Current Job: Director, Virginia Coast Reserve, The Nature Conservancy
Current Project: Virginia Coast Reserve
State(s) working in: Virginia
Where are you from: Eastern Shore of Maryland
What do you think is the main reason we should protect SAV?
Numerous Ecosystem Benefits.
How do you feel your research will make a difference in the SAV community?
I hope that 35+ years of research, management and advocating for SAV and seagrass, benefits and restoration have made a difference in the SAV community!
What is one of your best memories working with SAV?
SAV and seagrass beds are among the most amazing systems on the planet, and I feel fortunate to have experienced SAV all over the world and especially in the largest seagrass restoration in the world at the Virginia Coast Reserve.
What keeps you motivated to keep caring about the future of SAV?
The connection to SAV and seagrasses throughout my career keeps me motivated as does the incredible younger generation that has entered the field in the past 10-15 years- our planet is in good hands!
More about Jill’s story
As Director of The Nature Conservancy’s Volgenau Virginia Coast Reserve, Jill Bieri leads a staff of fifteen working to protect, restore and sustain the barrier islands, coastal lagoon and bayside ecosystems of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Jill holds a master’s degree in marine science from the College of William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science and 35+ years of experience working on the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays. She has worked as a scientific researcher (seagrass ecology), an environmental educator, public grants writer and founder/director of a small environmental non-profit. Her interests include coastal and bay ecology, environmental education, and non-profit leadership. Jill is an avid long-distance runner and enjoys both living and working in the last expanse of coastal wilderness on the East Coast of the U.S.
