outdoor environmental education classrooms in local schools, receiving the 2008 Mississippi Environmental Education Alliance Organization Award for Outstanding Service to Environmental Education.

NRI was started to show that conservation can be an economic development tool that can help our state while keeping its rural character. Small communities were opening new industrial parks or converting forests or farm land into a development that ultimately didn't sell, while neglecting nature tourism opportunities to market such as forests and wide open spaces, and unique natural features like cypress swamps and free flowing rivers.

Our forests provide real economic services for people by conserving soil, cleaning air and water, providing habitat for wildlife, and supporting recreational activities. As GNP is currently figured, however, only the value of harvested timber is calculated in the total. Ecological economics dictates the 21st century be dominated by our natural capital, much as the 20th century was dominated by financial capital. Intelligent Optimists are needed to capitalize natural assets while promoting conservation and education, and networking is a critical component for success.

Larry has an easy formula to emulate, too: "NRI has been a success because our volunteers work together on projects. Once we find funds for a project, we act as a catalyst to get it up and running, a partner organization will then manage it and we're hands off. Our meeting provides an opportunity for all the partners or participants to hear directly from each other about projects they're undertaking relative to NRI's goals. Everyone has a role and is engaged in the process." The bottom line?: "To Engage is to Succeed!" And succeed We have. Eureka!