Waukesha County Land Conservancy

______________________________

Nathaniel has over two years of experience leading the protection and finance efforts of WCLC, overseeing a portfolio of protected properties totaling over 3,000 acres. He is the finance manager of the $886,000 in-lieu-fee wetland-mitigation project along with WCLC’s other grants and manages the acquisitions of all new preserves. Under his leadership, WCLC has added five new environmentally significant properties totaling 146 acres to their portfolio. 

He began working in conservation as an intern for the Waukesha County Land Conservancy to help prepare the organization for Land Trust Alliance accreditation, working his way into a land protection and finance leadership position, and was hired as a manager half a year later. 

Nathaniel began his education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in business and later graduated from Northland College with a BS in biology. He has experience with property analysis and evaluation, conservation planning, land acquisitions, landowner contacts, and financial planning, analysis and management.

______________________________

Meghan has over six years of experience working in natural-resource management and has been leading the restoration and stewardship efforts of WCLC for four years, overseeing a portfolio of protected properties totaling over 3,000 acres. She is the project manager of the $886,000 an in-lieu-fee wetland-mitigation project and works with highly competent contractors in the state of Wisconsin, overseeing work completed on our preserves. Under her leadership, WCLC has grown its volunteer core to over 250 citizens annually. 

She began working in conservation at the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust as a land-stewardship intern, quickly rising to a lead crew member position and becoming certified in natural area and aquatic pesticide application. She began at WCLC as an intern, working her way into a land-stewardship leader position, and was hired as conservation manager a year later. From there, she secured her role as WCLC’s stewardship manager. 

Meghan graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee with a BS in conservation and environmental science in December 2016. She has expertise in southeastern Wisconsin’s natural communities and experience conducting and leading wetland and terrestrial habitat restoration, prescribed burns, volunteer workdays, wildlife monitoring, land-management planning for significant properties, and public education and outreach programming. She has also been on the Board of Directors as the Secretary of the Southeast Wisconsin Invasive Species Consortium for the last three years.

______________________________

Justine has over ten years of experience working in nonprofit management and conservation and has been leading all outreach and education teams and programs including our Community Conservation Partnership program at WCLC for the past year. She develops the strategic direction for WCLC’s outreach efforts and works to expand our experiential learning opportunities and volunteer programming. 

Justine began her career working as a zookeeper in wildlife husbandry and conservation education, and for the past six years, she led the volunteer program for San Diego Humane Society’s Project Wildlife. In this position, she designed a successful volunteer training program for more than 20 different volunteer roles and an engaging extended learning series with 16 classes per year led by conservation industry professionals. 

In 2016, she traveled to Namibia, Africa to work with the Cheetah Conservation Fund to engage local landowners in conserving the cheetah while still maintaining their property and farmland. She helped landowners see the importance of the cheetah in their landscape and worked with them to implement long-term conservation tools and develop ongoing relationships. 

Her expertise lies in program development, science communications, citizen science and community-based conservation programming, and environmental education.  Justine is a certified volunteer administrator with a bachelor’s of science degree in ecology and environmental biology from the University of North Carolina and a master’s of arts degree in biology with a focus on community-based conservation from Miami University.