Conservation People

Lina joined WeConservePA in September 2020. In her role, she shines a light on the environmental, economic, cultural, and health benefits of conservation and advocates for public policies supportive of conservation including increased state environmental investments. As a recent graduate of Kenyon College, Lina holds a BA in Environmental Studies and Studio Art. Prior to read more

Natural Lands announced on September 14, 2020 the addition of Rayenne A. Chen to its Board of Trustees. Principal and part of the founding team at Exeter Property Group, Ms. Chen is responsible for raising capital from institutional investors for Exeter’s real estate private equity funds. The firm operates nearly 250 million square feet of properties and ranks among the read more

Shannon Gority has been named Executive Director of the Pennsylvania office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). CBF, founded in 1967, is the largest independent conservation organization dedicated to reducing pollution and restoring waterways for the benefit of local communities and the Chesapeake Bay. For almost 35 years, CBF has been working in Pennsylvania to clean and read more

On April 2, 2020 The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania and Delaware is pleased to announce that Lori Brennan has been named the new executive director. Brennan, who began her role on March 30, will oversee The Nature Conservancy's operations in Pennsylvania and Delaware. She has over 20 years of experience working with a variety of regional and national nonprofit read more

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, the world’s first refuge for birds of prey, an international center for raptor conservation, and local year-round outdoor destination, has selected Jamie Dawson as its next Director of Education. Jamie replaces Erin Brown who stepped down earlier last year.  “This is an exciting time for the Mountain. Jamie is the perfect match for our read more

Hilary Hirtle joined the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association in February 2020. She writes, researches, and edits a wide variety of communications materials and educational resources, manages PALTA’s online presence, and spearheads projects to better tell the story of conservation. Before moving to Harrisburg, Hilary was involved in communications initiatives for a number of read more

PALTA ended 2019 with fond farewells to two staff, Nate Lotze and Josh VanBrakle. Both can now be found at the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources--Nate in the legislative affairs office and Josh handling communications and grant work for the Bureau of Recreation and Conservation. Nate ably served PALTA for nearly four years, taking on increasingly read more

Emily Best joined PALTA in November 2019 as director of advocacy. In this role, she will help carry out PALTA’s public policy agenda, from researching issues to advocating for conservation in the halls of the Capitol. She will also play a key role supporting the Growing Green Coalition (of which PALTA is the managing partner). Prior to joining PALTA, Emily worked on the read more

Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT) is thrilled to have Andrew Kirkpatrick join its staff as associate director of stewardship, working with director of stewardship Bill Hartman. He comes from the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education where he was land stewardship manager, in charge of its 340-acre preserve. As part of his duties, Andrew led trail projects, coordinated read more

Over the past few weeks, the staff of the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association has reorganized, including the promotion of two staff members to newly created positions. Carol Grayshaw has been promoted from office administrator to the newly created position of education and office coordinator, where she will coordinate the annual Pennsylvania Land Conservation Conference, read more