What made you pursue a career in nature conservation?
My family has a cabin on a remote lake in Maine, and I spent most of my summers there growing up. Being in a cabin without electricity really brought me in tune with nature. Since then, I’ve always been drawn to outdoor places. Now that I have kids of my own, it’s important that my wife and I instill those values in them and protect places they will always have and that their children can have.
What role does the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust play in conserving land?
The Northern Virginia Conservation Trust works with states, counties, municipalities and individual landowners in Northern Virginia to explore their conservation options with them and help those individuals realize their conservation dreams. We also work to handle real estate transactions that are put on properties to forever protect them from further development.
What do you do in your role as executive director?
My job is to raise the profile of this organization to get people in Northern Virginia to know who we are and the resource we can be for landowners. I also do a fair amount of fundraising … [and] work with [the] board of directors and staff to create a great organization and set an example of a small business doing wonderful things in the community.
What are good conservation practices?
There is a huge amount that all of us as individuals can and should do to be environmentally conscious, and that’s true whether you live in a high-rise condo apartment or whether you have a large tract of land in Great Falls looking over the Potomac. Volunteering your time to be a part of events that this organization and many others have, such as trash cleanup or invasive-species removal can help. Getting involved with your local civic association can also help, as well as small practices such as recycling and buying environmentally friendly items.
