Barnstable Land Trust Welcomes New Board President
West Barnstable, MA - Barnstable Land Trust (BLT) welcomed Leigh Townes as the new Board President and Justine Laugharn as Board Clerk, as well as new board member Tobey Collins, at their Annual Meeting on July 12th held at the Osterville Village Library near BLT’s Bansfield Meadow property.
“We are grateful to have Leigh at the helm as Board President, especially as we look forward to celebrating the opening of the new barn at our Fuller Farm property later this fall, in which Leigh played an important role,” says Janet Milkman, Barnstable Land Trust’s Executive Director. “As Barnstable Land Trust prepares to celebrate its 40th Anniversary next year, passionate and dedicated volunteer leaders like Leigh, Justine, Tobey, are essential to our organization’s success in protecting and preserving our community’s most special and important natural resources.”
Leigh Townes, a Cotuit resident, has been a BLT member since 2017, most recently serving as the Board Clerk and Chair of the Land Stewardship Committee. She and her husband John moved here a few years ago from Princeton, New Jersey, where she worked for many years managing global clinical trial programs for the development of new medicines for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Leigh graduated with a BSN from the University of Rochester, where she worked as a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit and later, in diagnostic cardiology. She earned her MBA from Temple University in Philadelphia. Now retired, she is active with a variety of groups in addition to Barnstable Land Trust that are focused on maintaining and improving the environment on Cape Cod including Barnstable Association for Recreational Shellfishing and Barnstable Clean Water Coalition.
Justine Laugharn, a member since 2008 and a Barnstable resident, assumes the role of Board Clerk as a member of Barnstable Land Trust’s executive committee. Recently retired as one of the principals of Covaris, Inc., a small biotechnology company located in Woburn where she oversaw the Finance, HR, IT, and Administration teams, Justine also serves as the Chair of BLT’s Community Engagement Committee. She holds a BA, Biology from Boston College and MS, Computer Engineering from Boston University. Justine is an avid reader, loves to cook and eat well, is a hiking and natural history enthusiast, and is ardent about land preservation across Massachusetts.
New board member Tobey Collins, a resident of Washington DC and Centerville, is the Head of Americas for Astris Finance, a boutique investment banking firm specialized in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure. Tobey has spent much of her career working with Latin America including working overseas. She has a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.S.F.S. from Georgetown University. Tobey has a strong interest in preserving Barnstable the way she remembers it as a child for future generations of residents and visitors.
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Barnstable Land Trust (BLT) is a community-supported, nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving open space and natural resources in the Town of Barnstable and nearby areas. BLT has protected 1,100 acres in the Town of Barnstable and supported the Town in conserving over 11,000 more. As a regional leader in collaborative land preservation and stewardship, community engagement, training, and advocacy, BLT also leverages its conservation expertise to inform local public decisions as they impact our ecosystems, community health, well-being, and quality of life. To learn more about BLT, visit the website at http://www.BLT.org or call 508-771-2585. To view one of their free trail guides (Barnstable Trail Guide, Cape Cod Pathways/Barnstable Trail Guide, and Eagle Pond & Little River Sanctuary Trail Guide), click here; to learn more about their Words in the Wild poetry initiative on the trails click here.