photo by: Contributed

Kaitlin Stanley joined the Lawrence environmental conservation nonprofit Kansas Land Trust as its new executive director at the start of the year, and she's set to be introduced to community members at a meet-and-greet event later this month.

A Lawrence environmental conservation nonprofit will introduce the community to its new executive director at the end of the month.

The Kansas Land Trust will host a meet-and-greet for Kaitlin Stanley, formerly Douglas County’s heritage coordinator, on Tuesday, March 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. on the second floor of Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop, 804 Massachusetts St. The organization announced the event in a press release Tuesday.

“I enter this role with immense gratitude to have the opportunity to affect real change in reducing land loss through the critical tool of conservation easements,” Stanley said in the release. “I look forward to developing meaningful relationships with the KLT community and increasing our reach so we can work together to conserve our shared natural heritage and the integrity of the land in perpetuity.”

The nonprofit’s outgoing director, Jerry Jost, is set to continue working in a part-time role through 2023 to help ensure a smooth leadership transition, according to the release. The Kansas Land Trust protects and preserves lands of ecological, agricultural, scenic, historic or recreational significance throughout the state and has preserved more than 40,000 acres across 80 properties to date.

Though this may be the first time some community members are hearing about a new executive director at the Kansas Land Trust, Stanley has already been serving in the role for a few months. The nonprofit’s board of directors selected her for the job in December and she began her leadership role in January. At the same time, the Heritage Conservation Council was working to find a new coordinator, and it announced that Kaitlyn Ammerlaan — who is moving from another land trust nonprofit, the Grassland Heritage Foundation, to a role with the county — was taking the job last month.