Karen Lombard
Director of Stewardship and Restoration
Massachusetts
Karen Lombard Director of Stewardship and Restoration for The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts © Karen Lombard
Areas of Expertise
Stewardship, Restoration, Land Management, Ecology
Biography
Karen Lombard is the Director of Stewardship and Restoration for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Massachusetts and has been working in stewardship and restoration with the organization since 1997. She leads a stewardship team that manages 8,000 acres of TNC fee land and monitors 2,500 acres of conservation easement land in the state.
Karen has nearly 30 years of experience in restoring and managing habitats on TNC and partner lands including floodplain forest restoration, application of prescribed fire and invasive plant control. She co-leads a regional network focused on improving management in coastal sandplain grassland ecosystems and is the chair of the Massachusetts Invasive Plant Advisory Group plant evaluation subcommittee. In 2021, Karen led a team of TNC managers in the creation of a guidance document on managing for climate resilience on TNC lands.
She has an M.S. in Natural Resource Management from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from Williams College.
In The Media
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Partnering to Save Sandplain Grasslands
Lombard shares TNC in Massachusetts' work on sandplain grassland restoration and how a network of conservationists are coming together to save them across their range. Read the Field Note here
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On the market for a historic barn?
This one in Sheffield is on a deadline to find a few home. Hear from Lombard about the property.
Stewardship in MA
Restoring Imperiled Grasslands on Martha's Vineyard
The Island is one of the last remaining strongholds of sandplain grasslands. TNC and partners are bringing back habitats and species once more common on the Island.
How Does the Bobcat Cross the Mass Pike
TNC in Massachusetts is leading an effort to assess and map culverts under Interstate 90 to identify those that can serve as corridors for wildlife to pass under the road.
Connecting Lands for Climate Resilience
TNC data shows which landscapes will support plants and animals as the climate changes. We're working to protect them.