A new leader has been tabbed as the state director of the Nature Conservancy’s Mississippi chapter.
Madison native Scott Lemmons will serve as a local leader of the global environmental organization after a decade of service as the director of freshwater programs.
In his prior role on wetland restoration, Lemmons was over bottomland hardwood reforestation programs, large-scale floodplain reconnections, and side channel reconnection projects along the Mississippi River and Yazoo Basin.
Lemmons directed one of the largest conservation projects in the history of the chapter at Loch Leven in southwest Mississippi. Through his leadership, Lemmons brought together more than 15 state, local, and federal partners to complete the multi-million dollar, six-thousand-acre floodplain reconnection project. Loch Leven is the largest floodplain reconnection in the history of the Lower Mississippi River Basin.
As a registered forester, Lemmons also initiated and managed the USFS stewardship agreements with three national forests in Mississippi brokering timber sales on the national forests and utilizing the stewardship agreements to restore the sale tracts back to native longleaf pine habitat.
“I am honored to be named state director, and I look forward to providing leadership in our continued efforts to protect and restore resilient Mississippi landscapes,” Lemmons said. “We have an incredible team of dedicated professionals here at TNC who are the very best in their fields. We are the leaders in conservation in Mississippi because of the work they have done over the years.”
A graduate of the Mississippi State University College of Forest Resources, Lemmons holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry. Before joining TNC, he spent 10 years working for multiple federal agencies as a wildlife biologist mitigating human-wildlife conflicts as related to agriculture and public health and safety, with most of his focus within the Mississippi Delta region.
Lemmons says his vision for TNC Mississippi is to grow the chapter by focusing on three priority areas: freshwater, forests, and coasts. He also has plans to enhance and grow the philanthropy team.
He will lead the chapter in reaching the 2030 goals:
- Large-scale floodplain reconnection projects.
- Restoring river miles through side channel reconnec1ons along the Mississippi River and tributaries.
- Reducing carbon emissions through bottomland hardwood reforestation practices and restoring habitats to native shortleaf/longleaf pine ecosystems.
- Continuing to acquire, restore, enhance, and protect priority ecosystems within Mississippi.
- Working to promote a healthy Gulf and to continue to restore coastal and marine habitats along the Gulf Coast.
Lemmons takes over for former state director Alex Littlejohn.
