NATIONAL SEARCHES HAVE RESULTED IN NONPROFIT EXECUTIVES COMING TO BUFFALO FOR POSITIONS AT COMMUNITY ACTION ORGANIZATION OF WNY AND THE BUFFALO OLMSTED PARKS CONSERVANCY.
Olmsted Parks hired Margaret Lapp as its first curator for the South Park Arboretum. Lapp holds a master’s in landscape architecture from SUNY College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry and a master’s in public health from SUNY Upstate Medical University.
A Niagara County native who grew up on a farm, Lapp spent time in South America as the Cornell University Dreer Award recipient, where she designed the first highland ethno-botanic garden as part of an Ecuadorian Food for Peace project. She has spent the last five years in public health, first with the Field & Fork Network and then with Neighborhood Health Center in Buffalo.
At Olmsted, Lapp will begin the first phase of a $6 million long-term restoration project for the arboretum at South Park. The $550,000 Phase 1 project includes tree inventory, safety pruning and managing the existing collection.
Stephanie Crockatt, CEO for the conservancy, said Lapp’s background of landscape architecture and public health is exactly what the organization needs.
“This is an original Olmsted arboretum that was never fully realized,” she said. “We have the great opportunity to bring education and scientific opportunity (to fruition), but also eco-tourism. Trees can literally breathe life into our community.”
Her position is funded for two years by a $150,000 grant from the First Niagara Foundation in partnership with KeyBank.
Read full article here: https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2021/01/15/cao-of-wny-buffalo-olmsted.html
