Sharon Anderson Retires as Enviornmental Issue Leader

Sharon K. Anderson retired on June 22, 2021 after almost 30 years of service with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Tompkins and Schenectady Counties. She will join EcoLogic, LLC, an aquatic and watershed science consulting firm based in Cazenovia, NY as an Environmental Outreach Specialist.

Anderson began her career in 1985 as a 4-H Program Assistant in Tompkins County then “county hopped” to Schenectady to become the 4-H Youth Development Program Leader in 1988. From 1994 to2001, as Co-Leader of the Agriculture & Environment Team back at CCE Tompkins County, Anderson’s outreach work included facilitating a citizen study of deer management options and leading a public effort to create a watershed management plan for Cayuga Lake. She subsequently joined the Cayuga Watershed Network as Watershed Steward in 2001. During her tenure, Anderson guided the organization in its transition from a startup non-profit to an established leader in water resource protection and advocacy for this region.

In 2008 Anderson returned to the Environment program at CCE Tompkins County. As Environment Issue Leader, she developed and has led a team of educators working on a wide range of water quality, energy, climate change and resource conservation issues. Among these was natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, for which Anderson provided research-based education on potential impacts and helped coordinate multiple public education events, as well as a trip for local lawmakers to tour fracking sites in Pennsylvania. In 2011, with the Cayuga Lake Hydrilla Task Force, Anderson led local efforts to educate leaders and residents on the environmental and economic impacts of hydrilla to stop its spread and build local support for the chosen management option.

Anderson served as Energy and Climate Change Specialist with the CCE Energy and Climate Change Initiative, a five-person team supporting 62 counties in NYS to increase their capacity to address energy and climate issues in their communities. She also chaired the Tompkins County Energy Task Force, co-chaired CCE’s statewide Community and Energy Program Work Team and served on the Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions Advisory Committee and Tompkins County Water Resources Council. Please join CCE Tompkins County in wishing Sharon every success in her next endeavors.

Last updated December 1, 2022