Walt Tysinger Connects to Land

From TLC News, November 2007

TLC’s new Land Manager, Walt Tysinger, joined the staff in August 2007 and brings TLC the diverse skill set that is required for the person who manages all of the land trust’s owned properties.  During his varied career, Walt has worked as an environmental educator, a natural science teacher, an environmental health specialist and the owner of a health food store and café in Sanford. 

Most recently, Walt worked as an environmental educator at Wisconsin’s oldest nature center, Riveredge Nature Center, in Newburg.  While at the center, Walt collaborated with volunteers and students to restore native prairie habitats and developed a sustainable gardening program that became integrated into the local school curriculum.  

Walt’s experiences in working with a wide variety of people in varying field conditions will be invaluable as he tackles the complex task of managing TLC’s properties.  Each TLC property requires specific care and handling depending upon the makeup and public use of the property.  One of Walt’s top priorities is to strengthen TLC’s volunteer program and create more educational opportunities for the volunteer cadre. 

Walt and his family are becoming intimately familiar with one of TLC’s newest properties:  the Irvin Farm outside of Chapel Hill.  Longtime TLC members Logan and Elinor Irvin generously bequeathed this 269-acre property to TLC and the organization received this bequest when Mrs. Irvin passed away in 2007 (see www.tlc-nc.org/news/articles /2007/news.07.landownerssave.shtml for more information).  The property contains a mix of forest and farmland and a rambling farmhouse built in the 1880s.  Walt and his wife, Debbie, and their two children, Jesse and Emily, are now living in the farmhouse and renovating the building. 

Walt is excited about the many possibilities at Irvin Farm.  “The Irvin property was historically a farm and Orange County is a traditional farming community,” he explains.  “We could conceivably use the property for educational programming centered around sustainable farming, such as cow grazing and milk production.  It could also be used as a model for sustainable land management and forestry.”

Much of Walt’s professional career has centered on environmental education and he is eager to expand TLC’s programming in this arena.  “I think that TLC’s work is vital to maintaining the integrity of communities in the Triangle area,” he says.  “Communities are so tied to the landscape and when you begin to lose critical open spaces you can begin to lose the soul of a community.  People can lose their connections to the natural world and the impetus to be good stewards of the environment.  That’s why it’s so vital to provide children with the opportunity to get their hands dirty and their feet wet.  They need to interact with the earth to make that connection and build the foundation to become conservationists.”

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