Marshall Johnson, the National Audubon Society’s chief conservation officer, lives and works in the sweeping, life-rich Dakota plains. This unique landscape is home to an abundance of animals, especially birds, and is the setting of Wings Over Water 3D, a new giant-screen IMAX film in which Johnson is a featured expert guest. In this special discussion, we chat with Johnson about the root of his love of birding, the icy history of the prairie wetlands and what gives him hope for the future.