Thomas believes that healthy, just, and empathetic communities are built upon shared reverence for our natural spaces. He might not have had these words handy as a young boy wandering the suburban woods of Newton, Massachusetts, but every bird, bug, and box turtle he saw reinforced in his mind the importance of conservation for people and wildlife alike. The words, however, did eventually come, and they haven’t stopped since; alongside his naturalist streak grew an equally strong passion for writing and language. It might come as little surprise, then, that Thomas double-majored in environmental science and English at Brown University. It was during this time that he developed a particular fondness for birds. His insatiable avian curiosity led him to internships with Audubon organizations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and most recently Vermont, where he spent a summer surveying diverse bird habitats and the subsequent fall researching state and federal policies to protect them. In his new position at Wildlands Trust, Thomas is excited to return to his home state, applying what he’s learned about ecosystems, community well-being, and storytelling to the people and places that first inspired his love of nature. Besides birdwatching, Thomas spends his free time playing pickup basketball, cheering on the Celtics, solving crossword puzzles, and watching horror movies.
As Communications Coordinator, Thomas will work across departments to create content that elevates Wildlands Trust’s wide-ranging impact and engages new audiences in land conservation. Experiences in wildlife monitoring, environmental education, public policy, science journalism, and more have granted him a multidisciplinary view of the promises and challenges of local conservation. Figuring that reptiles were close enough to birds on the evolutionary tree, Thomas conducted his thesis research at Brown on the behavioral ecology of the Italian wall lizard, a non-native resident of Northeast cities. Prior to Brown, he spent one year at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
