Linda brings to San Isabel nonprofit, conservation, entrepreneurial and agricultural experience. She comes to San Isabel from Malta, Montana, where she owned and operated a 320-acre homestead ranch while also doing consulting work for area ranchers and The Nature Conservancy.
“San Isabel has a distinguished record of conservation,” Linda said. “By blending the best of traditional wisdom with strategic innovation, we can craft a vibrant future for the San Isabel area. That's what made me want to live and work here. Wendell Berry said, ‘What I stand for is what I stand on.’ I'm honored and eager for the opportunity to stand with wise and caring people working for the good of this special place.”
Linda was reared on a commercial cow-calf ranch in eastern Washington and worked her way through college doing ranch, range and wildlife work. She holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Evergreen State College in Washington and a master’s degree in wildlife ecology from Oregon State University.
Her 25 years’ experience in conservation includes 17 years managing ranches for The Nature Conservancy in Oregon and Montana. At the Nature Conservancy, she worked to ensure that family ranches thrived through excellent stewardship and to ensure the rural communities and wildlife that relied on the ranches would have a vibrant, sustainable future. She attributes her success to strategic partnerships based on good science, respectful collaboration and a commitment to bottom-line sustainability.
She also has worked to nurture the next generation of land stewards. She and her ranch neighbors founded Montana’s Ranchers Stewardship Alliance. The Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund, the Land Trust Alliance and others help the rancher-led group develop and deliver diverse conservation solutions to the northern prairies.
“Linda brings energy, experience and a cooperative approach that will serve well San Isabel and our greater community,” Vickerman said. “She has the wide array of skills to help us create new conservation easements while helping build resilience in existing easements.”
Linda replaces Ben Lenth, who is now community conservation program manager at Colorado Open Lands.
