ALUMNI, CONT'D...

Working on the regional level toward better land-use priorities

CARA LEE'S STORY UNFOLDS ON A SMALLER STAGE THAN EITHER GLOBAL climate change or

Cara Lee K'74

international finance, but one crucial to the Northeast nevertheless. In her quest to make a difference, Lee K'74 is focused on the region where she lives — the Catskills. One of her tasks with The Nature Conservancy is to act as coordinator of the Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership, which is dedicated to creating a continuous protected corridor along the entire 50-mile length of the magnificent Shawangunk Ridge in New York State.

When Lee came to Kirkland College in 1970, she had to share a double with two other women because the College was still being built. But like many women who attended Kirkland in those early days, it didn't matter because she was there for the academic freedom a Kirkland education had to offer. She wanted to design a major in environmental studies, and while it didn't even exist as a program at the time, Kirkland gave her the opportunity to chart her own path. During a year away from the College on what she calls her "Junior Year in Philadelphia," Lee took courses in the fledgling environmental studies program in the University of Pennsylvania's geology department and gained practical experience in watershed management. "I worked with a botanist at Kirkland who was very supportive of what I was doing," she says. "She encouraged me to go to Philadelphia and then helped me get credit for the work experience and coursework when I came back to Kirkland."

She graduated with her degree in environmental studies from Kirkland in 1974 and eventually earned a master's degree from Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Management with a concentration in environmental policy. After almost 20 years as environmental director for Scenic Hudson, where she worked as a lobbyist and took on a range of grassroots environmental issues in the Hudson River corridor, including the campaign to clean up PCBs in the river, she took a job with The Nature Conservancy. "Coming to The Nature Conservancy was a great opportunity to get back to a couple of things that I love," Lee says, "particularly, management of land and people, and ecology."

Since 2001 she has been the program director at Shawangunk Ridge, where she manages the Sam's Point Preserve and also coordinates the Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership. The Shawangunk Ridge — locally known as "the Gunks" — is home to 40 rare plant and animal species, is a critical watershed, and represents one of the highest conservation priorities in the Northeast. It's also been under development pressure for years. The role of the partnership is to manage the land and educate the public about the value and necessity of protecting this valuable resource for us all to enjoy.

"I'm learning more and more every day on this job," Lee says. "I've been working with local elected officials and communities to give them information on habitats that will help guide better decision-making in land use in the region. It's interesting and challenging."