A Salute to Heather Gracie-Petty

It was a privilege to participate in the Somerset Hills YMCA Volunteer Recognition Event last Thursday evening. It was so incredibly inspiring to understand the level of volunteerism that is thriving in our community. The stories and experiences shared by recipients literally left you teary-eyed. URWA was proud to be there and even prouder of our “volunteer of the year” - Heather Gracie-Petty.

Heather is the Chair of our Stewardship Committee. As a certified forester, she brings sound science and professional expertise to a key component of good conservation. When you understand that Heather is a wife, mother, champion marathon runner and that she and her firm are responsible for the sustainable health of over 34 thousand acres of New Jersey’s woodlands…you might wonder…how and when does she find the time to volunteer for URWA? Well she does…all year round!

Some of Heather’s contributions to URWA include:

• She runs our annual Winter Tree Identification program 
• She assists with countless high school and community volunteer events – working just this last year with Bernards High and Pingry students, numerous boy and girl scout troops, corporate “days of caring”  
• Heather has completed surveys and created forest stewardship plans for URWA’s Preserves  
• She spends countless hours helping with the details of implementing our stewardship initiatives; resourcing plant materials and coordinating hands-on projects including the removal of thousands of invasive shrubs from public preserves around the watershed region, followed by the planting of native species  
• Heather has created experimental projects like deer exclosures for the long term study of forest health  

Most importantly, Heather is a strong advocate for sound policies that protect natural resources – she is an effective voice in New Jersey.  In summary, you can understand why we were proud to honor Heather Gracie-Petty as our Volunteer of the Year.

If we didn’t say it enough that evening…THANK YOU to the YMCA for putting together such a special evening and to Recorder Newspapers for giving hard working non-profits an opportunity to showcase their important missions and contributions to the community.