Darci Schofield has been picked out as the new Islands director of the Trustees of Reservations, replacing Sam Hart, who stepped down last year in purchase to get a career at the Martha’s Winery Regional Substantial School.
“Like lots of people from Massachusetts, I’ve definitely treasured my time vacationing on the Island. The initially time I arrived below was when I was 18,” Schofield advised The Situations by way of phone. She credits the Vineyard’s one of a kind and profoundly lovely ecology as a significant driving pressure powering her heading listed here to just take the posture with the Trustees.
“This is so a great deal a lot more than just a vacation house — this genuinely exclusive ecosystem, ecologically, geologically, is really unique to my coronary heart,” Schofield mentioned. Even though checking out some of the broad Trustees attributes, Schofield was taken by the ecological record contained right here, and continues to be stunned by the commitment inside the group to preserving the fragile ecosystem.
“It’s like you are going back again in time to one thing that has been preserved permanently this piece of record is right here for generations to come,” Schofield claimed. “The reality that I or the communities of the Island get to have a flavor of a thing this beautiful and so untouched is genuinely fairly incredible.”
Schofield has a bachelor’s diploma in environmental science with a slight in geology from Boston College, and a master’s diploma in forest ecosystem science from the University of Maine. Expanding up in Massachusetts and observing her extremely modest town currently being remodeled rapidly into a intensely designed space jarred her into motion — she realized she wanted to be a component of the alternative. “Woodland locations being produced into subdivisions, and emotion a reduction all over that even though hiking with my father in the woods, is seriously what introduced me to this place and to this placement in my everyday living,” Schofield stated.
She started out out her 25-12 months career in ecology, preservation, and environmental science by teaching young children how to recognize plants in the woods and getting them backpacking although performing for what is now termed Nature’s Classroom Adventure Camp. Considering that coming to the Island, Schofield said, she has been impressed by the work the Island Trustees staff has been accomplishing. She stated a single distinctive matter about the organization on the Island is the devotion the staff has to connecting the community (equally calendar year-spherical and guests) to the pure earth. “I imagine it’s a amazing chance to reinforce our being familiar with of mother nature and improve the group creating that takes place all around our setting, “ Schofield reported.
She mentioned some of the Trustees courses at institutions like the FARM Institute are illustrative of the love and fascination the Island community has for educational and enrichment pursuits, primarily for Island youth. “I’m jealous I did not have these forms of prospects when I was raising my daughter — the fact that quite a few of these packages are offered out is a testomony to the quite strong group right here, and the relevance the community areas on sustainability and the connection to the land and regional food items,” Schofield mentioned.
Schofield anticipates that she will host some events soon, these as movie updates on social media and in-person hikes to introduce herself to the local community.
