This is Berknote. I'm Tanaja Hamilton. This spring, I traveled to Washington State to see

something really special. I met with incarcerated women who are part of the sustainability

and prisons project. They're helping raise caterpillars of endangered butterflies to release

into the wild. Here's Radalyn. These caterpillars, these larvae are just coming out of

diapause, which is kind of like hibernation. So they're just waking up and getting their food. They're

being split up into new smaller groups and so I'm just creating the new labels for their new

little homes. One woman summer told me that participating in this project helps her feel like

she's building towards something. I feel like it's more than just like oh we're out here just

doing the butterflies. We have a passion for something greater than you know and my grandma's 101

when she passed away and I remember catching tigers while I tell butterflies with her

and I lost my mom this trip to prison so I just I really feel like my mom's smiling on me doing

something really cool here you know we're getting ecology degrees working towards something when

we leave here that we can there's a wide variety of things we can do with what we're starting here.

I know there's a lot more going on these days for us to let us know that our past doesn't define us

and the work that we do here is important. Here more from the women, men and staff of the sustainability

and prisons project on the Bring Birds Back Podcast. In a double episode we'll take a deep dive

into the positive impact of nature and conservation on incarcerated individuals during an after

prison. Listening to your favorite podcast app or at birdnote.org.