Image
Jill has made her home among the deep forests and clear creeks of the Nantahala Mountains of western North Carolina. She is the Southern Appalachian Conservation Specialist for The Wilderness Society’s southeastern regional office, where she advocates for greater protection of crucial public wildlands and organizes stakeholder collaboration for the current land management revision process for the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest. Jill received her Bachelor degree in Recreation and Resource Management from the University of Georgia, but regards her years working and studying in the outdoors from California to Maine as the most valuable experience of all. She received her Master of Social Work degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, concentrating on macro and community level engagement. She brings the skills of a diverse work history in nonprofit management, environmental education, wilderness therapy and social work to her role in public lands advocacy. She believes that these elements are key to forging solutions to our complex environmental challenges as humans become more disconnected from the natural world.