Books and backwoods with Tim Hunter

‘What Are You Reading?” explores the lives of our local community through the books they love. In this first installment, we meet Tim Hunter, Stewardship Director of the Sharon Land Trust, whose passion for nature and science fiction reveals the deep connections between landscape, leadership, and imagination.

Stewardship director ofThe Sharon Land Trust, Tim Hunter monitors, maintains, preserves, and protects approximately 4,000 acres of land held in perpetuity with the organization.

Nature has always been a part of Hunter’s story. “When things got too tough, when things got too loud, I’d always take some time and walk in the woods,” Hunter said. “The outdoors has always been my quiet, happy place.”

After graduating from college with a computer science degree, however, Tim Hunter joined his family’s Sharon-based company Magnamusic Distributors, importing sheet music and instruments. He soon became president of the company, where his work involved setting up computer systems, traveling internationally, and shaking hands with vendors and customers. After six years, though, the family sold the company leaving Hunter to wonder what was next.

As luck would have it, due to his computer science expertise and experience in nature, The Sharon Land Trust reached out, requesting his assistance in mapping out a trail system using geographic information systems (GIS). Hunter embraced this unfamiliar territory and built a trail on the back of Red Mountain, along White Hollow Road, as a connector between the Hamlet and Mary Moore preserve.

Hunter does not work alone. There are two other staff members: Carolyn Klocker, Executive Director, and Harry White, Conservation Director. The magic of The Sharon Land Trust is that almost 90% of the work is volunteer based. About 60 - 70 volunteers join Hunter in the woods for workdays where they do everything from removing invasive species to building and maintaining trails. Most importantly they have fun.

Hunter expressed his gratitude by saying, “We would not be where we are today without them. It’s pretty extraordinary just how much the community does to help us to continue our mission.”

After a day of work, Hunter reads for about an hour before bed. Often, he leans toward science fiction or archaeological novels. Currently he is reading “The Pendergast Series,” a bestselling thriller/mystery book series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. These stories, like the woods, are a wonderful distraction from the human world.

Interested in volunteering with The Sharon Land Trust? Contact: info@sharonlandtrust.org

Olivia Geiger is an MFA student at Western Connecticut State Universiry and a lifelong resident of Lakeville.