(From left to right) Susan – Director of Education, Nan – Director of Communications, Emily – Development Director, Lisa – Executive Director
Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Woolford.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lisa. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have worked in the non-profit industry my entire career -more than 30 years. My degree in science and experience as an environmental scientist in Florida brought me to Chicago where I worked at the Shedd Aquarium teaching visitors about aquatic animals and the places they live. I loved it! Other museum work and not for profit work followed, including the Museum of Science and Industry and the Oak Park Art league. When we moved out of the city to “the burbs”, it allowed me to immerse myself back into hands-on environmental work and landed at the Barrington Area Conservation Trust where I have been for the past seven years. Working with people in my community who truly care about environment and saving nature is incredibly fulfilling. We have preserved 500 acres of land in the Barrington area in the past 16 years. I especially love working with the high school students; we own a nature preserve across the street from Barrington High School and work with about 1,500 students each year. They are great and give me great hope about the future of our planet. The success of the organization I lead is also due to my amazing team of hard-working, smart and driven individuals. We are fortunate to have jobs that don’t feel like jobs because the work is so rewarding!
Has it been a smooth road?
Running a small not-for=profit is never smooth. While the mission always comes first, there is still fundraising, grant-writing, office management, people management. And no matter what anyone says, overseeing the database is exhausting! It is a lot to juggle. The myriad of details that need to manage can sometimes be exhausting. Plus balancing motherhood with a professional career adds another complexity. But when you get out in nature and see the nature preserve you have been restoring finally show some progress, or a student you have worked with decide to pursue conservation as a career, it is unbelievably satisfying. We also help landowners preserve their own land through a tool called a conservation easement. We recently discovered an incredibly rare habitat on a homeowner’s property and they jumped right in and agreed to protect it. Wins like this make it all worth it.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are the Barrington Area Conservation Trust and our mission to preserve our area’s rare and exceptional open spaces for current and future generations. We are known for holding one of the largest conservation easements in the state that protects a 406 acre property from subdivision and development. We are also know for our great work with teens. We provide in-school curriculum-based learning opportunities for students where we bring them out into nature to explore the concepts they are learning in the classroom. We offer after school programs like our Teens for Green environmental club and summer internships. I am most proud of our authenticity and the passion of my staff. We are also very proud of our partnerships and working with others to get the job done! Our focus at this time is on monarch butterfly preservation, oak ecosystem recovery and eradication of invasive buckthorn.
What were you like growing up?
I was a nature kid for sure, I grew up in Michigan and we were sailors and so we were out on the water a lot. I hated to be inside. I really loved animals, too, and always had an interesting collection of creatures. I really liked fishing although probably stopped when I became a teenager. I was a good student and liked school. Seeing an episode of Jacques Cousteau on manatees blew me away and inspired me to seek a degree in marine biology. And I did it! I received my degree from Florida Institute of Technology in 1986 and have been working in the environmental field in one way or another ever since.
Pricing:
- Membership – Individual $50.00 per year
- Membership – Family $100.00 per year
Contact Info:
- Address: 145 W. Main Street, Suite 201
- Website: http://www.bactrust.org/ www.bactrust.org
- Phone: 847.387.3149
- Email: bactrust1@gmail.com
- Instagram: bactrust1
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarringtonAreaConservationTrust/?ref=bookmarks
- Twitter: @bactrust1
Image Credit:
BACT Staff
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