Tova Woyciechowicz Joins Staff

by Christine Lichtenfels

Photo by Mike McClure

Tova Woyciechowicz has joined WOC as our community organizer. She's working with our inveterate Red Desert rat and outreach coordinator, Mac Blewer, as we continue to ramp up our efforts to educate citizens and decisionmakers about the Greater Red Desert's unique natural, cultural and historic values and build support for federal legislation that would protect the desert as a National Conservation Area.

Tova comes to WOC from the Northern Plains Resource Council in Billings. A 2002 graduate of the University of Montana with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a minor in Studio Art, Tova recently completed a temporary assignment as NPRC's Good Neighbor Administrator. She's also worked as a campus organizer for the Clark's Fork Coalition in Missoula, a research assistant for the Forest Voles Research Project in Condon, MT, a trails laborer and crew supervisor in both Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks and a canvasser and petitioner for the Montana Public Interest Research Group.

A native of Montana's Bitterroot Valley, Tova learned first-hand how tied she is to the wild places and wide-open spaces of the West when she traveled east to Providence, RI, to attend the Rhode Island School of Design. With that realization, she re-committed herself to advocating for protection of the West's treasured places.

We are delighted to have Tova on board to help bolster the effectiveness of our

Greater Red Desert protection campaign. "I'm excited about joining WOC's dedicated staff," Tova says. "I welcome this opportunity to further refine my passion into a more effective tool for conserving the natural world and our rural quality of life."