Farley has had a connection to the land since she was young, through her family business, the Farley Lumber Company, and exploring the woods in the suburbs of New Jersey. “I have always questioned how we make land use decisions and who gets to make those decisions. Most importantly, how can we become the best stewards of the land?” Her passion for the land led her into the nonprofit field where she served as the executive director of both Vermont Woodlands Association and Vermont Coverts:Woodlands for Wildlife for several decades. She has worked with landowners, logger, and legislators throughout Vermont helping to protect the working landscape and wildlife habitat. She has witnessed the growth of the land conservation movement in Vermont over the past 25 years. Farley started teaching Ecology at Sterling College and several state colleges in 1989 as an adjunct faculty member and came to Sterling full time in 2006. Her connections around the state provide many opportunities for Sterling students, both in the classroom as well as in the professional world. “It is a great joy to now work with Sterling College alums in the conservation field.”

Profile

Award	Institution
AA in Natural Resource Management	Sterling College
BA in Environmental Studies and Sociology	Sarah Lawrence College
MS in Natural Resource Planning	University of Vermont

Presentations
“Working the Land: Conservation and Management of Our Rural Landscape”, Rural Heritage Institute, Sterling College, June 2008.
“Portrait of a Local River: Results from a Bioassessment of the Wild Branch in Craftsbury and Wolcott”, EPSCoR Streams Project Symposium, April 2009.
“The Black River: Past, Present and Future”, Memphremagog Watershed Association, July 2010.
"Introduction to Watersheds”, Memphremagog Watershed Association, August 2011.
“Hardwick Lake Today and Tomorrow”, Northern Rivers Land Trust Annual Meeting, June 2013.
"Exploring a Changing Rural Culture”, Cultural Sustainability Symposium, Vermont Folklife Center, August 2013.
“Upper Black River Stabilization Project” Craftsbury Conservation Commission Public Presentation, February 2015.

Publications
The Mad River Valley Rural Resource Protection Project. (1989) Prepared for the Vermont Land Trust.
Woodbury Lakes and Ponds. A summary of a report conducted by Jeff Parsons, Don Meals and Deb Lester. (1991) Prepared for the town of Woodbury, Vermont.
Town Plans for local Vermont communities: Craftsbury (2006, 2011), Brownington (1992), Victory (1993).
Hardwick Lake: Today and Tomorrow. (2013) Prepared for the Northern Rivers Land Trust.

Accomplishments

Vermont Forestry Leadership Award, 1991, Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation and University of Vermont Extension Program Vermont Coverts Leadership Award, 2010, Vermont Coverts: Woodlands for Wildlife, Inc.

Three Books You Recommend?

• Water: A Natural History by Alice Outwater
• Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South America by Adrian Forsyth and Ken Miyata
• The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-made Landscape – Land Use History and Planning

Farley's Recent Blog Posts

Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law (Act 148) goes into effect!

Posted July 8, 2015 by Farley Brown read more