A Board In Service of Wildlife and Lands
What does it mean to be in service of wildlife and lands?
For some, our mission takes form in a full-time job, days spent behind a screen permitting, reporting, and crunching data. For others, service is being elbow-deep in the cool waters of a stream, weaving branches together in beaver dam analogs to heal Utah’s degraded riverscapes.
But Sageland Collaborative’s Board of Directors take this service to another level. Our volunteer board members dedicate their time to supporting the staff in progressing our mission and helping us to realize the potential of the organization. From serving on board committees and attending quarterly meetings to supporting fundraising and outreach efforts, our board members pour their passions into this work.
Sageland Collaborative’s Executive Director, Janice Gardner, with board members Sarah May, Alex Porpora, and Lily Bosworth at our 2024 Pollinator Pride Party. Photo by Sierra Hastings.
We are proud to introduce our newest board members - Lily Bosworth, Sarah May, and Alex Porpora. Get to know our new board members in our interviews with them below!
Sarah May
Tell us about yourself!
My name is Sarah May (she/hers) I am a biracial Salvadoreña artist, weaver, poet, and community organizer. I have my BFA in Photography and Digital Imaging and a Master of Arts in Community Leadership with an emphasis in arts and culture. I lived in Iceland when I was 24 for an artist residency and I have since completed four national and international artist residencies.
Things I love in no particular order: houseplants, shortbread cookies, a perfect cup of coffee, snuggles with my puppy, movie nights, chocolate cake, Maya Angelou, saguaro cactus, desert exploring, watching the sunset on Great Salt Lake, Maggie Rogers, Chappell Roan, collecting all the crystals and stones, sleeping in.
What is it about Sageland’s work that inspired you to join the board?
My work has shifted towards conservation the last year and half with my involvement in the advocacy community around Great Salt Lake. I have always had a deep love and respect for the natural world and the non-human beings that have always inspired me. I had been following Sageland's work with beavers and toads and I was so excited to see an organization doing conservation work that has opened my eyes to the creatures and ecosystems that are part of the land we live on. I also feel passionate about diversifying spaces to be more inclusive and equitable, and I wanted to contribute my experience as a BIPOC woman to the amazing work Sageland is doing. Sageland also has the coolest people and I wanted to be a part of this board to support and learn from these amazing people.
What is your conservation origin story?
My conservation origin story is one that I think in some ways started a year and a half ago becoming a part of the advocacy community around Great Salt Lake, but is one that I think has always been a part of my life. I spent part of my childhood growing up in Idaho running barefoot through meadows and streams, camping in the mountains, fishing in lakes, and in awe of every wild creature I came across. I was definitely a weird kid who didn't always feel like I fit in, but I instinctively knew I was home in the meadows and forests and mountains I spent so much time in. I always wanted to be a part of the nature happening outside my window, and the art and poetry I created were always in conversation and giving voice to the places and non-human beings I adored and admired.
What is your hope for the wildlife and landscapes of the West?
My hope for the wildlife and landscapes for the West is for their protection and recognition of their sacredness and importance. I also hope for our human communities to have a relationship of reciprocity and respect for non-human beings and places. We are meant to be in connection and relationship with nature and I see conservation as relationship building with the natural world.
What would you say to folks looking to get involved?
There is a place for everyone in conservation, you don't have to be a scientist and have a degree to make a difference with the natural world. Education is also a huge part of conservation and learning everything you can, asking questions, having discussions, and learning how you tie into all of it is essential to what conservation is and I love that.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Sageland has welcomed me with open arms being a part of this board; I am honored to continue to support this amazing team and learn as much as I can about the work they are doing. I also can't wait to, hopefully, one day meet a beaver.
Lily Bosworth
Tell us about yourself!
I am the very happiest when I get to be a part of connection-making, from introducing two people with common interests, to understanding a science or engineering concept, to dancing right on tempo to music of (almost) any kind. I think water is the ultimate connector, threading together landscapes, cultures, even cells, which is why I am passionate about water issues and conservation. Professionally, I work on Colorado River conservation as a staff engineer for the Colorado River Authority of Utah. In that role I oversee several projects that all support resilience for the river system, and I get to bridge the projects and their experts. Outside of work I like to play outdoors with friends and family through as many methods as I can squeeze in, always birding along the way!
What is it about Sageland’s work that inspired you to join the board?
Sageland’s ability to joyfully bridge conservation and community drew me to join the board. Conservation can be daunting and heavy work, and I believe we have to pursue conservation in community to achieve the landscape-scale change we need, and to keep each other engaged and supported. Sageland fosters connections between people and their places to motivate each of us to stay committed to science-backed conservation.
What is your conservation origin story?
I’ve been fortunate to be involved with community-based conservation since I was born. My mom served on the Ogden Nature Center Board when she was about my age and has now worked there for over 20 years. My legs and science-mind grew up together wandering the Nature Center’s trails, wondering at the creatures who found refuge in the Nature Center’s trees, fields, and ponds. Each lesson about the natural world I learned at the Nature Center is tied to a lesson about the importance of community protecting ecosystems. For example, feeding injured birds with my dad taught me intergenerational and inter-species caretaking, pulling invasive plants with other volunteers taught me shared responsibility and accountability, and finding frogs with my friends brought us collective joy and celebration.
What is your hope for the wildlife and landscapes of the West?
I hope we can revitalize a reciprocal relationship between people and our home landscapes and wildlife into an ecosystem that can sustain itself.
What would you say to folks looking to get involved?
Environmental work can be overwhelming so start small, maybe with one Sageland project, and don’t hesitate to bounce around until you find the project that you like best.
Bring a buddy! You’ll have more fun and immediately double your impact.
Whether you have a career of conservation under your belt, or you’re totally new to this sort of work, you and your perspectives are needed!
Anything else you’d like to share?
I wrote part of this in the back of a state car on the way to an Upper Colorado River Commission meeting in Cheyenne, and out my window were antelope grazing among sagebrush, osprey, and avocets!
Alex Porpora
Tell us about yourself!
A long-time Floridian, I never thought Utah would become home. Fifteen years later, I’m pretty convinced that this is the place. I work as an education professional here in Salt Lake City supporting school district leaders across the Midwest and Intermountain West to achieve their goals in K-5 STEM instruction.
I come from a background in informal science education, environmental education, and nonprofit management. I got my Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Anthropology from the University of Miami and a Master’s in Environmental Humanities from the University of Utah. When I’m not working or serving my community, you can find me hiking, trail running, birding or powerlifting.
What is it about Sageland’s work that inspired you to join the board?
As a child (and adult!), I always loved animals. Learning more about the creatures that fascinated me ultimately led me to care about the environment and conservation. During my time as an environmental educator, I also saw how wildlife has the power to connect people to more abstract issues like climate change and land use. Sageland Collaborative's projects connect our community to conservation issues using compelling ambassadors, the animals that we also share our communities with. I believe that projects like these are vital to inspiring folks to care and be curious about conservation, leading them to become advocates for all the creatures in our communities.
Alex Porpora representing Sageland Collaborative at our Pollinator Pride Party. Photo: Sierra Hastings
What is your conservation origin story?
I grew up in Central Florida and was raised by my mom and maternal grandmother. My grandmother emigrated to the United States from Germany after WWII. She found a lot of comfort, joy and inspiration from being out in nature and she shared her love of the outdoors with me. We spent many afternoons on walks identifying plants, birdwatching and drawing outdoors. I still have many of her nature drawings on my walls at home. My grandmother was my first mentor who taught me to not only appreciate and enjoy being in nature, but also inspired me to care for it. She always nurtured my interests in the outdoors and conservation.
What is your hope for the wildlife and landscapes of the West?
For better or worse, this question makes me think of The Lorax who said: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” It can be easy to slip into cynicism when it comes to environmental issues, but I find that I have more hope for the future of our wild, western landscapes than I used to! Care takes a lot of different forms: activism and advocacy, participating in community science projects, sharing your viewpoints with someone who may disagree, or simply just visiting wild spaces. I am encouraged by Sageland Collaborative's work and their community-centered, partnership-based approach towards achieving common goals. My hope is that this continues to be a model for participation and giving anyone in the community an entry point towards turning their care into action.
From all of us here at Sageland Collaborative - welcome! We are thrilled to share in your unique passions, expertise, and ideas in your roles on our Board of Directors. Thank you for your contributions to the conservation of wildlife and lands!
Article by Sierra Hastings
Photos shared by Sarah May, Lily Bosworth, and Alex Porpora.