Staff

Rick Leader, Executive Director
PO Box 2008, Annapolis, MD 21404
(C) 410-310-6541
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Rick, working with a ten-member board of directors, directs the easement and stewardship program of the twenty-one year old SRLT and oversees its growing portfolio of 48 easement properties covering over 2,100 acres.  He is a former Vice President of the National Audubon Society, serving the Society’s 15,000 members and five chapters in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Rick is the former Assistant Director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust where he was active in the management of Maryland’s commemorative Chesapeake Bay license plate program and the Bay and Wildlife tax check-off.  While at the Trust, Rick reviewed over 3,000 grant requests for Bay restoration projects.  For five years he managed the Bay Bridge Walk festival in Sandy Point State Park. Rick is former president of the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Educators and has served on a wide variety of regional boards and committees. Rick is originally from Cecil County, Maryland.  He holds a Masters degree in Public Administration and a Bachelors degree in Political Science from the University of Maryland.

Mariel Yarbrough, Easement Coordinator
PO Box 2008, Annapolis, MD 21404
410-424-4000
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Mariel coordinates landowner outreach and easement drafting in SRLT’s five targeted watersheds.  She educates landowners about preserving family lands with the added benefit of protecting Anne Arundel County’s favorite places and ecologically sensitive areas.  Residents and visitors also benefit from land protection through increased public access to the shoreline or simply enjoying a beautiful drive through forest-lined roads, for example.  Mariel was inspired to work in the field of land conservation and environmental law when her grandfather’s historic farm became just a memory and was developed into a suburban neighborhood.  She lives in Annapolis and enjoys racing sailboats on the bay, kayaking on the creeks, and hiking in the woods.  Mariel graduated with honors from Boston College with a B.A. in Theology.  Then she participated in the Honors Paralegal Internship Program with the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division for two years before attending law school.  Mariel is a recent graduate of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law with a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law.  During law school, Mariel was actively involved in the land use student group, the annual land use conference, and served as a research assistant for the Land Conservation Seminar.  She also held internships at numerous non-profit and governmental entities such as: Denver Water, Earthjustice, and the Colorado Office of the Attorney General.  Most recently, Mariel volunteered with the Maryland Environmental Trust to assist in the organization’s Land Trust Alliance accreditation efforts.