Russell Keirstead

Tools & Equipment Coordinator - ☎️ 📧

Russell Keirstead could never imagine working 9 to 5 in an office somewhere. So, he didn’t. Russell's passion for the outdoors sent him down a long and winding path, from his childhood on the family farm to his retirement at Wildlands Trust. 

Russell spent his youth milking cows and haying fields on his family’s 20-acre dairy farm in Plympton. Purchased in 1942 by his grandfather, the farm spanned four generations of Keirsteads, including Russell’s two sons. Russell served in the Air Force after high school, but he never lost sight of his roots. With support from the GI Bill, Russell earned his associate degree in fruit and vegetable production from UMass Amherst’s Stockbridge School of Agriculture and returned to the family farm, growing crops to sell at local farmers’ markets. Russell stayed outside for the rest of his career, spending two decades managing cranberry bogs in Wareham and Rochester and two more maintaining trees, fields, and roads for the Town of Duxbury. 

Russell retired in 2021, but when he saw the chance to join Wildlands part-time in 2024, he leapt at the opportunity. According to Russell, his job is to make Wildlands land stewards’ jobs easier by keeping tools and equipment in good shape. “This is the best job I’ve had," Russell said. “Seeing how busy the staff is and all the good work they do, I’m happy to come here every day.” 

While his family farm was sold a few years ago, Russell still lives on a piece of the property, from which he enjoys watching the land continue to be hayed and now build community through Mayflower Market Days. In his free time, Russell enjoys hiking, birdwatching, and gardening. His favorite place remains the woods behind his house, where he grew up with a stick in his hand and continues to explore today.