In May, Crossroads at Big Creek promoted Laurel Hauser to Interim Executive Director, which allows longtime staffer Coggin Heeringa to get back to her passions. She is thrilled about tackling the responsibilities pertaining to the newly created position of Program Director and Naturalist. Heeringa says fieldwork suits her.

Heeringa humbly suggests that her main job now is to play in the woods. Heeringa has been at Crossroads since 2001 and has overseen significant change at the preserve. She says it is a relief to be able to focus again on her field biologist roots rather than managerial tasks that have crowded out other pursuits as Crossroads has expanded.