This month, Eric Nordstrom’s term as Lancaster Conservancy Board Chair came to an end. Eric served as Board Chair for two years and has been involved with the Conservancy in a volunteer capacity for nearly 20 years. Eric shared these reflections about his time with the Conservancy:
Immediate Past Board Chair Eric Nordstrom (Photo by Nick Gould)
Why is the mission of the Lancaster Conservancy close to your heart?
My family has been actively working the land in Lancaster County since the 1750s, first as Amish farmers and more recently as quarry operators. Modern life has changed our landscape and placed increased pressures on our natural lands that none of us could have imagined 20 years ago. The Lancaster Conservancy’s mission is vital to bringing balance back to our natural world and providing a peaceful respite in the midst of our hectic lives. Our preserves not only protect our natural world but also restore our souls.
I began my tenure as Board Chair during the transition in leadership from Phil Wenger to Fritz Schroeder, and it has been an absolute privilege to provide advice and counsel to Fritz and the leadership team for the past two years. Our passionate and professional staff never ceased to amaze me with their entrepreneurial spirit, and our dedicated and insightful Board have made my job as Board Chair very rewarding. My job was to simply get out of the way and allow the strategic objectives of the organization to guide us.
What do you wish people understood more about the work of the Conservancy?
Opening a preserve for public use is hard work. During my first stint on the Board, we were mostly focused on protecting land. Over the past 10 years, we have allocated a tremendous amount of resources to opening up our preserves by restoring our natural lands, creating new trails, installing signage, and providing safe access to nature for all with universal access trails on several of our preserves.
How has your time as part of the Conservancy’s Board changed your perspective on the work of the Conservancy? What gives you hope for the future of our natural lands?
As a practitioner of geology as a quarry operator, my perspective was shaped by the structure of the Earth and the processes that shaped it over hundreds of millions of years and more. As a volunteer with the Lancaster Conservancy, I have seen natural lands restored and habitats reestablished in the space of a few short years, setting the stage for nature to truly take its course in its own time. We are improving our landscape and our future one preserve at a time.
Growing up I was outside all the time, and it wasn’t until I joined the Board that I fully understood the nature deficit disorder that afflicts a lot of us, especially our youth. When you grow up in the country you sometimes take nature for granted, but when you see a child experience nature for the first time on one of our preserves, you truly understand what our mission stands for. We are saving nature for future generations and giving them tools and experiences to do the same.