With 90% of Georgia’s land in the hands of private owners, the conservation and stewardship of our working forests and farms is critical to the overall health of Georgia’s natural resources. It’s a lot of work and it takes collaboration, longstanding partnerships, and good old-fashioned face-to-face meetings to succeed. Our man on the ground is Jason Alstad, Georgia Conservancy Land Stewardship Coordinator. Jason leads our landowner outreach initiatives and coordinates important partnerships to promote the conservation and stewardship of Georgia’s private lands.
Have a peek at a day in the life of Jason Alstad:
6:45 am: My morning begins with helping the family get ready to start the day. Our kids eat breakfast while my wife and I navigate the chaos of getting three young kids off to school on time.
8:00 am: I arrive at our office in beautiful, historic Downtown Savannah and start my workday by checking emails and catching up on communications with our conservation partners.
8:30 am: I leave our Savannah office and head to a Land Stewardship Committee meeting at the Georgia Forestry Commission’s office in Dry Branch, near Macon. The meeting’s an opportunity for Georgia Conservancy to network with our land stewardship partners and contribute to the goals and objectives that help shape Georgia’s forestry stewardship.
9:00 am: On my way to the meeting, I am on the phone with vendors and partners to coordinate on the planning and details for our upcoming Marion County Forestry and Wildlife Expo. We anticipate more than 300 participants and have many raffle items still to secure.
12:30 pm: During our lunch break, I catch up with some of our partners and respond to any emails that I have, including several inquiries from landowners about cost-share opportunities for the sustainable management and stewardship of their properties.
3:00 pm: On my way back to Savannah, I swing by a landowner’s property just outside of Soperton to retrieve data logged by an Autonomous Recording Unit (ARU). This ARU is one that we’ve deployed in the coastal plain of Georgia as part of a grant from Cornell Lab of Ornithology to study the relationship between prescribed fire and healthy bird habitat.
4:00 pm: For my last stop of the day, I visit a landowner who is hosting one of our upcoming Burning for Birds Field Days on their property in Bulloch County. We go over logistics for the morning and check out key parts of the property that we will utilize during the Field Day.
6:00 pm: I’m back home after a busy day on the road! I check for any remaining emails or missed calls before starting dinner and enjoying the evening with my family.
Thanks Jason! And thank YOU for being a part of his daily grind! If you have any questions about how the Georgia Conservancy can assist you in the conservation and stewardship of your land, please reach out to Jason Alstad at jalstad@georgiaconservancy.org.
And if you’d like to see a “day in the life” of someone else on our team, let us know. We’d love to hear from you!