Sara da Silva Quintal is the Restoration Ecologist for the Buzzards Bay Coalition in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Buzzards Bay Coalition works to restore clean water, protect watershed lands, and engage the community throughout the Buzzards Bay watershed. I had the pleasure of working with Sara while I was serving as Land Steward for the Coalition through the AmeriCorps MassLIFT program.
Sara holds a B.S. in Marine Biology with Chemistry minor from Roger Williams University, and a M.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration on watershed science and wetland ecology from the University of Rhode Island. She worked on summer research projects throughout her undergraduate career and interned at the USEPA Atlantic Ecology Division in Narragansett during graduate school. Sara was the Senior Environmental Scientist for an environmental planning, consulting and engineering firm in Long Island, NY for nearly eight years. Her projects included ecological assessment, nature preserve design, habitat restoration, invasive species management, as well as preparation of harbor and watershed management plans. Sara is also the former President of the Norwalk River Watershed Association, a non-profit organization in southwestern Connecticut where she lived for several years. Excited by the prospect of contributing to the positive change in the area where she grew up, she returned to New Bedford in 2011 and began working for the Buzzards Bay Coalition
What is your backstory? Please provide us with some background about important professional turning points during your environmental career and why you’re in this field.
My parents emigrated to the U.S. in the 1960’s from Azores, Portugal and Mom was a teacher who strongly valued education. So, my parents worked very hard to make sure their children were exposed to many valuable opportunities. I’ve always loved science and nature. From 5th through 9th grade, I was lucky enough to be able to go to a science enrichment summer camp that focused on marine biology. We spent half the day learning how to sail, swim and snorkel, and the other half learning the science behind everything we saw and experienced. One day while at the beach with the rest of my 5th grade class, I found a 6-pack ring washed up by the surf. I remember getting very angry at the thought of careless people polluting our shoreline, and the danger which that pollution presented to marine mammals. At that point, I vowed myself to do everything I could to protect the beaches, bays and all the plants and animals that lived there.
What are some hurdles you’ve gone through during your time in the ‘understory’ and how have you overcome them.
I don’t think my hurdles have been any greater than anyone else’s. Like many other people, I had to take out lots of school loans and I worked multiple jobs all through high school and college in order to pay for my education. But I actually think that made me appreciate my education that much more, always knowing exactly how many hard-worked hours waiting tables I would have put to waste if I did skip just one class.
What skills have you found most important to draw on in your work?
As a first generation immigrant family, I’ve never been afraid of hard work. Hard work and passion has kept me motivated and focused throughout school and then my career. From working in the restaurant industry, I learned the importance of being a team player – sometimes you’re the support staff and sometimes you’re the leader, but being able to adapt and do either when necessary is key. It’s no different in the environmental field, and willingness to adapt helps make me a valuable asset in the work place.
What’s one thing you wish you knew when you started looking for jobs that you now know?
I was very lucky to have been offered the first job I applied for directly out of school, but it was the result of making key decisions along the way that were right for my own career goals. I went directly into a master’s program because I knew that in my particular field, I wasn’t very marketable in a saturated job economy with only my bachelor’s degree. In order to open myself to a wider array of jobs, I focused on freshwater ecology and GIS to round out my marine biology background. Having wisely chosen classes in graduate school, I was readily marketable in the environmental consulting field as soon as I graduated.
What would you say to young people entering the field? What advice as to how to navigate their career would you give them?
Figure out what you are passionate about, and then figure out what it will take to be able to pursue that passion as a job. Choosing the right classes, internships, volunteering and networking may all factor into the equation. You’ll be more focused and have a much better chance of success if the end goal is a career that you are truly passionate about.
Where do you see this field going in the future?
Aquaculture will continue to build in momentum, and become more important as a food resource for our world’s growing population. Sustainability and space efficiency will also be key. Not everyone has yet realized the critical importance of protecting our natural resources, and that is part of the challenge.
What has been your biggest personal accomplishment so far in this field? What inspires you?
The highlight of my career thus far has been restoring a former industrial property in the neighborhood where I grew up. Having been a sawmill, it had been closed off to the public for centuries, but its use as an industrial site dwindled and my organization had the opportunity to purchase it for permanent protection. After several years of working with many partners, funding was lined up to purchase and then restore the property.
Since 2011, I’ve been managing the site’s physical transformation. Witnessing the demolition of buildings, the ripping up of pavement, the restoration of the natural river bank, and the return of fish and birds to this stretch of the river has been wonderful. But what’s most inspiring is the community of partners that has been brought together to restore the natural beauty and function of this place. The financial and physical support, good will and volunteer time that has been orchestrated was no small feat, but has made this restoration project an even more meaningful community-focused project.
This interview was conducted by Kevin Farrell.
Sara holds a B.S. in Marine Biology with Chemistry minor from Roger Williams University, and a M.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration on watershed science and wetland ecology from the University of Rhode Island. She worked on summer research projects throughout her undergraduate career and interned at the USEPA Atlantic Ecology Division in Narragansett during graduate school. Sara was the Senior Environmental Scientist for an environmental planning, consulting and engineering firm in Long Island, NY for nearly eight years. Her projects included ecological assessment, nature preserve design, habitat restoration, invasive species management, as well as preparation of harbor and watershed management plans. Sara is also the former President of the Norwalk River Watershed Association, a non-profit organization in southwestern Connecticut where she lived for several years. Excited by the prospect of contributing to the positive change in the area where she grew up, she returned to New Bedford in 2011 and began working for the Buzzards Bay Coalition
What is your backstory? Please provide us with some background about important professional turning points during your environmental career and why you’re in this field.
My parents emigrated to the U.S. in the 1960’s from Azores, Portugal and Mom was a teacher who strongly valued education. So, my parents worked very hard to make sure their children were exposed to many valuable opportunities. I’ve always loved science and nature. From 5th through 9th grade, I was lucky enough to be able to go to a science enrichment summer camp that focused on marine biology. We spent half the day learning how to sail, swim and snorkel, and the other half learning the science behind everything we saw and experienced. One day while at the beach with the rest of my 5th grade class, I found a 6-pack ring washed up by the surf. I remember getting very angry at the thought of careless people polluting our shoreline, and the danger which that pollution presented to marine mammals. At that point, I vowed myself to do everything I could to protect the beaches, bays and all the plants and animals that lived there.
What are some hurdles you’ve gone through during your time in the ‘understory’ and how have you overcome them.
I don’t think my hurdles have been any greater than anyone else’s. Like many other people, I had to take out lots of school loans and I worked multiple jobs all through high school and college in order to pay for my education. But I actually think that made me appreciate my education that much more, always knowing exactly how many hard-worked hours waiting tables I would have put to waste if I did skip just one class.
What skills have you found most important to draw on in your work?
As a first generation immigrant family, I’ve never been afraid of hard work. Hard work and passion has kept me motivated and focused throughout school and then my career. From working in the restaurant industry, I learned the importance of being a team player – sometimes you’re the support staff and sometimes you’re the leader, but being able to adapt and do either when necessary is key. It’s no different in the environmental field, and willingness to adapt helps make me a valuable asset in the work place.
What’s one thing you wish you knew when you started looking for jobs that you now know?
I was very lucky to have been offered the first job I applied for directly out of school, but it was the result of making key decisions along the way that were right for my own career goals. I went directly into a master’s program because I knew that in my particular field, I wasn’t very marketable in a saturated job economy with only my bachelor’s degree. In order to open myself to a wider array of jobs, I focused on freshwater ecology and GIS to round out my marine biology background. Having wisely chosen classes in graduate school, I was readily marketable in the environmental consulting field as soon as I graduated.
What would you say to young people entering the field? What advice as to how to navigate their career would you give them?
Figure out what you are passionate about, and then figure out what it will take to be able to pursue that passion as a job. Choosing the right classes, internships, volunteering and networking may all factor into the equation. You’ll be more focused and have a much better chance of success if the end goal is a career that you are truly passionate about.
Where do you see this field going in the future?
Aquaculture will continue to build in momentum, and become more important as a food resource for our world’s growing population. Sustainability and space efficiency will also be key. Not everyone has yet realized the critical importance of protecting our natural resources, and that is part of the challenge.
What has been your biggest personal accomplishment so far in this field? What inspires you?
The highlight of my career thus far has been restoring a former industrial property in the neighborhood where I grew up. Having been a sawmill, it had been closed off to the public for centuries, but its use as an industrial site dwindled and my organization had the opportunity to purchase it for permanent protection. After several years of working with many partners, funding was lined up to purchase and then restore the property.
Since 2011, I’ve been managing the site’s physical transformation. Witnessing the demolition of buildings, the ripping up of pavement, the restoration of the natural river bank, and the return of fish and birds to this stretch of the river has been wonderful. But what’s most inspiring is the community of partners that has been brought together to restore the natural beauty and function of this place. The financial and physical support, good will and volunteer time that has been orchestrated was no small feat, but has made this restoration project an even more meaningful community-focused project.
This interview was conducted by Kevin Farrell.