LandCAN

Get to Know the RFF Advisory Board: Adam J. White

By: Amos S. Eno
Posted on:02/18/2014

The third installment in our weekly series to introduce you, our readers, to the Resources First Foundation's Advisory Board Members.

When did you join the Resources First Foundation Advisory Board?

I joined the RFF Advisory Board in 2013. It was an honor to be invited, and I'm looking forward to helping however I can.

What is it about RFF that made you want to join the team?

RFF is a refreshing exception to the ordinary rules: a pro-conservation message pushed not by government bureaucrats, or by misanthropic elites, but by people who believe that conservation is best achieved through private landowners.

When did you first gain an interest in conservation?

My interest in conservation is rooted in my family's roots. My ancestors farmed eastern Iowa for generations, until only recently. I grew up in Dubuque, nestled between farmland on one side and train tracks and the Mississippi River barge traffic on the other. It was impossible not to recognize that we need both commerce and conservation, and that the challenge lies in balancing the two.

What are some of the most satisfying conservation efforts you are working on, have been a part of, or are most interested in?

As counsel at Boyden Gray & Associates, we do a lot of work on air quality issues. And I have written on environmental issues in publications such as The Weekly Standard and National Affairs. But I hope to do much more work on conservation issues, hopefully by returning to the Midwest someday to teach, write, and work on conservation law issues.