Allaire Diamond (Conservation Commission)

Allaire Diamond: Protecting natural communities in her professional and volunteer work

A dozen years ago, Allaire Diamond moved to Jericho. She had been living in Williston where she served as Tree Warden and began looking for ways to volunteer in her new hometown. She helped out at Jericho Elementary School but on the advice of Liz Thompson, who had been a mentor and was her supervisor at work, she joined the Conservation Commission. That group seemed to be a perfect fit for Diamond because she is trained as an ecologist. “I’m happy to volunteer in a way that uses my training and skills,” she said.

Diamond is particularly pleased with the work the Conservation Commission has done in creating the Natural Resources Overlay District which helps inform development decisions. She noted that although some other towns have those kinds of districts, most do not. “I’m really proud we have it,” she said. “Now we’re in the phase of making some revisions using better data.” Diamond noted that the formation of the overlay district required a lot of effort and collaboration, and she is proud of how the Conservation Commission worked with the Planning Commission to create and implement it.

Diamond’s parents were teachers in Springfield and Bellows Falls and her initial foray into the professional world was teaching science to ninth and tenth graders at Missisquoi Valley Union High School. She subsequently worked as a teaching assistant at UVM before enrolling there to get two masters’ degrees.

In 2011, Diamond was hired by the Vermont Land Trust as a contractor and that turned into a full-time job the following year. Diamond was very familiar with the organization. Growing up, her parents were members, and she remembers that they received a Sabra Fields print after one of their donations. She took that print with her when she went off to college and hung it in her dorm room. “Land conservation is fundamentally a good thing,” she said. “It’s really practical and I knew this was a place where I wanted to work.”

Diamond’s job involves doing ecological assessments of land that is in the process of being conserved. That work starts by using GIS, a computer system which analyzes and displays geographic information. For some projects, that is followed by field work in which Diamond looks for uncommon, rare natural communities such as clay plains, floodplains, bogs, or fens.

Although she is no longer in the classroom, teaching is still a part of Diamond’s life. She conducts workshops and other activities through her job at VLT. Diamond is also a freelance writer and has contributed to magazines like Northern Woodlands. A recent issue featured her story about beaver restoration.

Lately Diamond’s job has expanded to include more ecological restoration. That work includes water-related tasks like dam removal, culvert replacement, tree planting, and stream restoration. While some of this work takes place on VLT-owned land, other work is done at the behest of private landowners. Most of the easements owned by VLT are on private land, but the organization has a close relationship with those landowners.

Diamond noted that recent flooding events have created more interest in these types of projects, as well as greater funding. “Almost every culvert in the state is probably undersized or not sited correctly,” she said. Her work involves a type of matchmaking in which she finds interested landowners and willing funders.

Diamond stressed that wetlands are very important because of their ability to hold and clean water. “They have amazing habitat in terms of biodiversity with fungi and microorganisms,” she said. Diamond also noted that wetlands are complex in terms of climate resiliency. She said a large number have been drained or converted to agriculture and it is her hope that some of these can be restored.

In her spare time, Diamond enjoys skate skiing, classic Nordic skiing, and cycling. She is an avid reader and is currently organizing a VLT event bringing Leila Philip, the author of the book Beaverland, to the state to give a presentation in Shelburne on April 18. In keeping with her love of wetlands, Diamond thoroughly enjoys the fact that the Browns River flows through her property. “I love being able to learn about my local landscape and see if it changes over time,” she said.