Woods & Waters Land Trust

Heather grew up in Western Kentucky spending as much time as possible outdoors. She received a BS in Natural Resource Conservation and Management and an MS in Forest Ecology from the University of Kentucky. Her graduate work focused on the forests of the Cumberland Plateau and included entomology. With the exception of a few months at the Division of Air Quality promulgating regulations, she has spent most of her career continuing to spend as much time as possible outdoors working for LFUCG Parks & Recreation and the Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission. She is an author of articles in Forest Ecology and Management and Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, as well as Kentucky's Natural Heritage: An Illustrated Guide to Biodiversity. She lives with her husband Rex and their daughter Sarah on the banks of Elkhorn Creek in Franklin County.

Heather served on the Board of Directors of WWLT 2007 - mid-2018, rejoining in 2019. She served on the Executive Committee, Performance Excellence Committee, Conservation Committee, and the Fundraising Committee until 2023 when she resigned from the board and was appointed Executive Director.

Judy’s roots in the Woods & Waters Land Trust region date back to 1970 when her family purchased the Shelby County farm where she now resides. From the beginning, the Tipton farm was a habitat for wildlife—specifically birds including purple martins, bluebirds and tree swallows. She has since added to the bird population and continues to make her home a welcome place for all wildlife. Judy prioritizes traveling through natural areas, bringing to mind the people that sought to protect and provide access to such places. In her words, “I have a debt I owe to those folks, and that is why being a good steward is important to me.”

Meredith was born and raised in Frankfort. Boating is her passion, having grown up spending a lot of time on Kentucky’s many lakes. Meredith’s love of the water was an easy bridge to her interest in conservation. She’s also an avid home gardener and animal lover. With a degree in Integrated Strategic Communications from the University of Kentucky, Meredith sees her role with Woods and Waters Land Trust as a kind of “multi-tool” for the organization. You’ll find her working on general office operations, in event planning, and with communications.

If you recognize Meredith’s last name in connection with Woods and Waters Land Trust, it’s because her father-in-law, Ed Lawrence, created the Woods and Waters book, full of beautiful photographs of some of the properties held in our conservation easements. “We’ve attended Extravaganza and various other events over the last few years, and I have always admired the work WWLT does to protect/conserve this beautiful place I call home,” Meredith says. Our thanks goes to Ed for introducing Meredith to our work!

Risa was brought up in Central Kentucky with a foundational respect for regional, arts, culture, and landscape. Because of her desire to build on that foundation, she strives to participate in roles that support awareness, involvement, and sustainability in her community. She has two children, Ronan and Lorelei, to whom she hopes to pass on a similar passion for their home place.

Lisa developed her writing and outdoors roots while exploring the fields and woodlands surrounding her family’s suburban New Jersey home. She’s spent time working in communications for marketing agencies and nonprofits, as a magazine editor, as the community engagement coordinator for the Franklin County Farmers Market, and as the host of the “Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good” podcast. Lisa has ghostwritten four books and was contributing editor to the 2024 book Epic Homesteading, by Kevin Espiritu. You can find her byline in dozens of print and online publications.

Much of Lisa’s work involves farming and food systems, which are closely linked with conserving our precious, dwindling open space. Lisa has received two Artist Enrichment Grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women for her writing about food, farming and the outdoors from a feminist perspective. In 2024, she was given a reciprocal award as a US Fellow for the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, working on a farmers market project in Yala, Thailand. Locally, she’s served on the board for the Franklin County Emergency Community Food Pantry; the Franklin County Agricultural Development Council; the EPA Local Foods, Local Places Steering Committee; and the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Fresh Stop Market Replication Advisory Team.

Lisa has called Kentucky home for most of the last 20 years, though she’s known to wander off and explore far-flung places—from Alaska to Croatia—for months at a time. See where she is now at lisa-writes.com.