TLC Staff Member Officially in North Texas!

It is with great pleasure that I officially introduce myself to you as Texas Land Conservancy’s North Texas Program Director. I am thrilled that I get to take on this new role—working with volunteers, building community around our protected properties, and spending time connecting with landowners who want to protect their land.

Having staff in North Texas is an exciting milestone for the organization. We have had volunteers and board members spread throughout the state for the last 38 years, but this will be our very first dedicated staff member outside of Austin. This new position will help us achieve even more as we move into this next decade.

I started working at TLC as the Development Director in 2016. It has been such a pleasure getting to know our members, but over the last three years I realized that my true passion is connecting with people ON the land. I have lived, worked, volunteered, and explored in North Texas over the last decade, and knowing that I will have the opportunity to share my knowledge and love of the land with this community is a dream come true.

One of our top priorities over the next five years is to increase public access on our preserves, starting with our Oak Cliff Nature Preserve in Dallas. This 121-acre park has 8 miles of hike and bike trails that are open to the public year-round. TLC will be hosting volunteer workdays on the first Saturday of every month as well as other activities throughout the year. We hope to use this preserve as an example for our other properties as we learn how to connect with the community, keep these special places safe and accessible, and make sure nature continues to thrive.

I am excited in this new position to be working more with private landowners as well. Ninety-five percent of the land in Texas is privately owned, so this part of my new role is vital to conservation efforts across the state. Even though this land is privately owned, it is still a public asset—filtering our rivers and streams and connecting habitat for wildlife. In addition, as another effort to increase access, some of our landowners have generously offered to open their land for guided hikes. This means you can visit and explore these properties with TLC!

Now that we are expanding our activities into North Texas with hikes, happy hours, and other events, we would love to hear more about what you would like to see from TLC. We hope you’ll take a short survey just for our friends in North Texas. Your feedback will help guide TLC’s work for the coming year and beyond.

Everyone who completes the survey by February 14 will be entered to win a TLC Protect the Nature of Texas t-shirt (pictured below)! We’ll notify the winner via email on Tuesday, February 18.