Partner Profile
Bailey Pleasant, Rivanna Conservation Alliance
Favorite riparian plant: Buttonbush
How does your work support healthy streamside ecosystems in the James River watershed?
As part of my position, I assist with water quality monitoring efforts. We collect long-term biological data, and bacteria data that help inform decision-making at the community and local government levels. I also help lead our restoration projects, including carrying out and maintaining a few James River Buffer Program projects within my watershed, and invasive species management efforts through the Rivanna Forest Restoration Partnership.
What do you love most about your work?
There’s always something new to learn, and I cherish every opportunity to derive curiosity out of the mundane. Whether that be an insect in the field that I haven’t seen before, meeting a new volunteer from a city I’ve never been to, or assisting a landowner with a riparian buffer on an unnamed tributary that isn’t significantly marked on a map!
What was your journey/career path that led you to the work you do now?
My background is predominantly in horticulture. I spent many summers as a seasonal gardener at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA. After completing my Bachelor’s in Horticulture at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, I moved to Charlottesville and spent a few years working in the horticultural field. I found the opening for my current position and determined it was a wonderful synthesis of my personal experience and interests. The restoration work pairs well with my background, bacteria monitoring recalls me of time spent interning at a research lab, and biological monitoring allows me to revisit my affinity for insects professionally.
What do you value most about the Consortium? How has it positively impacted your work?
The Consortium provides a valuable opportunity to network and showcase that the work being done does not exist in a vacuum. It is so refreshing to see that the benefits of our cumulative efforts compound into something great when we come together.
About Bailey Pleasant
Organization: Rivanna Conservation Alliance
Title: Watershed Coordinator