 William W. Abberger
Will has been involved with Eagle's Nest since his mother, who was then the Camp Program and Arts and Crafts Director, first brought him there as a four-year-old in 1966. He has been a JPA, PA, CIT, JC, and Counselor. He also participated in the first Hante trek with Helen Waite on the Appalachian Trail in 1973 and served as chief of the Natseho tribe. He has been on the Board of Trustees for well over a decade and has served several terms as President of the Board of Trustees.
Will received a Master's degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia, School of Architecture, where he worked for the University's Institute for Environmental Negotiation, and a B.A. in English from Davidson College.
Currently, Will is Director of the Trust for Public Land’s national Conservation Finance Program, helping state and local governments and citizen groups throughout the United States gauge public support for open space and craft ballot measures that generate new sources of funding for land conservation. Will led TPL’s efforts to secure approval in 1999 of the Florida Forever Act, the nation’s largest legislatively enacted state conservation land acquisition program. He was also actively involved in helping to design and win voter approval in 2008 for the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy state constitutional amendment, the nation’s largest land conservation ballot measure. He has been directly involved in more than sixty local and state land conservation ballot measures. In his nineteen years with the Trust for Public Land, Will’s responsibilities have also included directing Florida Programs for the Florida Office, directing the Conservation Services program for TPL’s nine-state Southeast Region, and directing TPL's Southeast Land Trust program.
Before coming to the Trust for Public Land, he served as Associate with World Wildlife Fund’s Successful Communities Program in Washington, D.C.; as Field Representative for the Successful Communities Program in Florida, in partnership with 1000 Friends of Florida; and as Senior Cabinet Aide for environmental affairs in the Florida Treasurer's office. He is also a former employee of the natural resources unit of the Florida Governor's Office of Planning and Budgeting.
An avid sea kayaker and cyclist, Will’s enthusiasm for and dedication to open space preservation and experiential education are manifested in his lifelong commitment to the achievement of the ENF mission.
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