Introducing Emelyn Talento, Land Trust Alliance Fellow

Lowcountry Land Trust introduces Emelyn Talento, Land Trust Alliance Fellow and Community Lands Associate. Emelyn joins the Lowcountry Land Trust team thanks to a year-long fellowship through the Land Trust Alliance’s 2025 Scholars for Conservation Leadership Program. This nation-wide, competitive fellowship is designed to expand students’ opportunities to pursue careers in conservation, emphasizing an equitable and community-centered approach to conservation.

Lowcountry Land Trust is proud to be one of two land trusts in the country selected to host a fellow through LTA’s program. Given the opportunity to make the final selection of her preferred land trust pairing, Emelyn ultimately chose Lowcountry Land Trust thanks to proven, dedicated community ties and engagement.

Emelyn works alongside Sam Seawell, Community Lands Director, to assist with Lowcountry Land Trust’s community lands projects and acquisitions, delivering tangible land conservation and community benefit. For Emelyn, this is an opportunity to learn about Lowcountry Land Trust’s forward-thinking buy, protect, transfer, and support model as an innovative approach to the intricacies of conserving community lands in the Charleston area.

Throughout the year-long fellowship, Emelyn will gain hands-on experience with the organization’s efforts at Beefield Community Park and Coakley Chapel Park, through meetings with community leaders and members, worksite visits, and project reporting. The culmination of this work will contribute to the Charleston County Settlement Communities Mapping Project, where collaboration with community leaders will map settlement community boundaries, identify priority areas for conservation, and advance funding needs, ultimately reinforcing conservation policies to promote community conservation.