Warren Miskell, Legacy Club Stewardship Manager

HOME BASE: Brunswick, Maine
YEARS AT TNC: 6
HOBBIES: Woodturning, hiking, birdwatching

ABOUT WARREN: Originally from Massachusetts, Warren has lived, worked and studied all around the globe, including Greece, Japan, the Fiji Islands, Montreal, and many cities on the East Coast. He is passionate about education: he was an elementary school teacher for 15 years and worked as a lake science educator. He got his start at TNC as a volunteer before joining the Legacy Club team. He also serves as a co-lead of TNC’s employee working group Men As Allies―an initiative that recruits and bolsters men as allies in gender equity at TNC.

WARREN’S FIELD NOTES ABOUT BERRY WOODS PRESERVE:

Since I am a practicing birder and am happiest either on the ocean or at its edge, Berry Woods Preserve―located near the coast in Georgetown, Maine―provides all the elements I enjoy in a hike. Here, trails snake through a beautiful oak-pine forest dotted with vernal pools, an old feldspar mine and a pond where I often see painted turtles. I enjoy Berry Woods throughout the year, and whether I am snowshoeing after a fresh snowfall or hiking in other seasons, my favorite trail leads to the edge of the Kennebec River. Flowing 170 miles inland from the ocean, through towns famous for shipbuilding and the state capital of Augusta, the Kennebec also flows into Merrymeeting Bay. In the spring my coworkers and I can stand at the windows of TNC’s Brunswick office and watch Atlantic sturgeon leap from those very waters. Berry Woods is a great place to get a taste of the natural beauty that Maine offers.

Allison Murdock Haslam, Legacy Club Stewardship Manager

HOME BASE: Oakland, California
YEARS AT TNC: 10
HOBBIES: Gardening, reading, cooking

ABOUT ALLISON: A California native, Allison loves the natural beauty that her home state offers. In her position at TNC she manages a field trip program for California and Nevada Legacy Club members, where she’s able to experience firsthand California’s beauty, along with TNC’s conservation work and its long-lasting impacts. On weekends, Allison spends most of her time with her daughter (an aspiring 6-year-old scientist), husband and two orange cats.

ALLISON’S FIELD NOTES ABOUT LAS PILETAS RANCH:

My favorite preserve is Las Piletas Ranch, located near Carrizo Plains National Monument (also a property TNC helped protect!). Just east of San Luis Obispo, it feels like a world away. When I visited this spring, the wildflowers were subtly stunning in a rainbow of colors, and the rolling green hills and interesting rock formations were so different from any other property I’ve visited. Purchased by TNC in 2022, Las Piletas Ranch is 13,500 acres of rolling foothills, grasslands, and oak woodlands, and 24 miles of springs and seasonal creeks. TNC is working to reintroduce pronghorn while creating the San Andreas Linkage (a series of wildlife corridors that span nearly 600,000 acres through the state). 

Meg Thomson, Associate Director of the Legacy Club Program

HOME BASE: Durham, NC
YEARS AT TNC: 18 next month!
HOBBIES: Reading, traveling, painting, hiking, gardening

ABOUT MEG: Meg grew up in rural northeastern Pennsylvania, and spent much of her childhood outside―swimming in lakes and ponds, exploring mountain trails and riding horses. In college, she worked in two different national parks—Glacier and Big Bend—on both borders, and after that knew she wanted to work in conservation. She oversees the overall strategy and engagement plans for TNC's 31,000+ Legacy Club members, and finds it incredibly rewarding to design programs that help keep them connected to their charity of choice. Alongside her wonderful team of stewardship managers, she ensures that TNC's most loyal supporters (like you!) have access to connect with TNC and our staff through virtual, print and in-person learning opportunities. Her team hosts Legacy Journeys, webinars, field trips and in-person events, to name just a few. She still has a passion for exploring the great outdoors—now with her husband and their two dogs—and is grateful for the incredible career she's built with TNC that marries her values, interests and commitment to conservation.

MEG’S FIELD NOTES ABOUT THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS AND PÁJARO BRUJO PRESERVE

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to host a group of Legacy Club members on a Legacy Journey to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. We encountered fascinating wildlife in that week, like giant tortoises, sea lions, and blue- and red-footed boobies. We even swam alongside the marine iguanas as they foraged in the sea for their next meal.  As a longtime TNC employee and student of Darwin, this trip cemented my interest and appreciation for the amazing places TNC works around the world, and how we work collaboratively and in partnership with organizations on the ground.

On this journey, our group visited TNC’s 208-acre Pájaro Brujo Preserve on Santa Cruz Island, adjacent to Galapagos National Park.  This preserve accounts for over a decade of conservation efforts of the last forests on the highlands of the island and for the Galapagos tortoise and Darwin's flycatcher birds. We learned about how, in partnership with Fundación FUNDAR Galápagos, the preserve became an effective place to teach sustainable agricultural practices and a demonstrative center for local ecosystem restoration.