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Get to Know Our Stewardship Crew Our Regional Stewardship Managers and our two foresters are busy meeting with landowners, visiting properties, and answering questions about conservation easements. Rather than meeting with landowners just during the warmer months, we’ve now started spreading our visits out across the year. As always, we welcome your calls and inquiries anytime. We look forward to seeing you! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kerry Doyle – Regional Stewardship Manager, Brattleboro Donna Foster – Regional Stewardship Manager, Woodstock Kris Hammer – Regional Stewardship Manager, Montpelier Dan Kilborn – Stewardship Forester, St. Johnsbury Tyler Miller – Agricultural Stewardship Manager, Richmond Cara Montgomery – Regional Stewardship Manager, Richmond Adam Piper – Regional Stewardship Manager, Richmond Bruce Urie – Regional Stewardship Manager, St. Johnsbury Pieter van Loon – Stewardship Forester, Brattleboro Dennis Shaffer – Vice President for Stewardship, Montpelier
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To discuss the protection of new or additional land, contact the
Vermont Land Trust office nearest you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kerry Doyle graduated in 1991 from Villanova University with a BA in Political Science. After school, she moved to the San Juan Islands in Washington State where she completed a carpentry apprenticeship program with Lopez Community Land Trust. Kerry and her husband then returned to the northeast where she attended Antioch Graduate School and earned her Master’s in Environmental Studies. Today, Kerry works out of VLT’s Brattleboro office. She appreciates the working landscape of Vermont’s farms and forests, and enjoys getting to know the landowners as she visits conserved properties in the southern Vermont region. “I enjoy this work,” says Kerry, “because I like getting to know the landowners and hearing their stories and reflections on the land.”
Donna Foster has explored many mountains and wilderness areas of the United States. She has served as a backcountry Ranger for the U.S. Forest Service in the Pemigewasset and Sandwich Range Wilderness in NH, then as a Resource Assistant in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. In 1995, Donna graduated from UNH with a B. S. in environmental science then hit the Appalachian Trail, hiking from Georgia to Maine. Today, she and her husband live with their three daughters in the home they built in Sharon. As she visits conserved properties around the center of Vermont, Donna is delighted when landowners join her in walking their land. “People like to show you something they’re proud of, whether it’s a vista or a nice meadow,” she says. “And they’re not always the people who conserved the land. Successor landowners are really proud too.” 
Prior to moving back to Vermont many years ago with his wife and newborn son, Kris was a self-employed home builder in the Pacific Northwest. He holds a natural resources degree from Antioch College and has worked with farmers to conduct soil surveys, delineate wetlands, and monitor nutrient application. Today, Kris and his family value the mix of working farms, forests, and villages that defines Vermont. Each spring, Kris helps with his family’s sugaring operation, hauling sap buckets and boiling late into the night. Kris says, “I enjoy the diverse selection of conserved properties, including small vegetable farms, large sugaring operations, small organic dairies, and forest parcels in the central part of Vermont.”
Growing up on a small dairy farm in northeastern Vermont inspired Dan Kilborn’s appreciation for the state’s working landscape. Dan went on to become a professional forester, working across northern Vermont and New Hampshire. He enjoys helping landowners become the best possible stewards of their land. “Managing forestland in Vermont today is exciting and full of new challenges,” he says. “It is important for owners of conserved land to have a place to turn for advice. We can provide information on everything from invasive species and ecological forest management to optimizing financial returns and selecting a consulting forester.” Dan manages forestry issues on all VLT-conserved land in the northern half of the state (roughly north of I-89). 
Tyler is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and holds a master’s degree in resource management and administration from Antioch University. Tyler grew up in Grand Isle County, where both of his grandfathers and many family friends were farmers. Working at VLT gives him the opportunity to get back to his roots and work with farmers and landowners in the northern Champlain Valley. “The fields, forests, and shorelines of this region—and the people who tended them—were so influential in my upbringing,” reflects Tyler. “I’m delighted to be involved in helping folks maintain our rich traditions and beautiful landscapes.” Beyond land conservation, Tyler is interested in just about everything, having spent time as a park ranger, teacher, conservation easement specialist, farm consultant, and carpenter.
Cara grew up on a 100-acre fruit and vegetable farm in the Hudson Valley. However, most her family comes from Vermont; her great-grandfather started the Danby Mountain Marble mine and a family farm in Shaftsbury is still owned by her uncle. After completing her degree at UVM in Environmental Studies she went to Thailand to teach English. She also worked for the Rainforest Alliance helping to coordinate forestry certification for nine international offices. Cara enjoys her work in the northern Champlain Valley. “I love living and working in Vermont," says Cara. "The best part of this job is meeting landowners and hearing about their connections to their land.” Cara is a rock climber, soccer player and horse rider; she is also fluent in Spanish and loves to travel.
Adam Piper grew up in Huntington and returned to Vermont after finishing an environmental science degree at the University of Southern Maine, saving for a year, and then completing a 5,000-mile bicycle trip. Besides getting out on his bike, Adam enjoys being outdoors, gardening, and rock climbing. Adam’s attachment to Vermont’s landscape is deep-rooted and he feels a powerful draw to help make it a better place. “I love meeting so many Vermonters and the direct involvement in agricultural issues,” says Adam. “It’s great when I can connect people with common needs, such as when one landowner wants to learn something specific and I can often refer him or her to another who has that knowledge.” 
As a fifth-generation farmer born and raised in Craftsbury, Bruce Urie has deep roots in Northeast Kingdom agriculture. After graduating from Johnson State College with a degree in biology and environmental science, he and his wife returned to the family farm. They had dairy cows, a maple sugaring operation, and a retail greenhouse. Though he gave up milking cows, Bruce continues to operate the greenhouse business and hopes to return to sugaring on a smaller scale in the near future. Today, Bruce covers the Northeast Kingdom and part of Franklin County, where he visits properties that span from small farms to 850-cow operations. Bruce says, “The part of the job I enjoy the most is meeting with so many great people and knowing that I can offer resources that help landowners.”
Pieter earned his bachelor’s degree from Marlboro College in 1987 and settled nearby with his wife and two kids. Before joining VLT, Pieter was a self-employed consulting forester in southern Vermont. Now entering his ninth year at VLT, Pieter says his experience has been everything he imagined it would be and quite a lot more. “I took the job to try to expand my forestry horizons beyond Windham County,” said Pieter. “Covering the whole state for seven years and now covering the southern half has allowed me to see a huge variety of forests, natural communities, landowners, and management styles.” Pieter especially likes to get out in the woods and talk about forestry with landowners and other foresters. “I try to get out in the field as much as I possibly can, so if any landowners want to talk forestry, please give me a call.” 
Dennis joined VLT in September 2007 after serving as the Northern New England Field Office Director for the Trust for Public Land in Montpelier. He has also worked with the San Juan County Land Bank in the San Juan Islands of Washington state, the Green Mountain Club, and the Appalachian Trail Conference. Dennis has a master’s degree in natural resource management and administration from Antioch University New England. He is passionate about both sustainable land management and building relationships with Vermont landowners. “I really value the importance that VLT’s stewardship staff put on their relationships with conserved landowners in Vermont,” said Dennis. “Our success in perpetuating the protection of these conserved lands is dependent on our landowner partnerships.” Dennis lives with his wife and two children in Calais.