Maggie Jones to Receive Environmental Achievement Award from Conn College

Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center Executive Director Maggie Jones will be honored Thursday with the Goodwin-Niering Center Alumni Environmental Achievement Award for more than 20 years of leadership in community environmental education and land conservation.

The award recognizes, celebrates, and honors Connecticut College graduates who have gone on to make significant contributions in a wide variety of fields. Jones, of Mystic, graduated from Connecticut College in 1985.

The award presentation and Jones’ talk is at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 27 in Blaustein Hall. It is open to the public.

As the executive director of the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center (DPNC) since 1992, Jones’s work exemplifies the many ways that a passion for the environment, combined with an outstanding liberal arts education, can greatly benefit society, the college said on its website.

Jones received a degree in botany and ecology at the College, and earned a degree in landscape architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design.

“This award is very meaningful for me because I knew both Dick Goodwin and Bob Niering well,” Jones said. “Dick was retired by the time I was a student but he was still very active with the college. And he was always so supportive and he took a real personal interest when I got the job at the Nature Center.”

As for Niering, “he was one of my teachers, probably the most influential I had. It was in his classes that I decided I really wanted to be a botanist.

“I know they would both be pleased to see how their environmental ethic rubbed off on one of their former students.”

Jones recently worked closely with DPNC Board of Trustees President Page Owen, a botany professor at Conn, on the campaign to save Coogan Farm in Mystic.

“Unlike many leaders, Maggie embraces the entire mission, not just one part,” said Kim Hargrave, former director of education at the DPNC. “What stands out most is her daily presence at DPNC and being involved in all that happens — writing grants, pulling invasive species, rehabbing a hawk or leading the charge to save the Coogan Farm.”

Jones has continued to pursue her interests in research projects, land preservation efforts, leading field trips, and as a member of the Connecticut Ornithological Association, Connecticut Botanical Society and local land trusts.  Her research on forests and their impact on the bird population has been published in multiple science publications and books.  

Jones is a lifelong resident of Connecticut and currently resides in Mystic.