Being born of botanist and forest ecologist parents, my passion for nature and field biology is... only natural. I have an M.Sc. in plant ecology and worked as a consulting ecologist on projects from the Yukon to Nova Scotia. As a grad student, I was a founding director of the Halifax Field Naturalists. During an eight-year term in Louisiana, I became a founding director of the Land Trust for Louisiana. (I survived a watchful alligator in my backyard bayou, Hurricane Katrina and southern culture.) Upon returning to Ontario, I was first recruited as program chair by the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists, then as a regional director for Ontario Nature, and then as a director of the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust. As chair of the land trust’s Ecological Stewardship Committee, I have the opportunity to visit many ecologically interesting sites in eastern Ontario. I am fortunate to live in the middle of a square mile of wetland/forest matrix in Lanark County, and I am relieved to know that a conservation easement held by MMLT ensures its protection for 999 years.