Spring 2024 Lady Slipper Award Goes to Mike Egan
Once every season, we honor an outstanding volunteer with our Lady Slipper Award. For this spring, the winner is Mike Egan. AmeriCorps member Mary Miller talked with Mike about the great work he does to support Conserving Carolina. Thank you, Mike!
- How long have you been a volunteer with Conserving Carolina? I began volunteering with Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy when I joined the Land Protection Committee approximately fifteen years ago.
- In what capacity do you typically volunteer with Conserving Carolina? How have you volunteered for Conserving Carolina in the past? I have served, and continue to serve, on numerous committees. Currently, I am a member of the Land Protection Committee, the Nominating and Board Development Committee, and the Native Partnership Working Group. I’m also serving my third term on the board of directors of Conserving Carolina. From time to time I’m asked to help out with organizational projects, such as joining with Amos Dawson, Pat Cafferty, and staff to negotiate the acquisition of the Ecusta Trail.
- What brought you to Western North Carolina, and what has been your inspiration for becoming involved with Conserving Carolina? Plain and simple, what brought me to Western North Carolina were the mountains. Growing up in Central Florida, I never saw a mountain until I made a detour to the Blue Ridge Mountains when I was nineteen years old. I was awestruck. There is a direct link between that moment and my move to Hendersonville 30 years later and to my involvement with Conserving Carolina.
- What was your education/career background before coming to the area? I practiced environmental law in Tallahassee, Florida, prior to moving here. Once here, my practice emphasized local government and land use law.
- How did you come to be so involved with Conserving Carolina? What motivates you to continue focusing so much of your time and energy on furthering conservation efforts? Well, I’ve always had a deep and abiding love for the natural world. It was Rick Merrill who prompted me to first become involved with CMLC by inviting me onto the Land Protection Committee. Then he continued to invite me ever deeper into our organization, onto the board and, then, onto the Nominating and Board Development Committee. I love our mission, I love our people, including staff, fellow board members and volunteers. I love that we’ve had so many success stories. Why wouldn’t I be motivated to focus my time and energy here?
- What is your “favorite” environmental conservation issue, either facing WNC or in another community? Climate change has to be the most significant environmental issue the planet faces right now. It is such a big issue, however, it can be challenging to get intimate with it. I confess that my “favorite” issue is the work we’re doing restoring streams.
- What has been your most rewarding experience in volunteering with Conserving Carolina? I’m thinking my most rewarding experience has been working with staff. We have all these young, passionate, dedicated and gifted people working to make our little slice of the world a better place. I love it.
- What are your hopes and/or expectations for Conserving Carolina in the future? I believe Conserving Carolina has found the ideal home here in Western North Carolina. Much of the growth the region has experienced in the last 50 years is due to people who have relocated here because of the beauty of the natural landscape, and these people are motivated to preserve that beauty for themselves and for future generations. Combine that fortuitous circumstance with our good fortune to hire Kieran Roe as our executive director 25 years ago, and Conserving Carolina is poised to become one of the preeminent land trusts in the country.
- What else do you like to do when you aren’t volunteering for Conserving Carolina? Your other interests, passions, hobbies and pursuits? I like to hike. I like to sit beside a clear mountain stream and think thoughts all the way through to the end. I like to read and write. And I like almost everything about food.
- What other interesting, cool and exciting information about you can we share with our readers? Do you have a motto or quote that you try to live by, that has informed your commitment to volunteering with Conserving Carolina? I’ve had a lifelong love affair with poetry. The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote, “Praising is what matters!” And the Polish poet Czelsaw Milosz once wrote, “There are nothing but gifts on this poor, poor earth.” These are pretty much my gospel.