Christian Freitag Trail Dedication
at Sycamore Headquarters
by Ann Connors, Development Director
This article originally appeared in the fall 2019 issue of The Twig, our member newsletter. To see more articles and past issues, click here.
In June, a group of good friends of Sycamore came together at our office, Cedar Crest, for a reception and ceremony to honor Christian Freitag, Sycamore’s Executive Director for 18 years who left Sycamore in August 2018. At our 2018 Annual Celebration, we announced plans to name the Cedar Crest nature trail in honor of Christian, and many people contributed to the fund.
During Christian’s tenure, Sycamore had tremendous growth in acres protected and number of staff, volunteers, and members. He negotiated complex land deals and brought together disparate groups and entities to protect land. Some of these properties are set aside as habitats for plants and animals, while others also have public trails to connect people with nature and allow Sycamore members to get in touch with the land they’re helping to preserve.
As President and Executive Director of the Conservation Law Center at Indiana University, Christian is continuing to provide legal counsel to Sycamore on conservation projects.
“It was great working with Christian for many years, and we are glad he will always be part of the Sycamore family. We are very happy to honor him and his legacy”, said George Huntington, Board Chair, at the trail dedication ceremony.
John Lawrence, Executive Director, thanked Christian for the opportunity to work together at Sycamore for nearly thirteen years, and added: “Christian should be very, very proud of his legacy, and everyone who supports Sycamore should be very proud of it, too. Because, as Christian has always been the first to say, Sycamore’s success is because of all of you.”
Sycamore provides many opportunities to name our endowments, nature preserves, trails, and benches. For information on how you can support conservation and education while honoring a person or organization, contact me at 812-336-5382 ext 104 or ann@sycamorelandtrust.org.
