Get to know the Alliance: Lindsy Frix
Frix is the marketing and communications specialist at the Land Trust Alliance and has been with the organization for four years.
With the holidays approaching, the Land Trust Alliance cornered some of our staff to ask them how they got started at the Alliance, what they're grateful for, and what gives them hope for the future. Lindsy Frix is the marketing and communications specialist at the Land Trust Alliance and has been with the organization for four years.
What drew you to work for the Land Trust Alliance?
Lindsy Frix: Growing up in a 500-person town, I always knew I wanted to do work that directly impacted communities at the local level. Tied with my love for the land and knowing it was important to save for future generations, working at the Alliance is the perfect place. How lucky am I to be already working the "dream job" that little 18-year-old Lindsy wanted to be doing?
What would be your dream job if you weren’t working for the Alliance?
Frix: Talk show host!
What keeps you working for the Alliance?
Frix: The ability to make an impact at a local level from a national standpoint. Whether it is supporting land trusts in rural Kanas or a big city like Chicago, I love that we are truly an “alliance” of 1,000 members working toward a common goal.
Rally is the Land Trust Alliance’s annual gathering of land conservation practitioners from around the world. What was your first Rally experience, and which Rally was the most memorable or impactful to you?
Frix: I started right before Rally 2020, which had gone virtual thanks to COVID, but now that I have attended in-person Rallys, the impact was no different — still inspiring and rejuvenating! My first in-person was in New Orleans in 2022, which was incredible. I look forward to seeing the folks I've met year after year and learning more about each host city.
During your time with the Alliance, what has been your favorite accomplishment or program, and why?
Frix: The Gaining Ground campaign is my favorite — there are so many folks, myself included before entering land conservation, that do not know what a land trust is. I had walked many trails and visited many preserves without thinking, "How is this maintained? Who keeps this conserved?"
Because of Gaining Ground, more and more people are going to understand the important work of land trusts and how they impact their communities.
We are in the month of Thanksgiving. What are you most grateful for?
Frix: My health, my family and my team at the Alliance!
What’s your biggest conservation concern?
Frix: There are a handful, but one of the ones that keeps me up at night is getting our next generation of farmers out on the land. Currently, about 40% of the national farmland is owned by people aged 65 and older, which means that up to 370 million acres of farmland could change hands in the next 20 years. If no one can take over farming that land, we may lose it to development and ultimately impact our food chains.
When you're having a bad day at work, what keeps you going?
Frix: All the baby animals that need a place to live... But really, it's knowing our work truly does have an impact, not only locally, but globally.
Who inspires you?
Frix: This would probably come as a surprise to her, but Kate Stookey, the executive director of Maine Coast Heritage Trust. After meeting Kate at Advocacy Days and listening to her talk to Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), I was in awe. The way that Kate thinks about land conservation holistically across the entire state of Maine served as another reminder as to why land is the answer to many of our societal issues. I left the meeting inspired and reminded of why I am doing this work.
What gives you reason for hope?
Frix: The 2,000 or so people who travel across the country for Rally each year to learn and grow together.