Meet Sara Husby of Anza-Borrego Foundation

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Husby.

Sara, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a total city girl at heart, as I was born and raised in Chicago. I’m the oldest of four, so I consider myself the Guinea pig. Being the first born, my parents tried out all their original parenting ideas on me and made corrections as the others came along. Though in my opinion, I turned out the best, but I could be biased…

Growing up in the city, my outdoor experiences are very different than those who grew up surrounded by the beautiful landscapes that I now protect. The closest thing to mountains were the downtown skyscrapers. To see a cactus, I would go to the Lincoln Park Conservatory; and for any wild animals, the Lincoln Park Zoo. My love for the outdoors came from family summer fishing trips in Green Lake, Wisconsin, and weekend campouts with my Girl Scout troop at Camp Juniper Knoll. I was intrigued by the landscapes I saw only in calendars or on television.

I finally graduated college with my bachelor’s degree at the good ol’ age of 29. I was a re-entry student at UC Davis and I studied community and regional development with an emphasis in public policy and planning. I think being called a re-entry student is the nice way of saying it took me a while to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. I did know since high school that I wanted to protect the environment, but I wasn’t sure how, and I never thought it would be through working for a nonprofit.

But a great conservation nonprofit in Northern California called Tuleyome took a chance and gave me the opportunity to make an impact and to lead. I was hired to be the campaign director for the Berryessa Snow Mountain Campaign and the executive director.

It was a job that I was really good at, and one that I enjoyed because I knew we were making a difference. In 2014, I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the 50th Anniversary Celebration Conference of the 1964 Wilderness Act, sitting in a room watching a video of all the incredible land that was protected with over 500 environmental activists from around the world, some who were involved in the movement since the 60s, others who tied themselves to trees or rocks, and others that lied down in front of bulldozers to stop destruction and stand up for what they believed in, and I knew right then and there that I am doing exactly what I was meant to do. I’m the next generation to protect America’s public lands. And I got to do just that in 2015, and I’m just getting started!

Working in collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders, elected officials, tribes, national, state, and local environmental groups, ranchers, the off highway vehicle community, equestrian groups, and mountain bike associations; we changed the United States landscape forever. On July 10th, 2015, President Obama declared Berryessa Snow Mountain a National Monument.

So here I am now, living in Borrego Springs, working to protect the largest state park in California –the largest state park in the lower 48. I love my job! I love my career! And I am nowhere near done making a difference on our public lands!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Nothing in life is smooth sailing, though it took me awhile to no longer look at the struggles of my past in a negative way.

My family is poor, not was, is. I come from a hard-working, lower class background. At times we were on food stamps, and my mom worked three jobs after my parents divorced in order to pay the mortgage and feed us. If there was something I wanted, I had to work to get it. I paid for my own high school and college tuition. I am the first in my family on both sides to graduate from college. My background makes me the strong woman I am today. I am determined, passionate and driven.

Please tell us about Anza-Borrego Foundation.
I head up the Anza-Borrego Foundation, the official nonprofit partner of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Anza-Borrego Foundation has been the protector of the Park for more than 50 years, providing financial support, buying land to expand the Park, educating the public about all the Park has to offer and supporting research efforts. We also fund staff at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park’s Visitor Center and run the State Park Store.

My job is to uphold the Foundation’s mission, ensuring that Anza-Borrego Desert State Park remains a resource for years to come! The Foundation protects more than 1,500 species of plants and animals, as well as the wilderness experience for a million visitors who enjoy the Park each year.

Many people do not know that the Park is full of pockets of private land. One of the Foundation’s main roles is to conserve this land by buying it from willing sellers and adding it to the Park. We’re especially proud that to date, Anza-Borrego Foundation has acquired more than 55,000 acres to add to the Park!

One thing that I find really cool is the Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center, which the Foundation founded in partnership with the Park and UC Irvine five years ago. It brings researchers from all over the world to the Park for important field research, so we can better understand the natural and cultural resources around us.

A lot of people also don’t know that 99 percent of the Park is free and open for the public to enjoy! You can park on the side of the road and do primitive camping; you can take a wide range of amazing hikes to archaeological sites and beautiful vistas; you can see all types of wildlife that you can’t find anywhere else.

The Park encompasses 20 percent of San Diego County – this is San Diego’s Park, and everyone should come out and enjoy it!

What’s your favorite memory from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory is from summers in Green Lake, Wisconsin. I still remember the layout of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store, and the way my cousin’s cabin smelled when you walked in. My brother and I got to eat mini boxes of cereal in the morning and shoot BB guns. I learned that you always wear a hat when fishing by the lake because you do not want a tick to fall out of a tree and onto your head. I look back and laugh at how we use to ride around with my Auntie Wilma and Uncle Don at dusk looking for deer as they enjoyed road sodas. I was a lucky kid.

Contact Info:

• Address: Anza-Borrego Foundation
  587 Palm Canyon Drive #111
  Borrego Springs, CA 92004
• Website: www.theABF.org
• Phone: 760-767-0446
• Email: info@TheABF.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/anzaborrego
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/AnzaBorregoFoundation
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anza_Borrego

Image Credit:
Arash Afshar
Hans Zima
Ashley Kvitek
Richard Maxwell
Katelyn WIlliams

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