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Preserving Southeast Ohio
The Athens Conservancy: the people that make it happen
The Caanan Preserve, in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 28, 2024.
Donna Goodman
President of the Athens Conservancy
President of the Athens Conservancy, Donna Goodman, pays homage to the Winner family at the Winner Woods Preservation Celebration at the Lois Busch Winner Nature Preserve in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 7th, 2024. The Woods family has owned these 106 acres of land since the late 1800's, and the Winner family recently donated the land to the conservation. "As you can probably see and feel just by being here, the Lois Busch Winner Nature preserve, more commonly known as "Winner Woods," is indeed a really special place," Goodman says. "Most forests have so many invasive plants in them, and just the fact that this has so few and remains exactly the way it was back then is truly exceptional. Many, many delights of nature exist here."
Donna Goodman is the president at the Athens Conservancy. Growing up, she always loved the outdoors. Later in life, Donna obtained her master's degree in resource management and administration from Antioch University.
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In 1982, while working as a planner for Athens city/county, she initiated Ohio's first curbside recycling program and played a key role in launching the county's first recycling center. Now retired, Donna dedicated her career to the Ohio EPA, where she conducted inspections of businesses and industries to ensure regular compliance, covering all aspects with an emphasis on waste reduction, according to the Athens Conservancy.
Donna joined the Board in 2004 and served as president for eight years. During her presidency, she established the Conservancy's annual monitoring program for preserves and conservation easements, led the development of the strategic plan, and contributed to creating a committee-based work structure.
The conservancy has many factors and people that are necessary to achieve their mission of protecting Southeast Ohio lands. Donna decsribes the conservancy's successes, "By the vibrancy and commitment of our active and passionate board of directors who give so much of themselves; the funds we are able to raise to meet our goals; the growing number of members that have joined us; the numerous volunteers who seek us out and spend their precious free time working to make our lands more healthy and inviting; the numerous young Americorps folks who have worked with us to lovingly steward our wonderful forests and trails; the unwavering commitment of our two part time employees; the landowners who entrust us by donating their family lands; and last but not least, what we have been able to protect thus far (17 nature preserves, 14 conservation easements, and more than 3200 acres) and growing."
President of the Athens Conservancy, Donna Goodman, hugs Presley Winner after he ceremoniously cut a red ribbon to signify the opening of the Conservancy's newest preserve named after his mother, The Lois Busch Winner Preserve in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 13, 2024. The property has been in the Winner family for over 100 years. "We are all thrilled to keep it," Winner says. "The Conservancy has been wonderful to work with, they can take better care of it."
Athens Conservancy land donors, volunteers and board members come together to celebrate the opening of their newest preserve, The Winner Woods Nature Preserve in Athens, Ohio, on Oct. 13, 2024.
Brian Blair
Brian Blair is an admirable member of the Athens Conservancy Board. He has a Bachelor of Science degree at The Ohio State University, with a major in wildlife management. Blair has 32 years of professional experience in the environmental field, primarily with the Ohio EPA, where he has managed the assessment and remediation of hazardous waste sites. Brian has served on the boards of several land trusts and environmental organizations in Ohio and possesses expertise in conservation easements. He also founded Forest Conservancy, Limited, an organization that acquires and holds critical parcels of land until funding can be obtained for their permanent preservation by a non-profit or governmental entity.
His passion surrounding the environment comes from long lasting genuine love and curiosity for nature. He continues this passion through his work and participation at the conservancy where colleagues, members and volunteers can all advocate for the preservation and protection of these lands that he loves so much in Southeast Ohio. “People won’t love what they don’t know," Brian says. "So, when people learn about natural areas, ecosystems, and wildlife… they get to come out and experience it and learn to love it for themselves. That's why it’s really important to just educate people, including little kids. Get them out in these natural areas and just look at the critters, look at the bugs, turn over a log, and see what's under there. It's important to teach people that and not just the ‘doomsday’ stuff. Don’t just focus on climate change and what’s being destroyed…educating people on the amazing things that we do have, especially in this area. It gets them to love it and appreciate it and want to protect it.”
Board member of the Athens Conservancy and Wildlife expert, Brian Blair, poses for a portrait at Little Fish Brewery in Athens Ohio, on Oct. 22, 2024. Blair describes the Conservancy's role in preservation, "This area in Southeast Ohio is one of the more resilient areas for the climate and for wildlife. So, it's sort of a refuge region. It’s not changing as rapidly as other areas along the coasts. So, it’s especially important to preserve the wild habitats that are around here, so a lot of life here can thrive and just survive the changes that are happening with climate change.”
The Grand Oaks Trail located in the Lois Busch Winner Preserve in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 13, 2024.
Kate Kelley
Kate is a prominent board member of the Athens Conservancy and is running to be vice president for the organization. She spends as much of her time as she can in the woods, clearing invasive plants and planting native plants to help local ecosystems here in Southeast Ohio. Her love for nature came from a young age and was encouraged by her grandmother who also an interest in had protecting our earth. Later in life, Kelley earned degrees in animal behavior and anthropology, then a PhD in evolutionary biology.
As potential vice president of the conservancy, one of Kelley's main goals in to get young people involved in the preservation process. She emphasized this importance regarding the conservancy, “It's been an organization made by volunteers for over twenty years. These volunteers have worked their buts off. It's gotten to the point where the volunteers, not only are aging out, but there's so much to do that we need to make it a more professional organization with more staff. Which means, fundraising, which nobody likes to do…So, I am taking the vice president position and I know that this is going to be part of the gig. We need to start saying we have credibility, we have land, and we have a strong foundation of science and knowledge, but what we need is the money to back it up – to address the needs of landowners that want to give their lands, or want to protect their land but not give it away. There are lots of ways that people can protect that rural aspect of Southeast Ohio, it doesn't just have to be land given away. I want to help the organization to move from a largely volunteer position to a few more staff, more money coming in, and an endowment. Without that financial stability, we can’t keep that promise that we have already made to protect these lands, we have to keep that promise.”
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Athens Conservancy Board Member and future vice president, Kate Kelley, poses for a portrait at Little Fish Brewery in Athens, Ohio, on Oct. 22, 2024. “As a kid, I told my grandmother that she should donate the (her) property to the nature conservancy," Kelley says. This is a long-life goal to make an impact, and I want to be able to give back and want to be able to protect rural landscapes for people. Whether it’s agriculture in the woods or an open space… that's really important. If it's all taken up by houses, there's nothing to raise food, to go play, and to just engage with nature.”
Athens Conservancy volunteer and Winner Woods celebratory hike volunteer presents an acorn picked from the ground at the Winner Woods Nature Preserve in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 13, 2024.
Athens Conservancy Board Members and volunteers walk the Lois Busch Winner Preserve trails in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 13, 2024.
Victoria Ellwood
​Vicotria is the Developmental Director and board member of the Athens Conservancy. She brings a background in communication and storytelling to the Conservancy's team. According to the Conservancy, it's important to maintain and strengthen relationships with land donors, which gives the Conservancy successful opportunities to preserve different lands in Southeast Ohio.
Victoria's passion for regulating and maintaining nature stems from her childhood when she would spend the weekends on her grandfather's farm. This gave her a love for nature, and she continues this passion by passing this love unto her children, and her work at the conservancy. She describes the importance of community surrounding the conservancy, "Working together only strengthens all of our efforts and the broader impact on our community, our region, and our planet! We work and partner regularly with organizations that have similar missions, such as Rural Action, ORCA [Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia], and the Arc of Appalachia. This year, for instance, we worked with Rural Action to hire several America Corps members. Some of our volunteer board members, in fact, are employed by Rural Action. We also welcome classroom visits and work projects with groups from local schools, Scout Troops, and university classes. And we partner with organizations that at first glance, may not seem so similar, such as Passion Works Studio, whose artists with developmental differences helped us create an “Art Trail” at our Mary Beth Zak Lohse Preserve."
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Athens Conservancy Developmental Director and board member, Victoria Ellwood, poses for a portrait at Little Fish Brewery in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 22, 2024. "We are very focused on making sure our activities and work closely align with our mission," Ellwood says. "The Athens Conservancy preserves wild and scenic places, protects water quality, and maintains healthy, resilient ecosystems that support native biodiversity and help counteract the cause of climate change. Our conserved lands are valued by the community and connect people with nature for recreation, education, research, and inspiration. The community supports our work and mission as dedicated volunteers, passionate land stewards, donors, allies and partners."
The Caanan Preserve, in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 28, 2024.
Sara Lennert
Sara is a passionate wildlife habitat creator with a background in Wildlife Management and conservation. Throughout her college experience, Sara worked as a wildlife technician, naturalist and later as a college instructor. Now that she owns her own business, she has been focused on creating pollinator gardens with native plants, to help natural ecosystems thrive. As an educator, Sara volunteers at the Athens Conservancy to teach about the importance of native plants when creating a home garden.
“With our native plants being more adaptive to different climates, it makes them more effective at providing ecological functions here," Sara says. "Climate change really stresses me out from the standpoint of native gardening because I’ve seen changes in my own garden this year… it's not that plants can stop climate change but they support our native wildlife and insects better than obviously non-native plants do. So, from the perspective of climate change, what I’ve heard is that the biggest negative impact on wildlife is the timing of plants that are necessary, are different from the times animals need them… If the plants are native, it gives them (wildlife) their best chance as things change.”
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Wildlife habitat creator and educator, Sara Lennert, poses for a portrait at Little Fish Brewery in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 22, 2024. “It's really easy to garden with native plants rather than non-native," Sara Says. "Just being able to witness in my own garden and as a professional, how much of an impact it is.”
Trees in the Lois Busch Winner Preserve in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 13, 2024
Ohio Athens Conservancy board member, Phil Canto and volunteer Mark Barsamian take a second to look up at the changing colorful leaves at the Lois Busch Winner Preserve in Athens, Ohio on Oct. 13, 2024.