Vice President, Northern Forest Center

Concord, New Hampshire

What did it mean to you to be named a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow? What were some of the activities and opportunities that held the greatest impact for you?

A Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship directly transformed the path of my career, and the trajectory of the organization my fellowship connected me with.

In 2003 I used my fellowship to work for a summer with the Northern Forest Center—a five-year-old, four-person organization with a big vision for overcoming an environment vs economy divide in northern New England and lifting up new paradigms for how conservation and rural economic development go hand in hand. My desk was a door stacked on top of some boxes, but from day one I was given substantial work to support the organization’s work and secure resources to help it grow for the future. I loved it.

Nearly two decades later, I am still here, and the center has grown to a 22-person organization recognized nationally for our innovative approaches to advancing rural vitality hand in hand with conservation and forest stewardship. If not for the opportunity and encouragement that the fellowship gave me to explore new places and professional paths, I would not have landed here, and for that I am very grateful!

Can you tell us about your SEAS experience? How did it help you advance in the conservation field?

While set on my interest in conservation, I was not entirely sure of my path when I arrived at SEAS in 2001. The school was a perfect place for me to explore my diverse interests and gradually coalesce around a set of coursework, study, and professional development opportunities that fit me. I found a program focused on collaborative approaches to natural resource management that I had observed in my work experience before grad school but hadn’t been able to put a finger on as a potential career path. I learned to negotiate, to facilitate, and assess public policy at the same time that I got to tromp around in the woods and learn about how to read a landscape and “know your place” from Burt Barnes. That mix of field and policy experience is one I still strive for in my work and is a balance I have found tremendously rewarding and useful as I’ve grown professionally.

What kind of changes have you observed in land conservation in the U.S. over the course of your career?

In the region where I work—northern New England—the low-hanging conservation fruit has been picked. We are largely past the days of big land deals and a more transactional approach to conservation. The work now is much more about integrating the interests of the huge number of people who value this landscape to find solutions that—to the Gifford Pinchot maxim—provide the greatest good to the greatest number of people for the longest time. This is complex, and it is hard, and depending on the day that challenge can feel inspiring, daunting, or a mix of both!

Note: Prior to 2017, the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) was known as the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE). References to “SNRE” have been updated to “SEAS” to reflect the name change.