Meet Judith Westveer

We recently connected with Judith Westveer and have shared our conversation below.

Judith, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I found my purpose by observing the world around me closely – by seeing the destruction of nature firsthand and up-close. I felt great sorrow and sadness to witness deforestation in tropical rainforests, mining in vulnerable alpine regions and desertification of wetlands caused by irrigation of cropland. To see, with your own eyes, how this negatively effects the ecosystem and all its life, us humans included, made me want to spend my life on nature conservation.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Me and my husband work for a non-profit organization in Southeastern Colorado, the Southern Plains Land Trust. Our organization buys, restores and protects shortgrass prairie habitat. This endangered ecosystem is so iconic, it’s literally what you imagine when thinking of the Wild West, yet it is under so much pressure from ranching, agriculture and climate change. What I’m most excited about is that we are making a tremendous and concrete difference for native prairie wildlife: once the land is owned by our organization, wildlife has a safe refuge and is protected from hunting and other anthropogenic effects.

What we do on a daily basis has a direct positive effect on the ecosystem. We remove fences, so wildlife can roam and run freely. We restore stream hydrology and prevent further erosion so we keep as much moisture on the land as possible. We replant native trees along the waterways for species that need woody vegetation, such a birds and beavers. We reintroduce native wildlife such as bison, a great ally in keeping the grassland diverse, and even the endangered black-footed ferret was reintroduced to our preserve in 2022.

The Southern Plains Land Trust now has about 60,000 acres in its preserve network and we are determined to expand much more. We are slowly restoring what was once referred to as the American Serengeti – a vast plain with millions of native wild animals.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1) My ecology degree (PhD in Wetland Restoration) helped me understand how ecosystems function and what can cause problems. 2) Being empathetic is an important quality – we are all human! Realizing that not everyone has had the same experiences or education to understand how cause-and-effect work, is key. We need to find common ground with everyone in order to progress and work together.
3) Creative thinking, finding fun ways to convey a message or goal definitely helps me make my work light and cheerful. I love to implement art and photography and videography in my daily output.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We are a small organization with a big impact. The fact that we’ve been able to protect 60,000 acres so far, with only 3 staff members, is wild. We are dedicated to keep overhead costs as low as possible, so each donated dollar is actually spend on land acquisition and restoration. But in order to keep expanding, we can’t do this alone, we need more supporters. Anyone who cares about the shortgrass prairie, the beautiful wild west, and all it’s plants and wildlife such as bison, pronghorn, prairie dogs, coyotes, eagles and meadowlarks: please become a monthly donor, join our events, or even feel free to come out and do volunteer work! Our website www.southernplains.org shows all the ways you can support us. Become a prairie patron and help protect this magnificent, yet endangered, habitat!

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Karen Voepel, Jill Smith, Sean Boggs, Jennifer Gooden, Rich Reading

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