SVT Welcomes Two AmeriCorps Members for Coming Year

SVT is pleased to welcome two members of the national AmeriCorps service program who joined our staff on September 8. 

Jonathan Haarstick, a first-year AmeriCorps member, has joined SVT as Community Engagement Coordinator. He is a recent graduate of UMass Amherst, where he majored in marketing and minored in natural resource conservation.

Jonathan will work with the Development and Community Engagement staff to increase public support for land protection, revitalization, and conservation initiatives. In the short time since his arrival, he has taken responsibility for producing the Nature Sightings newsletter, worked with the stewardship staff on a deer management project, and joined the outreach efforts for new conservation projects.

In addition, Matthew Morris is returning for a second year of service as Land Stewardship Coordinator. In his first term, Matt, who earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife and conservation biology from the University of New Hampshire, assisted with program development for the Native Pollinator Task Force, produced guidance booklets on field management and forest health, and trained volunteers and partners on wildlife culvert passage evaluations.

In the coming year, Matt will continue to support the NPTF, will train volunteers to assess forest health, and will expand stewardship volunteer capacity in the region.

Matt is already hard at work. Since returning to SVT, he has led volunteer training sessions, reconnected with the NPTF members, and built deer exclosures at Smith Conservation Land and Cowassock Woods.

Jonathan and Matthew joined SVT through the TerraCorps program that places AmeriCorps members at Massachusetts and Rhode Island organizations that protect land and support environmental sustainability.

SVT has hosted 19 AmeriCorps members over the past 11 years, many of whom now hold positions at conservation organizations across the country.

Laura Mattei, SVT Director of Stewardship, who has supervised many AmeriCorps members, has strong praise for the program:

"TerraCorps-AmeriCorps trains our future conservation leaders. The AmeriCorps members gain hands-on experience with planning and executing conservation projects, and the host sites benefit from the energy and enthusiasm of young conservationists. The members who have served at SVT have enabled us to expand our efforts to conserve land, restore wildlife habitats, and engage more volunteers.”