As a native Midwesterner, Julia developed an affinity for the West and its landscape while traveling across the country on “Grizwold” type road trips each summer as a child.   At Duke, she landed two internships in Colorado, one with the Rocky Mountain Institute and the other with the Douglas County Land Conservancy, where she developed land conservation and management skills.  Then Douglas County Division of Open Space and Natural Resources snatched her up in a newly created position shortly after graduation.  

Since making a quality of life move to Idaho fifteen years ago with her husband, Thomas (also a NSOE grad) she has been employed in the corporate, consulting and government sectors developing and implementing natural resource plans, policies, and management strategies.  Her most satisfying projects have involved leading collaborative landscape scale efforts – certification of Boise Cascade Timberlands, development of Boise River Wildlife Linkage Partnership, conservation of Boise Foothills open space, and creation of the Idaho Coalition of Land Trusts.

Recently, Julia headed in a slightly new direction.  She is vetting a business idea around natural capital asset advising through the Boise State Venture College (entrepreneurial program). She has always loved expanding her professional network, so this has been an invigorating experience.  Julia has had conversations with 70 plus stakeholders (foundations, estate planning attorneys, land brokers, corporations, pension funds, wealth managers, private bankers, etc..), learning who they seek advice from when managing the natural capital assets they have fiduciary responsibility for and inquiring whether there is a need for that service.  There is definitely a niche and she plans to be the one to fill it.


News about Julia: