him having to beg, borrow or steal money any way he could. He told me that he went to his parents, and his father told him “no.” His father had paid for a bunch of his trips back, but this time he had to get somebody else to pay. We wound up staying with a friend of a friend. James and I slept in the same bed together (both laugh) in this little apartment in Washington, DC. It was funny at the time because his wife called one night. James was down making his list, like he did every night, of which roadless areas and how many acres to focus on the next day–this was based on what the aides had said that day so he could put more [acres] in [the next day]. Anyway, his wife called and I reminded her that I had slept longer with her husband than she had (laughs) . He had just gotten married and then jumped on a plane to DC. Needless to say, that marriage [eventually] ended (laughs). She wasn’t offended by my comments, but I was so struck with the irony I just had to say it (laughs) .
Have marital problems been a factor in the length of tenure that staff have had with ONRC?
The way people have survived was often because a spouse was able to meet the very basic necessities. I would say having children has made it impossible for many people. We have a staff member who has children. Ken Rait, who came just on
as our conservation director, has a 13 month old daughter. But for the most part, it has been really hard for people with kids to make it–both in terms of economic needs and time. No one is really expected to work 12, 14, 16 hours a day but I really feel where we’ve had the most success is where you put in that kind of time. There’s always more to do. Marc Prevost, who was a field rep for ONRC, had a foster kid as well as his own family. Terri, his wife, said “1 can live without him or I can live without the money, but I can’t live without both.” I don’t think our work has disrupted marital relationships–James is just who he is. The various spouses involved have known that the people they were married to had this passion. It wasn’t like a big change or something.
You’ve worn both hats in being on the board and staff of ONRC at various times. Is ONRC unusual in the sense that the board and staff work closely together?
I don’t know. When small organizations first form, it’s get by anyway you can. I’ve heard of nonprofit groups being board-driven or staff-driven. I think ONRC evolved as being staff-driven. It worked in the early part [of my time with ONRC] for me to be on the board. This was because I could better survive without financial compensation initially. Some of the staff, James Monteith and Andy Kerr, really
drove the organization. In smaller organizations you’re looking for board members who are dedicated to the issue. [It is important] that you’re not putting somebody on the board who has some feelings which are totally counter to that of the organization. There has to be a commonality of purpose to what you’re doing. As ONRC has grown and matured, the board has increasingly taken on more of its own identity–as it should. Philosophically, I would acknowledge that the board should run the organization and the staff works for the board. But when organizations are started, the founder is essentially the staff. The board members are there because of their respect for the staff person. In this case it was James Monteith, though he wasn’t the first director.
