For my service learning project I choose to volunteer for the Minnesota Nature Conservancy. I did not approach this project with a specific question in mind, but rather, with a general interest in who The Nature Conservancy (TNC) was, what they stood for, and how they approached their goals. More specifically, I was generally interested in how The Nature Conservancy functioned on its most basic level: the day in day out grunt work of interacting with people, promoting their cause, and acquiring and managing preserves. I was also very interested, more broadly, in how TNC functioned as an apolitical non-governmental organization. I have always been attracted to their stance of not involving themselves in political agendas (unlike other NGOs like the Sierra Club, and Defenders of Wildlife, who lobby heavily in Washington). In many ways, I see this “us against them,” or more realistically “democrats vs. republicans,” dichotomy as hindering the larger environmental movement in this country and diverting focus from the real issues of responsible land use, global climate change, and biodiversity. The best way to pursue some of these answers was to simply get involved, to start talking to people involved with TNC, and to start volunteering my time for work projects.

In keeping with my desire to generally “get a better feel” for The Nature Conservancy I did not approach the project with specific research methodology. What I did was call my contact at the Minnesota Nature Conservancy, Volunteer Coordinator Andrejz Kozlowski, and ask him where I could start. I expressed my interest in TNC and told Andrejz the little that I already knew about the organization and how I felt about their approach towards preserving natural areas. Over the course of the two months that I spent working on this project, the three or four personal conversations that I had with Andrejz would form the backbone of my knowledge about TNC, and what they do both in Minnesota and on a national scale. Along with helping to broaden my understanding of The Nature Conservancy and what it stands for, on a more concrete level, Andrejz helped me to get involved with volunteering for work projects at two local Nature Conservancy preserves: Black Dog Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) in Burnsville, and Weaver Dunes SNA in Wabasha Co. It was through my experiences volunteering at these two preserves that I feel like I gained some of my most valuable perspective on who TNC is and what they do at a grassroots level.

Volunteering for The Nature Conservancy both corresponded and differed from my expectations. In terms of the actual work, and the way in which it was organized, volunteering fit my expectations. Workdays were not exceptionally long, but the work was hard. Organization was first rate, with projects having at least one, and sometimes two coordinators, overseeing the volunteers. When chainsaws were involved, as they were at Weaver Dunes, safety was taken very seriously and only TNC trained personnel were allowed to operate them. In general everything ran very smoothly, with the volunteers playing major roles in the work being done. No one had their hands held and everyone who worked was appreciated.

The nature of the work itself aside, perhaps the most interesting perspective that I gained from the time I spent volunteering were my interactions with fellow volunteers. More specifically, the composition of the work crews was not exactly what I expected. Although work crews were comprised almost entirely of people over 30, with the majority being over 40, they were nonetheless diverse, reflecting the broad constituency that The Nature Conservancy has built for itself. Work crews included liberals, conservatives, libertarians, farmers, urban professionals for the Twin Cities, doctors, DNR agents. In short, they reflected a cross-section of people from all walks of life. I was very glad to see this, as it reflected the initial feelings that I had about TNC’s ability to cut across socio-political lines and involve people in the real issue of preserving biodiversity.

As a result of these experiences I have gained a much deeper understanding of The Nature Conservancy and how they go about the daunting task of preserving biodiversity through land acquisition and community-based conservation. My experiences have left me with guarded optimism that through organizations such as TNC, at least a portion of earth’s biodiversity can be preserved in the face of currently unsustainable land use practices and the prospects of global climate change. I celebrate The Nature Conservancy’s approach to these issues (both in terms of there apolitical stance, and their ability to foster community-based conservation through work projects and local facilitators) and I urge all those who are interested in getting involved with this organization to contact Andrejz Kozlowski of the Minnesota Nature Conservancy at (612) 331-0762 or by email at akozlowski@tnc.org.