Co-Founder and President, Conservation Strategies Consulting LLC

Terry Schley Noto has over 35 years of experience as a practicing environmental lawyer. Prior to co-founding Conservation Strategies Consulting LLC, Terry consulted exclusively for the Environmental Defense Fund for 16 years working on a wide range of land, water and wildlife initiatives, legislation and policy, particularly Farm Bill conservation programs, such as the Conservation Reserve Program, Conservation Reserve Enhancement Programs (CREPs) in many states, and initiatives, such as the Longleaf pine continuous CRP initiative. She obtained and managed a multi-million dollar grant for conservation work on agricultural lands in the Lake Erie watershed in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. Terry also has in-depth experience working in the Upper Mississippi River, Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay watersheds. Terry has extensive government and non-profit experience, including as an appellate attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, wetlands counsel for National Wildlife Federation, and a staff attorney at U.S. EPA Office of Water. In addition to consulting, Terry taught a suite of environmental law and policy classes she developed for the University of Rochester from 2013 to fall semester, 2022. She was a Senior Lecturer in the Political Science Department and served as the Director of the Masters of Science in Sustainability Program.

Co-Founder and Vice President, Conservation Strategies Consulting LLC (2014-2021)

Mike Linsenbigler co-founded Conservation Strategies Consulting LLC and played a critical role helping many clients with their conservation needs until his untimely death in 2021. Mike was a leading figure in voluntary conservation on private lands in the United States. Prior to co-founding Conservation Strategies Consulting, Mike had a long, illustrious career working for the United States Department of Agriculture for 33 years until his retirement from USDA in 2012. Mike rose to the position of Deputy Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Conservation Environmental Program Division which is responsible for administering the Conservation Reserve Program. Mike also served as the first Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Manager, playing an instrumental role as lead negotiator for the USDA Farm Service Agency in negotiating these programs which partner state and federal resources to address nationally significant water, wildlife, erosion and other issues, such as restoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes, conserving the Ogallala Aquifer, and addressing hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Mike also worked on conservation policy and legislative issues. Mike had tremendous faith in the stewardship of farmers and landowners and the dedication, expertise and commitment of agency staff and leadership. Mike could pencil almost anything out on a napkin and was a wizard at coming up with innovative constructive practical approaches that were good for farmers, landowners, conservation and taxpayers.

He is greatly missed!

Associate, Conservation Strategies Consulting LLC (2020 - Present)

Sam provides expertise in legal and environmental policy research, data analysis, communications, editing, tech support and graphic design. He studied legal writing in college, and has a passion for sustainability and policy development. Sam is adept at researching a wide array of complex, nuanced environmental issues and distilling them into graphs, charts, spreadsheets, fact sheets, and presentations that are visually compelling and easily understood by the intended audience. Recent projects include collaboration on an in-depth guidebook to conservation funding opportunities in the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In addition, Sam provides marketing support. He designed the company logo and website and is responsible for maintaining the website. Prior to Conservation Strategies Consulting, Sam gained valuable experience working as a paralegal at Thomas and Solomon LLP, primarily doing legal research for qui tam actions and employment class action lawsuits, such as Fair Labor Standards Act litigation to recover unpaid wages. He assisted attorneys in client meetings and trial preparation, conducted phone interviews, online legal research, document prep, editing, and proofreading.