Get to know the Alliance: Owen Wozniak

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. Owen Wozniak has been with the Land Trust Alliance for 5 years and currently serves as the organization’s land transactions program manager.

What drew you to come work for the Land Trust Alliance?

I've worked in land conservation for a long time but jumped at the opportunity to work in a role that was more directly focused on climate resilience and was national in scope.

If you weren’t working at the Alliance, what would be your dream job?

Back country ski guide!

What motivates you to keep working for the Alliance?

The promise of having an impact that catalyzes the protection of nature at a large scale — and the organizational culture.

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?

2007 in Denver was my first! 2015 in Sacramento was probably the most impactful, for personal reasons — I was in a leadership role and started to find enormous value in the networking that happens at Rally. It was also the first year I participated as a presenter. The most memorable was definitely New Orleans in 2022. So great to be back in person! And I stayed up all night with some colleagues who will remain anonymous.

[Ed. note: Due to COVID, Rally was held virtually in 2020 and 2021.]

During your tenure, what’s your favorite Alliance accomplishment or program, and why?

I'm biased, but our land capital work is my favorite. It's been wonderful to see our time, effort and money directly shaping important land protection projects.

We're in the Thanksgiving season. What are you most grateful for?

Simply put, I'm grateful for the opportunity to earn a living wage working to save nature. It's a gift.

What would you say is your biggest conservation concern?

I'm most concerned about shifting baselines. I've come to realize that we can adapt to climate change — albeit with grossly unfair impacts to certain groups of people, which is why we need to keep pushing for justice as a core component of our work. And I've come to accept that fundamental shifts in our ecosystems — mostly for the worse — are inevitable. But I worry about a fundamental failure of imagination, both among conservationists and the public at large.

Most stories of natural abundance from the past now seem simply unbelievable. The dramatic decrease in insect life that I've experienced in my own lifetime is easily forgotten, especially insofar as it makes for more pleasant picnics and camping trips — but signals ecosystem collapse. If we can't really imagine how the world once was and could be, we won't ever get anywhere near it.

Other than the Alliance and land conservation, what other cause are you supporting this Giving Tuesday?

I support my own nonprofit, the Intertwine Alliance, which exists to support investments in, and connect people to, nature in my home region of Portland, Oregon. I also support organizations working to address pollution.

When you are having a bad day at work, what keeps you going?

Ski videos!

Who inspires you?

Greta Thunberg. How could I not be? She speaks the truth, and it hurts to listen.

Who in the conservation space inspires you?

Mark Anderson, The Nature Conservancy's director of conservation science and a recent Kingsbury Brown winner. So smart, so kind, so committed to his mission.

What gives you reason for hope?

My own kid deserves a livable planet. He and his generation will demand it and — I hope — sweep away the institutions working so hard to destroy it.