City Naturalist Departs for Greener Pastures

Chantal Detlefs, Rye's City Naturalist, will be leaving the City staff at the end of July to become Head of Lower School Science at New Canaan Country Day School.

“Teaching is so much a part of me,” says Detlefs. “When I first started working for the City of Rye, 15 years ago, I was Education Director of the Nature Center. Although I will greatly miss working for Rye, taking this new position will enable me to teach again.”

During her tenure, Detlefs doubled the size of the education programs delivered through the Rye Nature Center. As City Naturalist, in collaboration with the City Manager and other staff members, she promoted use of organic methods to manage city landscapes. Herbicides and pesticides, for example, are no longer used on the Village Green.

In addition to curtailing the use of herbicides and pesticides, Detlefs believes that preserving wetlands is one of the biggest environmental challenges facing Rye. “Over the decades, our wetland areas in Westchester have been dying a death of a thousand cuts,” she says. “It will take persistent community effort to preserve our wetlands, which are so vital to the health of our environment.”

Peter Jovanovich