SELT Super Volunteer Dave Treat Puts His Engineering Bona Fides to Use in Service of Local Land Conservation
Written by Kendall Bush
Growing up in southern Connecticut and living in New England his whole life, Dave Treat has always had an affinity for the outdoors. Dave’s parents instilled a love of nature that he’s carried with him his whole life and fostered in his own children. Dave’s love for nature has never faltered, even after the tide washed under his family’s tent when visiting Cape Hatteras in North Carolina on one of his earliest camping trips (a drawback of getting excited and setting up a little too close to the shoreline).
Before his time at SELT, Dave earned his BS in Electrical Engineering at the University of Vermont where he met his wife, Laura. Eventually, the pair settled in Hampstead, New Hampshire where they have lived for the past 32 years. Dave managed to explore all the trails and protected lands in Hampstead and surrounding towns, which helped him realize that he wanted more. Loving these lands was not enough; he knew he had to get involved and give back to his community so that others could experience the beauty that was all around him. He joined the Hampstead Conservation Commission in 2005 and has remained an active leader there since.
After retiring from his career developing products for the telecommunications industry, Dave found himself with time to do even more. He started volunteering with SELT in early 2019 after seeing an announcement from the commission and settled into his position that requires both computer literacy and land conservation and transaction knowledge. Dave quickly got to work learning everything he could about the file structure and the ins and outs of SELT’s archives. He quickly got the hang of it and now SELT can’t imagine life without him.
As SELT’s Conservation Closing Filer, Dave sorts through land deal paperwork and creates an archive for each property, which is essential in maintaining SELT’s accreditation as a land trust. And this is no small feat. Dave explains just how much paperwork he goes through on a weekly basis, “a significant amount of paperwork, both hardcopy and electronic, is created. Everything from scribbled notes to documents formally recorded with the county.” His role offloads a lot of work from SELT’s Conservation Coordinator Shaun Dillon. “The typical land acquisition archive takes about 8 to 10 hours of work to complete per project.” Dave’s role adds to “SELT’s capacity to take on and close new land deals, and that is a very big part of what a land trust is all about.” Over the course of his first year alone, Dave was able to clear a three year backlog of archive projects, granting SELT the opportunity to focus on the future!
Recently, Dave joined SELT’s Land Conservation Committee where he will have the opportunity to participate in the conversations that guide SELT’s land conservation strategy. Though the work itself can be challenging, Dave appreciates being able to work with staff and volunteers who are genuinely kind and share his love of nature and passion to protect it.
While Dave isn’t hard at work for SELT and the larger conservation community, you can find him outside! Laura and Dave both love spending time in their garden which is home to the flowers that Laura nurtures and the vegetables that Dave cultivates which they use to make delicious dinners, savory sauces, and salsa. As if that’s not enough, Dave is a self taught guitar player who loves playing songs that range from classics like The Beatles and the Grateful Dead to new alternative rock such as Cage the Elephant and the Arctic Monkeys. No matter what, Dave finds a way to play something he loves every day.
SELT is so lucky to have Dave on the team, and are grateful for his continual effort to protect the outdoors. Now we’re just waiting to get lucky enough to try some salsa and enjoy a song or two!
Learn more about volunteering opportunities with SELT at seltvolunteer.org