GAMBIER — Kenyon College’s Philander Chase Conservancy recently honored longtime Knox County conservation leader Lori Totman for a career spent conserving and managing natural resources.
Totman received the conservancy’s Jean S. Briggs Award for Leadership in Land Conservation during a special dinner on Oct. 27. She retired at the end of 2023 after 10 years as director of the Knox County Park District.
The award recognizes extraordinary leadership in protecting the natural beauty, health, and vibrancy of the rural lands surrounding Gambier and Kenyon. It was established in 2022 and is named for Jean Briggs.
Briggs was the first landowner in Knox County to work with the conservancy to protect her farm in perpetuity through a donated agricultural easement in 2003.
The conservancy’s board of directors gives the award.
Protecting ecosystems
The conservancy was founded in 2000 to protect the natural beauty and ecosystems surrounding Kenyon. It has worked with farmers, landowners, environmental groups, and government agencies to protect the rural character and natural resources of lands within an approximate five-mile radius around campus through conservation and agricultural easements.
It is the only conservancy created by a college or university and protects nearly 6,000 acres of open spaces, agricultural lands, woodlands, and riparian corridors. Director Amy Henricksen said Totman shared this mission of protecting the area’s natural resources throughout her career and has been an invaluable partner to the conservancy.
“The Philander Chase Conservancy has a longstanding history of partnership and collaboration with the Knox County Park District. This partnership has thrived during Lori’s tenure as the park district’s director,” she said.
“Our community has benefited greatly from Lori’s particular focus on the expansion of the county’s green spaces, parks and trails. For her dedication to land conservation, her leadership and her collaborative spirit, it is very fitting that the conservancy’s board selected Lori as the 2024 recipient of the Conservancy’s Jean S. Briggs Award following her recent retirement.”
Totman and the park district partnered with the conservancy on last year’s acquisition and protection via a conservation easement of 62 acres adjoining Wolf Run Regional Park on its north side. She was also instrumental in envisioning the Knox County Greenway project.
This led to the Conservancy’s acquisition of 124 acres on Yauger Road, connecting Wolf Run Regional Park to the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon.
Decades of conservation efforts
Over the years, Totman has been at the heart of the park district’s development and growth through numerous public educational programs and events, green space acquisitions, and collaborative efforts to improve the parks and trails.
Under her leadership, two public funding measures were passed, and park district staff increased to care for over 1,400 acres under the jurisdiction of the park district. That includes nine parks, 10 river access points on the Kokosing and Mohican state scenic rivers, and 14 multi-use trails.
Other accomplishments include the fact that, during her career, Totman entered into 15-year lease agreements with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife on Brinkhaven Park, the Mohican River Wildlife Area, and an area along Zuck Road and the Kokosing River to protect the endangered eastern hellbender and spotted darter.
She collaborated with The Nature Conservancy on a mitigation project for the wetlands at Bat Nest Park and the removal of the hazardous low-head dam near Brinkhaven.
For more information, visit kenyon.edu/philander-chase-conservancy.
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