Keep It Colorado Grows Its Team: Welcome, Hannah George

April 25, 2022 – GOLDEN – Keep It Colorado has expanded its team with the addition of Hannah George, who joined the coalition as programs and events coordinator in April. Bringing extensive experience working with local farms and land trusts, Hannah will provide key oversight and administrative support for Keep It Colorado’s grant programs, special projects and member events.

“We’re delighted to welcome Hannah to our small but mighty team,” said Melissa Daruna, executive director. “We were immediately drawn to Hannah’s background in land conservation, her gifts in collaboration and her passion for the natural world. We’re very excited that she chose to bring her skills and talents to Keep It Colorado.”

Hannah will administer Keep It Colorado’s programs that regrant funds to coalition members; track and support restricted and unrestricted grants to Keep It Colorado; coordinate member events and convenings; and provide administrative support for the coalition’s ongoing programs and services.

Hannah brings to the role a considerable background in land conservation. Prior to joining Keep It Colorado, she was an outreach assistant and organizer for the National Young Farmers Coalition in Boulder. There, she conducted outreach among young farmers nationwide to educate them about U.S. Department of Agriculture programs, including grant and loan opportunities, and developed educational materials about funding programs for farms practicing water conservation in the Colorado River Basin. Prior to that, she worked on several fruit and vegetable farms in Colorado and in upstate New York, where she used sustainable production techniques, led teams and managed markets.

For three years, Hannah worked for the Finger Lakes Land Trust in Ithaca, New York, where she helped administer the regional conservation easement stewardship program. Her duties included conducting annual monitoring, coordinating volunteers, interpreting easements, creating maps and managing stewardship data. Hannah also helped develop strategies to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in land conservation. Her background also includes serving as an ecological restoration crew co-leader for the Student Conservation Association in Yosemite National Park; a lead instructor for the Cornell Outdoor Education program; and a land conservation intern at Finger Lakes Land Trust.

In 2021 served as the elected policy chair of the Flatirons Young Farmers Coalition in Boulder, and previously served as vice chair of the Town of Ithaca Conservation Board for two years. Her volunteer roles have included being a working member of Finger Lakes Land Access, Reconciliation & Reparations; commissioner for the City of Ithaca’s Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission; and trails chair of the Outdoor Odyssey program.

A graduate of Cornell University, Hannah earned a Bachelor of Science with a major in biology and society and minors in natural resources and viticulture and enology, with magna cum laude distinction.

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