Nomination Statement for William Abbott

Reasons for accepting the nomination:

I am honored to have been nominated by the Terrafirma Members Committee as a candidate to represent the Northern New England region.  I have been a New Hampshire resident and the Executive Director of the Upper Saco Valley Land Trust (USVLT) for the past 8 ½ years.  During that time, USVLT has become accredited, we’ve doubled in size (in terms of acreage, staff, and operating budget), and we’ve weathered some of our first violations.  We cover a lot of territory on a relative shoestring (nay – efficient!) budget.  We are lucky to be a young land trust (20 years old this month), with relatively new policies and protocols in place, having adopted LTA Standards & Practices early on.  We were also an early member of Terrafirma, throwing our proverbial hat in the ring as Terrafirma was first getting organized.   As a regional land trust with a service area that crosses state lines (NH and ME), USVLT is uniquely positioned to relate to and respond to issues that affect our region. 

I am accepting the nomination for many reasons: because I care deeply about our region, its ecology, and its beauty – and the work that we collectively do to sustain those qualities; because I think collaboration and camaraderie are essential to getting more good work done, and at scale; and because my experience with USVLT uniquely positions me to seek cross-border solutions to the challenges we face, all with an eye to efficiency of time and money.

What I see as my role if elected:

If elected, I seek to listen well to our members’ concerns, act judiciously, and roll up my sleeves to get the daily work done.  In my work at USVLT, I pay attention to detail, strive to understand the complexity of the task at hand, and also seek to build consensus.  Under my management, USVLT has invested more heavily in partnerships and outreach, collaborating with the communities we serve by conducting community listening sessions and asking for specific feedback.  I want to bring the same approach to my service at Terrafirma. 

I am also eager to learn –  I am admittedly not any kind of an expert on risk and insurance.  As a “student” of Terrafirma, I will be most excited to translate some of the more complex or mundane aspects of what Terrafirma does (or does not) into more easily digestible formats by, for example, providing specific real-world examples when possible.  Thank you for your consideration.