Michael Scisco | Conservation Director

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michael sciscoMichael is a trusted expert contractor that manages our land conservation program. He has spent over 15 years in the non-profit land conservation industry with another 10 years working as a consultant to private landowners for conservation and natural resource management strategies.

Michael is a licensed real estate professional with over 12 years’ experience transacting farm, ranch, and conservation lands. In addition to his work in land conservation and real estate, he also has nearly 20 years’ experience in geospatial technologies with an emphasis on land and community planning. He has worked to conserve directly and in partnership over 200,000 acres of land in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

Michael has direct experience in conservation funding and planning for parks, greenspaces, green infrastructure, residential developments, large estate properties, and landscape scale conservation efforts. Through his conservation work, he has secured well over $200M in funding for conservation and transacted over $500M in land and other real estate. Through his geospatial work, he has produced thousands of mapping and design assets over his professional career. Michael focuses on creating information that is accurate, effective, and useful over time and is inspired by developing content and tools that enable people to become more engaged and informed. Examples include helping design green infrastructure planning for the Hill Country of Texas and discovering affordable housing opportunities in Los Angeles County.

Michael also gives back to his community and currently serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the New Mexico Land Conservancy and is a Board Member of the City of Albuquerque Open Space Advisory Board.

Michael received a Graduate Certificate in GIS from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon and a B.S. in Environmental Science from Western Washington University, Huxley College of the Environment in Bellingham, Washington. Michael also holds a second-degree black belt in Shoshin Ryu Martial arts and is an avid tennis player. Michael hails from rural Arizona and Eastern Washington State.  He and his wife currently live in beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico.

photo of clean surface water

Mandi Taylor, August 2025

The Untapped Power of Protecting Surface Water

Clean surface water is vital for human survival, as it is one of the primary contributors to our drinking water sources. We know that, but in the hustle and bustle of life it is easy to forget how important and interconnected everything is....

photo of wetlands near the ocean

Caroline Sevier, August 2025

How Conservation Helps Keep PFAS Out of Water

Have you ever seen a new acronym online and wondered what it meant? In a world swimming with acronyms like LOL and YOLO, you are definitely not the only one. PFAS isn’t a trendy new text lingo, but actually a dangerous source of widespread ...

working forest conservation easement land trust faq

Michael Scisco, August 2025

Conservation of Working Forests

It is estimated that 20% of the land base in the U.S. or 445 million acres are private forested lands. Fifteen million acres of private forested land is under some type of permanent or term conservation agreement. While this seems like a bi...

photo of speedman conservation easement

Michael Scisco, August 2025

Speedman | Conservation Easement

Total Acres 53.6 Project Year 2025 Located in Wayne County NC The Speedman Mitigation Project is a stream and wetland restoration project located in the Cape Fear River Basin, North Carolina. The Speedman project restored approximately 3,50...