After a national search and interviews with several highly qualified candidates, the Central Indiana Land Trust (CILTI) has named Cliff Chapman as its new executive director.
Chapman joined CILTI in 2008 as its first Conservation Director. Since then, he has established himself as a local, state and national leader in land preservation. The Strategic Conservation Plan for Central Indiana that he created brought unprecedented success for the organization. The green infrastructure portion of the plan, dubbed Greening the Crossroads, has been called a national model by The Conservation Fund and was featured in the Land Trust Alliance’s Saving Land magazine.
Adopting the plan and focusing land protection efforts in the identified Core Conservation Areas has helped CILTI preserve beautiful places that include Johnson County’s Laura Hare Preserve at Blossom Hollow and the Fred and Dorothy Meyer Preserve in Morgan County, both now open to the public with parking lots and trails.
Chapman has led training sessions on conservation planning for state and national audiences and has served on the Board of Directors of Sycamore Land Trust and founded the Oak Heritage Conservancy, a land trust serving southeast Indiana. He currently serves as President of the Indiana Land Protection Alliance and is on the Board of Directors of Amos Butler Audubon and the Natural Areas Association.
Prior to joining CILTI, Chapman served as an ecologist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Nature Preserves and as a biologist at The Nature Conservancy in Olympia, Washington. An Indiana University graduate, he lives in Indianapolis with his wife, Carrie, and their newborn son, Will.
About the Central Indiana Land Trust
Founded in 1990, the Central Indiana Land Trust is a local, independent nonprofit conservation organization that secures land and development rights to ensure that natural areas are conserved forever. It has worked with willing landowners to protect more than 4,000 acres.
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Media contact: Jen Thomas, JTPR, jen@jtprinc.com, 317-441-2487
Jen Schmits Thomas
Media Relations