The Wareham Land Trust recently welcomed a new executive director to help them continue to push their message of building community through environmental consciousness throughout town.

The new executive director, Alexandra Zollo, brings years of experience in land conservation from working with the towns of Falmouth and Mashpee on conservation efforts. Zollo spent over seven years as the director of stewardship and community engagement for a non profit land trust in Falmouth called the 300 committee.

According to Zollo, one of the things about the Wareham Land Trust that got her attention was the organization’s goal of not only conserving the natural landscape of the town but their commitment to unifying and educating the community.

"The uniting part and the educating part, not all land trusts have that in their mission," said Zollo. "It's so much bigger than just protecting special places — it's creating a movement for the community, by the community."

Zollo said she was also excited by the opportunity for conservation efforts Wareham presents.

"It's exciting that there is still a lot of land left in Wareham and there is still a lot of work that can be done," said Zollo. "The fact that Wareham has so much coastline and flood plain there are still a ton of opportunities for green infrastructure and for being more resilient to the changes in the climate that Wareham faces."

One of the big goals Zollo said she wanted to accomplish is to help the organization continue to grow.

"I think we have some fabulous roots and I want to help support the people who have been here since the beginning," said Zollo. "I want to help the community see them and align with them to stand shoulder to shoulder for conservation in Wareham."

She said she also wants to help the fundraising side of the land trust grow.

"I am happy to help the organization grow to the next steps," said Zollo. "Helping with the fundraising and really helps support the board in their mission and growing our community of volunteers."

Growing the community within the land trust and extending the mission of the organization to people who are not in tune to what the group does is another goal Zollo said she wants to accomplish.

"I'm positive that there are more people in our community that are conservation minded and love the trails," said Zollo. "It's about really connecting with people and reaching the people that are not yet there and bringing them along and growing our Wareham land trust community and making sure we're relevant to the Wareham community at large."

In order to extend the mission of the land trust, Zollo wants to see the many conservation groups in the area work together to better serve the community.

"There's a lot of conservation groups working in Wareham like the Trustees, Mass Audubon, the Buzzards Bay Coalition, the Wareham Land Trust and if we can come together to enhance our collective message, we can more effectively raise awareness and accomplish our missions for Wareham," said Zollo.

Zollo said she is excited to continue the work the land trust has done and hopes to grow the group’s impact.

"The land trust has gotten a lot done in the past 23 years and the first 20 years were entirely volunteer run," said Zollo. "Now that we're taking this next step to have staff and pay for service members I think our impact can be a lot wider in the community."