What is your role at TLC? I work with our Senior Land Manager and Stewardship Associates on the management of TLC’s nature preserves and to ensure all easements are monitored annually. I also work to secure funding through grants for major stewardship activities, including trail building and habitat restoration.
Favorite TLC Preserve: Horton Grove Nature Preserve. It has several distinct habitats, including one of the best and largest examples on TLC property of an oakhickory forest, which contains some rare plants and few invasive species.
Matt joined TLC as a Conservation Fellow in May 2013 and accepted a permanent position as TLC’s new Easement Steward in January 2014. Matt took on the position of Associate Manager of Stewardship in December 2014. He became the Associate Director of Stewardship in July 2018.
Matt grew up in Greenville, SC and developed a love of the outdoors at an early age as his family spent time exploring the mountains of North and South Carolina. After obtaining a B.A. in History from the College of William and Mary, Matt returned home to Greenville, where he took classes in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Furman University. During this time, he also served as an intern at the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities where he gained expertise in forest management and forest policy. Matt then moved to the Triangle area as he pursued a master’s degree at the School of the Environment at Duke. He received a Master’s of Environmental Management, with a concentration in Energy and the Environment, and a Master’s of Forestry Management from Duke in December 2011. Matt brings additional internship experience from Environmental Defense Fund and the Southern Environmental Law Center, as well as experience in research settings as a technician in ecology and plant physiology labs at Duke.
