Our People Matter

WPC Staff

Tyson Johnston

Land Stewardship Manager

Humans can be … well, not always kind to nature. We dump garbage in ravines, introduce invasive species that compete with native plants and animals, destroy wildlife habitat to put up shopping centers and pollute our water.

Lucky for nature, Tyson Johnston’s got its back. As WPC’s land stewardship manager in northwest Pennsylvania, he manages 21,000 acres across seven counties. Part of his job involves physically caring for WPC’s preserves and educating the public about minimizing their impact on nature.

“Carefully balancing recreational use and conservation on our preserves requires deliberate planning,” says Tyson, who spends three or four days per week during fair-weather months on a WPC preserve or other protected land. He meets with donors to showcase land and works with contractors to plan restoration projects. Some days he blazes trails and marks boundaries with or without a small team of volunteers, and monitors conservation easements.

No job is all flowers and sunshine, though. Tyson writes management plans, authors grant proposals, corresponds with users of our preserves, designs maps and signage, and budgets and keeps records for multiple projects.

While earning a Bachelor of Science in Geography and Environmental Studies, Tyson wanted to work for an organization like WPC. “My parents are WPC members, so I grew up seeing Conserve magazine and liked what I saw,” he recalls. “I’ve been fortunate to be a WPC employee since graduating from Slippery Rock University in 2010!”

Nature needs proponents like Tyson, whose patience and positive attitude shine when educating people about how to be kinder to the environment. “By maintaining dedicated access points to preserves, participating in the PA Game Commission’s Deer Management Assistance Program and educating the public about ‘Leave No Trace,’” he says, “we can minimize adverse impacts of overuse and enhance the conservation values of our preserves.”