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New Director for Northwest Highlands Program
2 December 2004—Greg Overton has taken on the position of director of The Nature Conservancy's Northwest Highlands Program.
The Northwest Highlands program focuses on the natural resources of northwest Connecticut, including the vast forest stretching from Kent to Hartland. One of the characteristics of this region is its abundance of calcareous wetlands, which have a limestone base that makes them chemically basic, unlike most New England wetlands, which are acidic. This unusual composition also makes them home to a variety of rare plants and animals. The Nature Conservancy has been active in northwest Connecticut for 47 years; it created its first preserve in the state in 1957 at Norfolk's Beckley Bog, a calcareous wetland.
The Northwest Highlands Program and the Conservancy's Berkshire-Taconic Landscape Program (BTLP), based in Sheffield, Mass., are complementary programs. BTLP focuses on the area where Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York converge. A mountainous 56-square-mile forest at its core is one of the healthiest remaining unfragmented expanses of forest left standing in New England. The Northwest Highlands landscape lies south and east of this forest, so the two programs share many goals, and Overton will work closely with BTLP staff.
Overton comes to this position after having worked in Madagascar since 1999 for the U.S. Agency for International Development. There, Overton led a team that designed a five-year, $40 million program to conserve biological diversity in the island nation. Previously, he worked for the World Conservation Union in Kenya and the African Wildlife Foundation in Tanzania, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire.
"This is an exciting change for me, and I feel lucky to be dedicating myself to protecting such a beautiful area," Overton said. "I look forward to meeting all The Nature Conservancy's supporters and conservation partners in the northwest corner."
"The Connecticut Chapter works closely with the Conservancy's three-state Berkshire-Taconic Landscape Program, and together we've been able to accomplish a great deal," said Nature Conservancy Connecticut Chapter Director Lise Hanners. "With Greg joining our team, we'll be able to do an even better job protecting the spectacular wildlife and natural resources of northwest Connecticut."
The Nature Conservancy is an international, private, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of plants, animals, and natural communities through the protection of the land and water they need to survive. The Conservancy maintains the largest network of privately held nature sanctuaries in the world, and has protected more than 15 million acres in the United States.
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