Conservation People

The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association is pleased to announce the addition of a new member to the PALTA team: Nate Lotze (pronounced LOATS) joins PALTA as the Communications Specialist. Nate comes to Harrisburg from North Carolina, where he managed an organic vegetable farm and witnessed first-hand the ability of farmland to transform communities by providing access to healthy read more

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary recently announced that Gigi Romano, of Allentown, will serve as the Sanctuary’s new Communications Specialist, taking over the communications duties recently handled by Director of Communication & Grants, Mary Linkevich.  Linkevich has accepted a new position and departs in July. Romano will be responsible for social media, website management, read more

North Branch Land Trust is pleased to welcome Valerie VanAuken. Valerie joins the North Branch Land Trust as their Operations Administrator and will handle the accounting and administrative functions of the land trust. Valerie is happy to call the Back Mountain area her home where she lives with her two children, Christian and Gianna. She spent many summers at Lake Cayuga in read more

The Bedminster Regional Land Conservancy (BRLC) announced that Barbara Drew, Executive Director, is retiring after ten years of service to the nonprofit land preservation organization. When the position was created in January 2006, the BRLC held 50 conservation easements, protecting just over 2,000 acres of farmland and open space. During her tenure, Drew oversaw a doubling read more

The conservation community in Berks County is deeply saddened by the recent passing of our friend, and past Executive Director of Berks Conservancy (now Berks Nature), Phoebe L. Hopkins. Phoebe had a tremendous impact on the conservancy from the late 70's until 2000 as both a volunteer and, ultimately, executive director. Phoebe had a passion for the history of Berks County read more

The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association is pleased to welcome new staff member Carolyn Grayshaw to our team. Carolyn will serve as Office & Project Administrator, taking over for previous office administrator Gayle Diehl. In her free time Carolyn enjoys taking advantage of the beauty of Pennsylvania’s open spaces and parkland through hiking and camping, and she is eager to read more

Phil Wallis, the man chosen to lead the Martha's Vineyard Museum, has Vineyard connections and was most recently head of Audubon Pennsylvania. The Martha’s Vineyard Museum board announced Monday that Phil Wallis, a native of southeastern Pennsylvania, and longtime Island visitor with family on the Vineyard, will be the museum’s new executive director, effective Feb. read more

Lancaster Farmland Trust recently promoted Amanda Hickle to Director of Development.  In this position, Amanda administers the organization's fundraising program in order to carry out the Trust's mission and insure the long-term financial viability of the organization. Amanda has been employed at the Trust since 2007 as Development Coordinator. Please join the board and read more