Conservation Trust
for North Carolina

Conservation Trust for North Carolina

Land trust leader James Coman named NC Conservationist of Year

James Coman is a farmer, an avid birder, and an ardent defender of North Carolina's natural treasures. He is also a force to be reckoned with when it comes to protecting the state's land and water.

Coman has spent years on the forefront of efforts to save farms and natural open lands in western North Carolina, helping to create the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust and serving as its executive director for more than eight years.

His leadership has now earned him the highest honor given by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, which named Coman the Conservationist of the Year at its 46^th annual Governor's Conservation Achievement Awards banquet.

Coman was accompanied by family and members of the BRRLT board to the Feb. 23 awards banquet in Raleigh, where the audience expressed its admiration for his accomplishments with a standing ovation.

As he accepted the award, Coman asked the BRRLT board members to rise and share credit for the organization's work. But board member Martha Stephenson, who attended, says Coman stands alone in the spotlight.

"The Board will tell you, without exception, that our organization is an expression of James Coman - his focus on his life-long passion for conservation - of special places, of mountain lands, of wildlife habitat, of a rural way of life dependent on the land," Stephenson said. BRRLT owes its success to James Coman. "Our future successes will always, in some way, be a reflection of James."

Under Coman's direction, BRRLT grew from an all-volunteer group to one of the leading organizations in farm and forest land conservation in North Carolina, protecting nearly 10,000 acres through conservation easements and direct purchase.

Coman himself has been an active farmer for more than 30 years, and his firsthand appreciation for agriculture and passion for saving North Carolina's farmlands have been critical to BRRLT's success.

"There is no one better at this work than James because he has such credibility and success just being 'neighbors talking to neighbors,' which guides BRRLT's way of working," Stephenson says.

Coman and BRRLT have worked with the Conservation Trust for North Carolina on numerous joint projects along the Blue Ridge Parkway. CTNC associate director Margaret Newbold has admired Coman's zeal and dedication through the years.

"He is tireless and completely devoted to working with farmers and landowners to protect their land. We need more James Comans," she says.