Each year, the four members of our easement management staff visit all 34,000 acres of land subject to the Conservancy’s conservation easements.  

We get to visit some of the prettiest landscapes in the region and see some incredibly special places.  In exchange for this privilege, we endure ruthless biting insects, sunburn, deer ticks, poison ivy, thorns of all shapes and sizes (usually embedded in our limbs), and over-the-ankle-deep mud.  And that is all just in the summer months; there are also the challenges of winter snow and ice.  But some of the perceived “hazards” of the job are really enviable experiences.  I am sorely disappointed I missed out on a visit last week to an easement in NewlinTownship where a pair of red-shouldered hawks is nesting.  This pair is rather aggressive in protecting their nest site against any potential intruders, including our two assistant easement managers.  On their visit to the property, Kristen and Vanessa were forced to repeatedly “duck and cover” to protect their skulls from the talons of this pair of very diligent parents.  In between attacks they were able to snap this photo—it’s a little grainy but, in their defense, they were being forced to keep their distance.

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