We are very fortunate to have welcomed two new staff members to The Conservation Foundation over the past couple of weeks.
Jamie Viebach joins our staff as Youth Programs Manager. Jamie began her conservation career as a naturalist with Irons Oaks and the Will County Forest Preserve District. In her quest for more knowledge about the natural world, she left to pursue a Master’s Degree in Environmental Biology from Governors State University. Finally, degree in hand, she joined the Land Conservancy of Will County as its Executive Director. Jamie lives in New Lenox with her husband, 8-year-old son, dog, and three turtles. In the summer, the menagerie is joined by dozens of monarch caterpillars she raises as part of a conservation program. Jamie’s office is in the Clow Education Center at our McDonald Farm headquarters in Naperville.
Trish Beckjord’s work has always had a focus on conservation, restoration and integration of native plants in designed landscapes, which makes her well-suited to head up our Fox River Education and Outreach Initiative.
Trish built her experience in sustainable planning and site design through her work at Conservation Design Forum in Elmhurst, IL and the Ann Arbor office of JJR, both award-winning design, engineering and planning firms. As the Native Plants and Green Infrastructure Specialist at Midwest Groundcovers LLC. Trish has been expanding the market for the plants that we use and recommend for rain gardens, butterfly gardens, and healthy prairies, wetlands and woodlands. Her enthusiasm is catching!
Also an experienced public speaker, facilitator and writer, Trish currently writes a column for Midwest’s Natural Garden Natives™ monthly newsletter, and serves a variety of community oganizations. She works out of our Dickson-Murst office in Montgomery.
