Our incredible volunteer, Sarah, recently spoke with one of our valued board members, Marsha Paley, about the instrumental experiences shaping her career progression, volunteer pursuits, and her personal and professional achievements.
With one foot in her prairie farm heritage and one foot in the “Garden of Canada”, colonially known as Burlington, Marsha’s path inevitably came to include the Ontario Farmland Trust (OFT). Her parents’ values, from the early bird gets the worm to soil is not dirt, are deeply instilled in her. Their respective knowledge and skills in livestock, crops, and produce formed Marsha’s early life experiences.
Two stories stand out as watershed moments. At two years old, Marsha sat on her father’s shoulders picking apples, then a couple of years later, she witnessed a mall being built in place of that neighbour’s multi-generation orchard. At eight years old, she sat in a tree watching a subdivision go up in a former rye field of another neighbour’s farm. The family spoke about these losses at the dinner table. They noticed not only the loss of soil for food production, but also the loss of habitat for wildlife and pollinators. Fewer birds, bats, and butterflies were visiting their gardens and nearby fruit trees. No wonder, years later, this same woman notices deceased turtles on roadsides and calls the municipality seeking to donate money to have turtle crossing signs put up. With this culmination of events, it’s clear why Marsha chose an education and career that allowed her to bring sensitivity, ethics, and protective insight to create frameworks and policies aimed at facilitating wise resource management.
Armed with an undergraduate education in physical geography from McMaster University and agriculture from the University of Guelph, along with graduate studies in environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University and public administration at Western University, Marsha’s volunteer and career trajectory includes muddied boots working at conservation authorities, and advocacy and protection roles with two not-for-profits organizations: the Bruce Trail Association and the Lower Grand River Land Trust. As a municipal planner at Halton Hills, Caledon, and Peel Region, and as a senior administrator in Southwest Ontario, she worked hard to protect the environment while also making systems work better for farmers and rural landowners. As the Canadian Director at the U.S.-based Soil and Water Conservation Society, Marsha’s team pioneered climate change reports that contributed to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which, under the leadership of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
Marsha leverages the skills and science-based knowledge she has gained to help navigate processes that sometimes stymies others. She stays true to her roots and her path, developing strong relationships with kindred colleagues. Through community service, planting native species, and her art and gardens, she nurtures her mental well-being and resilience. A humble recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal, she admits the honor came with a profound sense of imposter syndrome.
OTF has an asset in this caring and committed leader, a woman woven from values of transparency, respect, knowledge, sophisticated skills, and a back-to-basics awareness that soil is life. Just like she would hear from her mother living during the Depression years, ‘Growing our own food fed the family and anyone who came to our farmhouse door during those tough times.’ Marsha says, “Protecting our soil, water, and foodlands will grow safe, sustainable food that will feed ourselves and many others well into the future.”
Thank you, Marsha, for your contributions to the Ontario Farmland Trust!
