The essence of right livelihood for me integrates three criteria: reverence for the natural world, sustainability, and contributing to the common good. Indeed, the concept of sustainability guided my life choice to settle in Vermont and practice both organic agriculture and sustainable forestry management. Later in life it guided me to return to college to receive a degree in Environmental Studies and Natural Resources.

Joining AmeriCorps enabled me to expand, to a larger scale, my commitment to stewardship for the common good, and to more fully utilize the many skills in conservation that I have acquired over the years. It also provided me with an opportunity to find work in a very competitive job market, and to “get out on the job market dance floor” in the field of conservation after graduation.

The primary focus of my position is to help maintain/restore The Nature Conservancy of Vermont’s 50+ natural areas located throughout the state, many of which are open to the public. That work includes invasive plant research and removal, trail building and maintenance, ledger box and entrance sign maintenance, boundary marking, and managing volunteers at work sites. In addition, I have secured donations of tools for the Stewardship team, and am involved with conservation easement monitoring. 

While serving, I have gained a greater understanding of the terrible threat posed by invasive plants to the diversity of life, especially here in Vermont. I am also learning to identify and appreciate the varied flora and fauna communities that make Vermont so unique.

VHCB AmeriCorps programs are vitally important for several reasons:

     1. They provide non-profit organizations with passionate and dedicated workers at a minimum cost. Without AmeriCorp/Vista members, many of those organizations would be severely handicapped in fulfilling their missions. Some of the members then later become employed by their host organizations, providing pre-trained employees for the organizations.

     2. The programs provide the volunteers with opportunities to find meaningful work in their chosen field, and to gain job skills which are then later transferable to the broader job market.

     3. VHCB AmeriCorps programs support work done that benefits all of society.

The work I do benefits not only me and my host organization, but also the diversity of life on earth and, ultimately, all of society. It truly is a win-win-win-win situation! For example, by removing the invasive plant, garlic mustard, I protect rare, threatened and endangered plants and natural communities on Conservancy land. Indirectly, I also protect the migrating songbirds that nest in Vermont that feed on the “high protein” larva of a certain butterfly. Eggs from that butterfly that are deposited on mustard plants native to Vermont will survive, but not when deposited on the invasive plant, garlic mustard. Thus, the work I do benefits our threatened planet and all of society that depends on it.