RA HONORS DAVID SUTHERLAND

Of The Nature Conservancy

As Its 2009 Environmental Champion 

 

Rivers Alliance has named David Sutherland, Director of Government Relations for The Nature Conservancy Connecticut Chapter, as environmental champion or the year.  Mr. Sutherland not only has a strong record of accomplishment as an environmental advocate, he is exceptionally helpful to his colleagues.  He is perennially one of the first advocates to grasp the details of the state budget as it develops and as it concludes.  Given that the 2009 legislative session was almost all about the budget, Mr. Sutherland was much in demand.  In particular, he was able to explain the complexities of the budget proposed for the Department of Environmental Protection, thereby strengthening the testimony of his many colleagues who sought to minimize cuts to the agency.   He also was a leader in saving the funding that is distributed under the Connecticut Community Investment Act for open space, farmland, affordable housing, and historic preservation. 

 

In his 19 years with The Nature Conservancy, Mr. Sutherland has worked with colleagues in the Land Conservation Coalition for Connecticut to lobby for over $350 million in state funds to preserve natural lands across the state. He has led the Face of Connecticut campaign, which provided a vision and map for preserving the state’s natural and historic heritage.  He has also lobbied for tax incentives to encourage conservation and laws to ensure the permanence of conservation restrictions and ownership.

 

Mr. Sutherland served on the Governor's Stakeholder Dialogue on Climate Change in 2004, and helped to pass legislation implementing the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in Connecticut and establishing a state task force on the impacts of climate change. He was appointed by the Speaker of the House to serve on the Connecticut Invasive Plants Council.

 

Rivers Alliance Executive Director Margaret Miner expresses thanks to Mr. Sutherland and The Nature Conservancy for their collegial assistance on a number of policy issues.  “David has always been exceptionally helpful and gracious.  He never seems to mind explaining the basics.” 

 

At the present time, Rivers Alliance and the Nature Conservancy are leading the effort to achieve passage of the Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed streamflow regulation to provide protective standards for all Connecticut’s stream and rivers.   This looks to be the most important and, unfortunately, contentious issue on the state’s water-policy agenda. 

 

Mr. Sutherland lives in Glastonbury's Kongscut Mountain/Diamond Lake neighborhood and has a Masters degree in Environmental Studies from Antioch University.