Freshwater Land Trust

The freshwater Land Trust, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has four full-time employees and is goverened by a 12 member board of directors.

Wendy Allen Jackson
Executive Director

Wendy Jackson has over 18 years of experience in the field of real estate with fourteen of those years spent in conservation. Prior to working in the field of conservation, Wendy worked in the commercial real estate market and the banking industry as a real estate loan officer.

Wendy started her career in conservation with The Nature Conservancy, serving for over eight years as the Alabama Chapter's Director of Land Protection and Government Relations. She served as the lead negotiator for Nature Conservancy land acquisitions and partnerships helping to effect large scale partnership conservation projects such as the 14,000 acre Mountain Longleaf Pine National Wildlife Refuge, the Bibb County Glades Nature Preserve, the state's 48,000 acre Forever Wild Mobile-Tensaw Delta purchase and the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge. During her tenure with the Conservancy, their acres protected increased from 32,000 to 102,000.

Her work on the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge served to increase her passion for river conservation. As a result, Wendy joined the Black Warrior-Cahaba Rivers Land Trust in June of 2001 to focus her full attention upon the protection of these two remarkable watersheds. She served first as Land Acquisition Director and was promoted to her current position of Executive Director in January of 2002.

Since joining the Land Trust, Wendy has worked to establish projects such as the Turkey Creek Watershed conservation project and the Five Mile Creek Greenways project. During her tenure as Executive Director, the Land Trust has purchased or has under contract almost 3,500 acres of land that is protecting over 60 miles of rivers and streams in Jefferson County. She has helped secure almost $17 million dollars in gifts of land, cash and other contributions. Most recently, she secured a pledge of the largest gift in U.S. Steel Corporation's 100 year history. To create one of our nation's largest urban parks here in Birmingham, U.S. Steel pledged $10.5 million in land discounts and cash. Red Mountain Park contains over 1,100 acres of land in the heart of Birmingham and is the Land Trust's most ambitious project to date.

Under Wendy's leadership, the Land Trust received the 2003 Governor's Conservation Organization of the Year Award and was recently named the 2005 Charitable Organization of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Wendy has been recognized across the state for her business-like approach to conservation and her unique ability to bring diverse partners together for the benefit of conservation. She is the 2005 recipient of the James Dockery Environmental Leadership Award which is presented to individuals who have played a leadership role in preserving the South's environment.

Brian Rushing

Brian Rushing is the Director of Land Conservation and came to the Land Trust in March 2003. With an educational background in forestry, geology, environmental planning and management, business, and real estate, Brian tailored his academic pursuits for a career working with land trusts. He is a graduate of the University of the South (B.S.), Louisiana State University (M.S.), and the University of Alabama (M.B.A.) and has worked in natural history and environmental education for a number of years.

Since coming to the Land Trust, Brian has worked to complete the Land Trust's implementation of the Jefferson County Greenways Program, and to date has negotiated the acquisition of over 600 acres of streamside buffers and secured over $400,000 in donations and discount sales of land. Brian has also implemented the first large-scale stream and bottomland restoration project within the Jefferson County Greenways System on a 40-acre tract that lies along Shades Creek near Bessemer. In addition to on-the-ground land acquisition and stewardship activities, Brian has also worked with the Land Trust's Board of Directors to develop a number of policies and procedures that guide the land acquisition and stewardship work of the Land Trust and that keep these activities consistent with the Land Trust Alliance's Standards and Practices.

Elizabeth Sims

[bio to come]

Rhonda Blevins

[bio to come]

Karl Peters

Karl Peters joined the Land Trust in 2007 as its first ever Land Steward. As Land Steward, Karl manages and cares for the extensive Land Trust properties. Upon joining the Land Trust, Karl brought over eight years of ecological consulting experience, including wetlands delineation, permitting, mitigation, and endangered species surveys. Karl is a graduate of the University of North Alabama with a degree in Environmental Biology as well as an Outward Bound graduate.

One of the most interesting jobs Karl had (before joining the Land Trust, of course) was as a USGS field research technician for the Palila (Hawaiian Honeycreeper) endangered species project in Mount Mauna Kea, Hawaii. In his work and free time, Karl enjoys being outdoors. He is a member of USA Cycling's National and Southern Off-Road Bicycling Associations.