For years it seems, there has been a repeated theme in non-profit conservation organizations that a new generation of leaders needs to come forward and carry on with the fight to save land and water in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. At the Chester River Association, this is actually happening.
Slowly but surely, some of the CRA’s founding members are transitioning off the governing board and letting their children, now grown adults, take their place as important stewards of the Chester River. Over the last few years, Brook Schumann, daughter of former board members Ford and Marilee, followed by Matt Nielsen, son of Ed and the late Pat Nielsen, and Scott Budden, son of current member Richard Budden, have all come to the table, so to speak, to help define the CRA’s goals and objectives.
And most interestingly of all, all three come with an important agricultural connection that has real meaning for a river protection organization that must work with farmers to clean up the Chester. Brook, a nurse by training, is hands on with her husband’s family-owned Crow Farm in Kennedyville. Matt has been a farmer with Homestead Farms in Millington for several years and is now in the processing of making 100 acres of his own land an organic farm while Scott is founder and president of Orchard Point Oyster Co in Kent County.
In their Spy interview, Brook, Matt and Scott talk about the role of legacy leadership in the world of river protection, their special relationship with the Chester, and what the CRA must do to remain relevant in the years ahead.
This video is approximately eight minutes in length. For more information about the Chester River Association please click here
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