Orzetti To Join OCCA

As Executive Director

COOPERSTOWN – Leslie Orzetti, a biologist with 20 years experience in natural resource conservation, will join the Otsego County Conservation Association as its new executive director, the OCCA announced today.

She succeeds Darla Youngs, who joined the Southern Tier East Regional Planning Development Board in April.

Active in Chesapeake Bay watershed improvement for 20 years,  Orzetti comes to OCCA after 10 years in education, where she served as an assistant professor of biology at Northern Virginia Community College and as an adjunct professor at George Mason University.  She taught graduate and undergraduate courses in biology, applied ecology, and watershed management, and developed an undergraduate-level environmental law course.

Prior to serving as a professor, she served as a fish and wildlife biologist and the senior scientist at Ecosystem Solutions, Inc., a non-profit in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that focused on restoration, conservation and education.

“I am excited to start a new challenge with OCCA,” Orzetti said.  “I hope my background in water resource conservation will prove beneficial, and that we’ll be able to continue doing the great work that OCCA is known for.”

Orzetti and her family moved into Cooperstown from Northern Virginia in early June.

Founded in 1968, OCCA is a private, non-profit membership group dedicated to promoting the appreciation and sustainable use of Otsego County’s natural resources through education, advocacy, resource management, research, and planning.