Ruthie Dougherty

Curator/Interpretive Specialist

By her own admission, Ruthie has held “the best jobs in my field” during a career that has spanned 35 years. As a State Park Ranger at Spencer Spit and James Island, Manager of the Anacortes Community Forest Lands, Nature Conservancy San Juan Preserves Manager, and Land Steward with both the Preservation Trust and the San Juan County Land Bank, her work has focused on land preservation, environmental education, and habitat protection throughout the San Juan archipelago. An ecologist by training, she is motivated by E. O. Wilson’s prediction,  “Man will not be defined by what he has created, but by what he has chosen not to destroy,” and strives each day to advocate for nature.