St. Charles resident and park board member Trish Beckjord joins The Conservation Foundation as Fox River Program Manager focusing on Kane and Kendall counties beginning Sept. 1.

Beckjord is a member of The Conservation Foundation’s Kane County Advisory Council and has been active with the Corporate Council of Chicago Wilderness, Wild Ones of Northern Kane, and the Sustainability Committee for the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association.

She will be managing the Fox River Education and Outreach initiative, which is part of the 5-year program funded by the Hamill Family Foundation, from the Dickson-Murst office in Montgomery.

“I am thrilled to be working with communities to bring them into the Conservation in our Community program,” Beckjord said. “It’s so important to conserve what we have left and build back what we’ve lost in the myriad ways we can, from a home garden to a city park to a corporate campus.”

Beckjord will continue as the native plant specialist at Midwest Groundcovers, St. Charles, where she has helped expand the market for native plants recommended for rain gardens, butterfly gardens, and healthy prairies, wetlands, and woodlands since she began in 2012.

Since graduating from the University of Michigan with a master of liberal arts in Landscape Architecture, she has worked at Conservation Design Forum, which serves the Great Lakes region, and in the Ann Arbor office of JJR, an architecture, engineering, and planning firm.

About The Conservation Foundation

The Conservation Foundation, headquartered in Naperville, is one of the region’s oldest and largest not-for-profit land and watershed conservation organizations.

Since it was founded in 1972, TCF has helped preserve nearly 33,000 acres of open space, restored and cleaned miles of rivers and streams, and educated thousands of kids by engaging them in nature and the outdoors.

Work is focused in DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will Counties to preserve and restore nature in your neighborhood. Find out more at theconservationfoundation.org.