Louisa County is one of the few area counties that employs two naturalists for their conservation department, but they are presently looking to hire a new one. Naturalist Roxy Gerard left Louisa County Conservation to accept a job in another state, leaving Lana Artz-McComb as the sole naturalist for the county. While most counties employ a single naturalist, Artz-McComb explained they have such a busy schedule of programs each year, they need two naturalists to be able to continue to offer everything. Activities they oversee include hunter education, school programming for each district in the county, summer camps, public programs, and special events like the Halloween Hike and Migration Paddle. She added, every county is run differently, so it’s difficult to compare one conservation board to another.

As far as qualifications for the position, Artz-McComb said it requires a four-year bachelor’s degree in either science, natural resources, environmental education, or something along those lines. She added, “The most important part is getting somebody with experience, and more importantly passion for education, and especially environmental education. We do our education in a very non-traditional way here at Louisa County, and that’s the kind of individual we’re looking at for this job.” The deadline for applications is October 10th, and Artz-McComb indicated they will move quickly to hire and train the new naturalist.