Rivers Alliance
of Connecticut
Connecticut's United Voice for
River Conservation
Home
P.O. Box 1797
Litchfield, CT 06759
860-361-9349
rivers@
riversalliance.org
RIVERS ALLIANCE HONORS DAVID SUTHERLAND
As Its 2009 Environmental Champion
Rivers Alliance has named David Sutherland, Director of Government Relations for
The Nature Conservancy Connecticut Chapter, as environmental champion of the
year. Mr. Sutherland not only has a strong record of accom-plishment 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 nineteen 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 many hope, a model for watersheds under the stream-flow regulation that the Department of Environmental Protection released shortly after the celebration. Gov. Rell stressed the significance of the Shepaug case for all state rivers. She said: In fact, the battle over the Shepaug River flow was one worth fighting. The issues raised and the resolution created will resonate beyond just our borders. The case pointed to the important need for us to properly manage the flow of our rivers and to do it with balance: balanc-ing our needs for drinking water and recreational use while protecting our natural resources, 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 Con-necticut 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.
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