Lance Gloss serves as Program Manager for The Conservation Fund’s platform for Activating the Natural Resource Economy. In this role, he supports regional collaboratives across the nation on rural development projects that align with the Fund’s conservation goals. His portfolio spans outdoor recreation, food systems, forestry, entrepreneurship, agriculture, housing, and downtown development. Previously, he held positions with the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, City of Grand Junction, and Natural Resources Defense Council. He trained at Brown University and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Nicole Gross-Camp is a senior conservation strategist with over two decades of experience as a conservation social scientist with a focus on the intersections of governance, human wellbeing, and biodiversity conservation. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with a diverse array of shareholders, from government officials and national park managers on a payment for ecosystem services project to local communities and small NGOs on community forest management. She is a skilled facilitator, seasoned field researcher, and passionate advocate of participatory, bottom-up approaches.
Grace Haynes comes with a layered background of forest entomology and community engagement. After several years of experience in ecological research as a field and laboratory technician, she received her master’s in the University of Minnesota’s forest entomology lab in 2021. Since then, she has relocated to upstate New York to work on local challenges in environmental conservation. She enjoys combining her two areas of expertise to make entomological research more accessible to all audiences through scientific outreach.
Darren Josey has more than 14 years of experience in the outdoor industry with brands like Vibram, Polartec, and NEMO Equipment. His goal in starting First Seed Sown was to share this knowledge with other BIPOC businesspeople and municipalities to increase access to the outdoors for all. The Adventure Gap is very real when it comes to outdoor participation; however, it is even more extreme when you look at who is working at outdoor industry companies. Their first municipal program, The Great Malden Outdoors, launched in May.
Christine Laporte is Director of the Northern Appalachian-Acadian Program at the Wildlands Network. She holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, with a double concentration in zoology and visual art, from Warren Wilson College, and a master’s in wildlife conservation from Yale University’s School of the Environment. She has extensive experience managing regional conservation and research initiatives, teaching college-level experiential field studies, and urban youth environmental education.
Caroline Marschner has a background in general ecology with experience in forest, prairie, riparian, and lacustrine ecosystems. She received her bachelor’s degree in environmental biology from Colorado College in 1998 and her master’s degree in environmental science from Miami University in 2003. Caroline has been with the New York State Hemlock Initiative since 2015, where she coordinates outreach efforts, works with partners to facilitate conservation planning, and assists with program management.
Mike Mosley is the Trails Manager for the Pemigewasset Ranger District of the White Mountain National Forest and is responsible for recreation trails management. He relocated to the White Mountains in 2015 after leading AmeriCorps crews on public lands in the western U.S. He is dedicated to stewarding public lands through collaborative partnerships and has worked with a wide variety of federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and volunteers during his time with the Forest Service.
Nancy Patch is co-founder of Cold Hollow to Canada RCP and a board member for 16 years. She has a BS in forestry, a master’s in education from the University of Vermont, and an MS in plant and soil science from Texas A&M Kingsville. She has been a practicing forester for nearly 40 years and recently retired from the State of Vermont, where she was a service forester for 17 years.
Regan Stacey is an artist, writer, and educator who brings humans and nature together for personal, collective, and planetary well-being. She is co-founder of The Forest Therapy School, a forest therapy guide training program, and the voice behind The Earthsong Project, offering guided meditative walks, retreats, and workshops. She is a former Lyme Land Trust board member and currently serves on the coordinating committee of the Eightmile River Wild and Scenic Watershed. She guides forest bathing walks in Lyme and is the founding facilitator of the LLT Tree Collective, a teen conservation and stewardship club.
Deva Steketee has worked in trail building and maintenance since 2009 for the Randolph Mountain Club, Appalachian Mountain Club, Grand Teton National Park, and Off the Beaten Path, LLC. She and her husband recently founded Old Soul Stoneworks, LLC, a small stonework and masonry company based out of Orford, NH, that focuses on residential and backcountry drystone masonry. Passionate about building and improving institutional knowledge of stonework techniques to help tackle erosion control projects in our northeast trail systems, she has served as field coordinator on the Franconia Ridge Loop Trail project since 2022.
Christopher Thayer is a 35-year staff member of the Appalachian Mountain Club, where he serves as Senior Director of External Affairs and Contracting. He is responsible for developing and maintaining productive partnerships that provide the foundation for delivering high-quality mission services and representing AMC in New Hampshire on policy-related matters.
Bryan Wentzell has 23 years of experience in land conservation in Maine and the Northeast. He is the Executive Director of the Maine Mountain Collaborative and Exemplary Forestry Management, the non-profit manager for the Exemplary Forestry Investment Fund. Previously, he worked with the Appalachian Mountain Club as the Maine Policy and Program Director. He received a BA in environmental studies from Middlebury College.
Kristina White has worked in the nonprofit realm since moving to Lyme, CT, in 2004, where she currently serves as the Executive Director of the Lyme Land Trust. She is responsible for leading the trust as it relates to the strategic direction and overall management of the organization. She identifies and implements both short- and long-term strategic goals and is accountable to the Board of Directors for achieving those goals. She also serves as the third selectwoman in Lyme, is a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, and is on the board of the Eightmile River Wild and Scenic Watershed Committee.