Planning Fellow: Grace Nelson

We are consistently amazed at how much our planning department is able to accomplish: helping municipalities and nonprofit organizations all over NJ to find green spaces in their communities, secure grand funding to protect natural resources and create parks, identify ecologically sensitive areas and farmland to preserve, and secure grant funding to pay for these improvements. It's astonishing!

Our planning fellows are a key factor in this record of success, and Grace Nelson is no exception. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Grace got her BA at the University of Pittsburgh in political science and history and a minor in Spanish, focusing on environmental history and policy. She is now pursuing a master’s degree in environmental studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

When Grace isn't hard at work mastering InDesign to create environmental resource inventories and open space plans, or canvassing communities for their input on a new recreation plan, she enjoys running, hiking, and working with the urban wildlife of Philadelphia.

She says, "I’m excited to work with The Land Conservancy of New Jersey because I believe that protecting open space and natural resources is foundational to environmental resilience. As a planning fellow, I can contribute to conservation efforts that guard land, water and biodiversity and ultimately support a greener, more sustainable New Jersey."

And she's doing just that!