Land Conservation and Raptors Oh My!: Jen Freeze ’25 at Tecumseh Land Trust and Glen Helen Raptor Center in Yellow Springs
May 02, 2025For my final co-op as an Antioch student, I have been working at not just one, but two different places, the Tecumseh Land Trust and the Glen Helen Raptor Center, both in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Through my time at both locations, with spending Mondays and Tuesdays at Tecumseh Land Trust and Wednesdays and Thursdays at the Raptor Center, I have gotten to learn a wealth of new information about things that I had never contemplated before or haven’t been properly introduced to. For both of these non-profit organizations, I have gotten to see how they have a positive impact on the community, whether it is pushing to preserve agricultural land or educating the public about raptors and rehabilitating injured raptors.
Tecumseh Land Trust (TLT) was founded in 1990 with a mission “to preserve agricultural lands, natural lands, water resources, and historic sites in voluntary cooperation with landowners, and to educate the public about permanent land preservation.” (TLT). How this process works is by landowners working together with TLT to put a conservation easement in place where the landowners agree “to restrict the use of the land in order to protect its conservation values.” (TLT). TLT has helped to preserve over 36,000 acres of land in Greene, Clark, and surrounding counties of Ohio with the 225 conservation easements that are under TLT with this number continuing to rise.
For the 15 hours I spend at TLT each week, I am usually working on tasks online, such as on the land conservation software called Landscape where I have been taking information found on various documents for each conservation easement and adding it onto Landscape so that certain information will be more easily accessible. Back in September, TLT had a fundraising auction that I helped out with by creating posters for a couple of items that were being auctioned and during the auction, I assisted with making sure everything was running smoothly and then helped with getting items to their respective winners. For the conservation easements, one way that TLT makes sure the owners of the protected properties are following the conditions of the contract for their easement is by having monitor contractors go to the properties once a year and take photos and note down any changes done to the property since the last visit and for a couple of these visits, I was able to come along to take photos of the properties and see how the monitoring visits are done.
The Glen Helen Raptor Center is a part of the Glen Helen Association located in the Glen Helen Nature Preserve with an overall mission to “steward and strengthen Glen Helen for present and future generations, safeguard the ecological, historical, and geological resources within its bounds, and utilize the preserve to offer life-shaping environmental learning to our students and visitors.” (Glen Helen). At the Raptor Center, visitors are able to walk around and see the education ambassador birds who cannot be released back into the wild due to various factors, so they are used to help educate the public about different raptor species. Another key element of the Raptor Center is the rehabilitation of injured birds that are brought into the center with the goal of releasing these birds back into the wild; these birds are commonly referred to as the “rehab birds” amongst the staff and volunteers.
My daily routine at the Raptor Center is about the same for each day I am there with some of the tasks I complete consisting of tending to the mice and quails that are bred on site, changing out water for the rehab birds, picking up any leftover food left by the birds from the day prior, feeding the diurnal birds (raptors that hunt during the daytime i.e. hawks, vultures, and eagles), cleaning enclosures, and cleaning dishes to name just a few things. Alongside my regular duties, I have also gotten to do some training that has included holding some of the birds on a glove such as Odin the Kestrel, Milo the Screech Owl, Valkyrie the Red-tailed hawk, and Flash the Peregrine Falcon which have all been unique and amazing experiences. I have also been taking a lot of photos of the different birds during my time at the Raptor Center and getting some practice with taking pictures of the birds when they are moving around and/or in flight.
Although my main area of study at Antioch is Media Arts, with a focus on photography, these jobs don’t necessarily have any direct ties to that subject, however, I have been able to find a way to incorporate my major at both of these workplaces. I have been taking many photographs during my time at TLT and the Raptor Center that document different places I have been for TLT and all of the feather covered residents at the Raptor Center. Capturing photographs at these places has been a good source of practice for me and it has allowed me to experiment with different settings and orientations even more.
With just a few weeks remaining of this co-op, I am able to look back fondly and think about all of the new things I have learned and experienced. Contributing to the efforts of both of these places has allowed me to see the importance that their efforts hold and how without Tecumseh Land Trust helping to preserve natural landscapes and the Raptor Center rehabilitating injured birds alongside educating the public on these species, we wouldn’t have as much good agricultural land or as many healthy birds in our backyards.
(All photographs included taken by me)
Learn more about Tecumseh Land Trust:
https://www.tecumsehlandtrust.org/
https://www.tecumsehlandtrust.org/learn-more
Learn more about the Glen Helen Raptor Center:
Home is Where the Heart is: Jen Freeze ‘25 at Yellow Springs Home, Inc.
Mar 15, 2022Hello, my name is Jen Freeze and I have been on my second co-op at Yellow Springs Home, Inc. for the Winter 2023 term. My position for this co-op is being the Affordable Housing Collaborator under the Miller Fellowship Program. In this position, I have been able to see firsthand how Home, Inc. is having a positive impact on the community by providing sustainable and affordable housing as well as financial education and repair grants, among other services.
I have learned that there are so many moving parts there are to keeping a nonprofit organization operating, especially one such as Home, Inc. A saying that I have heard since starting my co-op here is that 90% of the work happens before they put the shovel in the ground. I can see the importance of the work and the dedication of the staff towards the organization’s mission: “The mission of Yellow Springs Home, Inc. is to strengthen community and diversity in Yellow Springs and Miami Township by providing permanently affordable and sustainable housing through our Community Land Trust (CLT).” (Home, Inc).
My work schedule consists of a 9 to 5, Monday through Thursday work week. It starts when I arrive at the office, check my emails, and check my work plan to see my daily tasks, as well as other tasks that need to be completed. Some of my daily tasks consist of me cleaning up around the office and going to the post office a few times a week to check the PO Box. I also check any of the local drop boxes, if needed. I have other projects that may take a few days or a longer period of time to complete.
Some of the first projects I worked on involved the archives of Home, Inc. Since the organization is celebrating its 25th
anniversary this year in 2023, I went through all of the old newsletters and annual reports to find the best stories to be reprinted. Some will have updates published this year. I also went through a bunch of the newspapers that have been kept over the years and found the articles relating to Home, Inc. I scanned them for digital preservation, and put them aside so they could be included in a scrapbook.
I have also been compiling tax information for properties, getting certain information to formal entities, and creating packets to send out to homeowners. I attend different meetings as well, whether it’s just me and my co-workers or meetings with the Board of Directors or different committees.
One thing I have learned from working in an office environment is that there is lots and lots of paperwork that is involved, especially when it comes to a place like Home, Inc. since there’s all kinds of homeowner and rental forms. I have been digitalizing a lot of the paperwork so that it can be organized in a better way and saved for any future purpose. I will also be working on a research project pertaining to Home, Inc. properties, and organizing all of the folders for future use.
This job is definitely different from my previous work in Media Services. It has opened my eyes to a new working environment and has helped me develop and build new skills. I have been challenged to step a little out of my comfort zone and to do things that I didn’t have much experience in. Since I came into this job with very little knowledge of how the whole process of housing works, I have been able to learn so much in a short amount of time from all my co-workers. They have taught me about their roles in the organization, teaching me how to complete certain projects, and being there, overall, for support. This co-op has shown me the importance of having nonprofit organizations like Home, Inc. exist and how valuable their mission is to bettering the lives of others.