As a guide in the Adirondacks in the 1980s, Nancy Fishbein became intimately familiar not just with the majesty of nature, but with the intricate issues of public versus private land. After honing her skills at SNRE, she transformed her passion and experience into a long career in conservation advocacy. Over the course of her 26-year tenure with The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, Fishbein has been part of protecting more than a million acres of land through on-the-ground action. Most recently, she succeeded in long-term conservation of an iconic western ranch near Crested Butte.

“The ranch has been in the same family for well over a century, and is the very definition the character and natural values of the area,” she said.

While conserving Colorado’s most important landscapes remains Fishbein’s key goal, the form of her work has vastly evolved in the decades since she joined The Nature Conservancy. The overarching vision of conservationists like Fishbein has shifted from protecting discrete, ecologically important pieces of land to looking more broadly at working landscapes, resilience in the face of changing climate, and engaging communities more effectively in conservation challenges. “The work is more complex and hopefully more far-reaching than ever before,” she said.

Ultimately, Fishbein’s efforts with The Nature Conservancy aim to ameliorate the impact of unprecedented pressures of population growth, agriculture, mining, and infrastructure development that threaten Colorado’s forests, grasslands, wetlands, and other natural resources through creative solutions that bring together disparate interests. “The decisions that we make today will have lasting impacts on the kind of life we lead in the future,” Fishbein said. “People and nature do not exist in isolation; we are inextricably linked.  Across the globe, we must work together for a planet that sustains all life.”