How does being a parent inform your perspective on your work? Now that I’m a mom, The Trust for Public Land’s mission is more inspir- ing to me than ever. I say I started on my career path in fifth grade: I know from personal experience how forma- tive these early experiences in nature can be. I’m motivated to leave my children a legacy of land and wild places, and in that way, I don’t think I’m different from many parents. I hear the same thing from community members all the time—they want their kids and grandkids to have the same outdoor opportunities that they had growing up. Montanans love the outdoors— it’s how we define ourselves. It’s the primary reason I chose to raise my children here and I think everyone deserves the same opportunities we have.
Does your work rub off on your kids? The job has become who I am. There’s no real distinction between work and home life or work and play. It’s all kind of blurred together. Part
of how I manage being a working mom is that I engage my kids in my work so they’re excited about it and advocate for it, instead of feeling like it takes me away from them. We live in downtown Bozeman, just down the trail from a parcel of land that was slated for condo development until The Trust for Public Land stepped in and made it into a pocket park. The kids are out on that trail almost every day, biking, running, and climbing trees. My nine-year-old son caught a brook trout there a couple of weeks ago—right downtown! Having a Trust for Public Land project in my back- yard definitely helps. I asked my son if he knew why I do
this work, and he said, “Because you know one person can make a differ- ence.” That was pretty cool.
What are the best ways for busy urban families to connect to nature? All cities have some kind of park system. Good programming is a great way to get families and kids excited about the outdoors. For example, we developed a curriculum to teach local
Story Mill—Bozeman, Montana
kids about the Story Mill property, a 61-acre site The Trust for Public Land purchased in downtown Bozeman to turn into a park. We just recently hosted summer camp for 200 school kids from the Boys and Girls Club, the YMCA, and the Montana Out- door Science School. They loved it, especially the wetlands.
What is the most rewarding part of your job? I love taking a hike and looking around and knowing that, but for The Trust for Public Land, this place would have had houses, or condo- miniums, or oil and gas rigs all over it. And now it’s public land, forever open for others to enjoy. That’s incredibly powerful. But the most rewarding part, for me, is getting to meet so many people whose lives have been changed by the work we do. Over and over again, people have come up to me with tears streaming down their faces, so profoundly grateful that we’ve helped them save the lands that they love. I often say I came to this job for the land—and I stayed for the people.
Sabine and Alex make candied apples at Rocky Creek Farm—one of many protected places in the Bozeman area.
FIRST LOOK · 21
meg haywood-sullivan
christi cooper-kuhn
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