Category: Staff Spotlight

Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) is pleased to welcome our new Director of Development, Colin Wethered. Growing up in Morris County, New Jersey, Colin developed a deep appreciation for the outdoors, spending his childhood hiking at places like Pyramid Mountain and Tourne County Park. He pursued an undergraduate degree in Economics at Florida International University. Located in Miami, a place famous for its biodiversity, he spent his time outside of school kayaking and exploring the Everglades.

Trading the sun for snow, Colin’s path towards nonprofit development took greater shape during his time as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Montana No Kid Hungry, where he coordinated statewide efforts to expand hunger relief programs for school age children. This experience steered him further towards fundraising, later joining Meals on Wheels Central Texas as a Development Assistant, supporting fundraising efforts that provided critical services to nearly 5,000 seniors and people with disabilities in the Austin area.

Driven to broaden his advocacy, research and writing skills, Colin attended Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law, earning his J.D. in 2021 with a focus on criminal law. Following law school, and up until now, he worked as a Development Officer at Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, where he successfully managed research and grant efforts, supporting legal and social services for 14,000 clients.

Outside of his professional pursuits, Colin remains an avid hiker, exploring New Jersey’s trails with his four-year-old hound-mix, Sydney. He enjoys traveling, with recent adventures taking him to Wyoming, Idaho, and Iceland, and is currently training for the Philadelphia Half Marathon in November. At CWF, Colin is excited to combine his love for the outdoors with his passion for nonprofit development, working to protect New Jersey’s rare and at-risk wildlife.

Growing up on the edge of the Pine Barrens and the Barnegat Bay, Meaghan was surrounded by a diverse array of wildlife from a young age. It wasn’t until college that she realized that a career as a wildlife biologist was obtainable. She studied at College of the Atlantic and worked on Maine islands doing seabird research until graduating in 2016. To fill the years after graduation, Meaghan worked seasonal positions at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Wells Maine, Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge in Kauai Hawaii, and as the first female seawatch counter at Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory to name a few.

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by Leah Wells, Wildlife Biologist

Leah grew up in Sussex County, where she enjoyed spending her time as a child and adulthood outside in nature. She graduated from Rutgers with a bachelor’s degree in Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources. In 2019, Leah joined Conserve Wildlife Foundation as an intern, in 2020 she then became a part-time employee and this past March became a full time wildlife biologist. 

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Emmy Casper, Wildlife Biologist

Emmy Casper, Wildlife Biologist

Emmy grew up on the Jersey Shore, where she developed a strong passion for coastal wildlife conservation. In 2020 she joined CWF as a beach-nesting bird technician and spent three seasons monitoring populations of piping plovers, American oystercatchers, and colonial bird species at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. During her third season, she served as the crew leader and helped lead the first official season of bird monitoring on Horseshoe Island. Since joining the full-time staff in 2022, Emmy has traded the Atlantic Coast for the Delaware Bayshore, where she manages CWF’s new American oystercatcher and salt marsh restoration projects. She holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Biology from Fordham University, where she conducted her thesis on the molecular analysis of shorebird diet during spring migration in Jamaica Bay.

What’s your favorite species and why?

It’s almost impossible to choose, but piping plovers are so special to me. They jump-started my career in conservation, and their resilience in the face of many challenges inspires me to persevere in my own life.

What’s the most surprising or unusual thing that has happened to you while doing field work?

I was pretty flabbergasted when a piping plover pair laid a seven-egg nest during my first field season at Holgate. The pair’s original four-egg nest had been flooded, so we re-assembled it with the hope that the birds would resume incubating the eggs. Instead, the pair decided to lay three new eggs in the same nest! Unfortunately, the eggs were depredated before they could hatch, but I think a brood with 7+ chicks would have been a sight to behold.

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