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Meet Jane-Kerin Moffat

Conservation Advocate and Audubon Connecticut Board Member Emeritus

If you’ve followed state and national conservation issues in at least the last two decades, chances are you’ve heard the name, Jane-Kerin Moffat. A passionate champion of the environment, Jane has a strong and influential voice and a long history of effectively connecting with all levels of stakeholders from concerned citizens to town commissions to legislators, to tackle public policy issues that impact the well-being of nature, wildlife, and people.

Much of Jane’s drive comes from her desire to build a stronger awareness of how people (and their actions) impact nature. She spent the first half of her career working as a 3rd-grade elementary school teacher, and is an avid supporter of environmental education, particularly for children to have meaningful, lasting experiences in nature.

Jane has had a love of natural places since she was a young girl. One of her fondest childhood memories is the first time she heard and encountered a Hermit Thrush during a walk on a family retreat in New Hampshire. To this day, the Hermit Thrush is still her favorite bird. But her larger passion for conservation didn’t emerge until later in life, after graduate school. While enjoying a walk at Greenwich Point, she came upon a horrible, huge, improperly working compost pile—and thought to herself, “something has to be done about this.” One thing led to another, and something was done about it. Jane took an active role with the Greenwich Point Committee and the drafting of their conservation and development plan.

Since then, Jane has focused much of her attention on Long Island Sound, knitting together a grassroots network for the protection of water quality, open space, and habitat corridors. Her work is connected with many organizations, but her deepest roots are set within Audubon. Jane served as the coordinator of National Audubon Society's Listen to the Sound campaign in the 1990s and has provided many collective years of support and council as a board member of Audubon Greenwich, Audubon Connecticut, and the National Audubon Society.

Today, Jane’s concerns go beyond the Long Island Sound. She feels everyone should be directing their attention to the global crisis at hand—global warming and sustainability, and the role each and every one of us plays. Jane notes, “we are all part of the interconnected global ecosystem, but unfortunately many of us can’t see past our front yard. Education and heightened awareness are our only hope.”

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