Second Annual Award for Early Career Achievement in Environmentalism

On September 26, 2024, The Watershed Fund and Estuary magazine gave its second Early Career Achievement Award in Environmentalism to Riley Doherty of New Haven, Connecticut. Riley grew up in Haddam, Connecticut, where her parents introduced her to a love of nature and the outdoors in the Connecticut River watershed.

Though she entered the University of Connecticut (UConn) thinking she’d pursue a creative career in graphic design, she soon found that her passion remained in the outdoors. In 2017 she earned a degree in Natural Resources with a concentration in Climate and Water Resources.

Riley Doherty with Early Career Award 2024 standing by Dick Shriver. Image Credit: Estuary magazine.

She landed a seasonal research assistant job at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) in New Haven, conducting aquatic plant surveys on lakes and ponds throughout the state. She was involved in the preliminary Hydrilla survey of the lower Connecticut River in 2018. That led to a position as Environmental Program Coordinator for Connecticut Resource Conservation and Development (CT RC&D), a 501(c)(3)  nonprofit that empowers local citizens to develop and carry out an action-oriented plan for the social, economic, and environmental enrichment of their communities.

As she expressed in her presentation at the award ceremony, it was under the mentorship of the Eightmile River Wild & Scenic Watershed coordinating committee—which she joined in 2019—that she really came into her own. As environmental program manager, she managed water quality field monitoring, conducted outreach programming for local schools and the community, and oversaw part-time interns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she created a popular outdoor recreation map of preserved land within the watershed open to the public to encourage people to get outdoors. That project led her to undertake a Master’s in Geographic Information Systems from Pennsylvania State University with two certificates in spatial data science and geospatial programming and web map development (expected December 2024).
Riley’s early work with CAES has now come full circle. When legislation passed to form a State Office of Aquatic Invasive Species, she was offered a position as a research technician where she focuses on documenting the spread of invasive species like Hydrilla. She created and manages a massive database to track species distribution across the state. She also developed an interactive web application to visualize this data and inform communities about aquatic invasive species threatening Connecticut’s rivers, lakes, ponds, and streams. One of her skills includes being a certified commercial drone pilot.

The Watershed Fund and Estuary magazine give this award in an effort to raise awareness of the need for young people to enter the field of environmental conservation and to encourage young people to consider this career path. The need is great as new challenges brought on by climate change and invasive species impact the watershed in ways unanticipated when the Clean Water Act passed in 1972.

Nominated by Pat Young of the Eightmile Wild & Scenic Watershed, we are pleased to give the 2024 award, including a modest stipend, to Riley. Riley exemplifies a passion for the environment and application of highly technical skills to twenty-first century challenges in the Connecticut River watershed. We draw hope and inspiration from her early career achievements and look forward to all she will contribute over a long and promising career.