A version of this press release first appeared as “New Scholarship Sends NEK Youth to Buck Lake Camp” in The North Star Monthly on February 9, 2026.

MONTPELIER—Northeast Wilderness Trust, a regional land trust that focuses on wilderness conservation, announced today the creation of a new scholarship to send two local campers to Buck Lake Conservation Camp in Woodbury, Vermont each summer. Buck Lake is part of the Green Mountain Conservation Camps (GMCC), a program administered by Vermont Fish and Wildlife. The scholarship, partially funded by an anonymous donor and to be supplemented in the future by additional fundraising, honors Brendan and Dorothy Whittaker. Mr. Whittaker served as Secretary of the state’s Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) from 1978 to 1985.

Drone view of wetlands and Woodbury Mountain in Woodbury, Vermont from near Eagle Ledge. (Woodbury Mountain Wilderness Preserve.)

The inspiration for the scholarship originated close by. Seville Murphy, a senior at Hazen Union School in Hardwick who has been both a camper and a junior counselor at Buck Lake, approached Northeast Wilderness Trust about the idea in early 2025.

“When I was working as a counselor at Buck Lake, I noticed that there were very few campers from Woodbury,” said Murphy. “I started thinking about how to get more Woodbury students into the GMCC camp.”

Murphy saw Northeast Wilderness Trust as a potential partner in that effort. He and his family live in Woodbury, not far from the Wilderness Trust’s 6,257-acre Woodbury Mountain Wilderness Preserve, the largest nongovernmental wilderness area in the state. The Wilderness Trust’s sponsorship of a scholarship to send two local youths to Buck Lake, Murphy thought, would be a great way to enhance connections between the organization and the Woodbury community.

Around the same time, an anonymous donor contacted Northeast Wilderness Trust with the intention of seeding a scholarship in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker. That happy coincidence resulted in the creation of the Brendan and Dorothy Alden Whittaker GMCC Scholarship, which sent two campers to Buck Lake last year and will be available, contingent on further fundraising, for the same number of campers each coming summer.

“When Seville approached us with this idea, followed serendipitously by outreach from another supporter, the path forward became clear: Establish a scholarship to help ensure that the next generation of central Vermonters stays connected to the natural world and discovers the wild places in their backyards, like Woodbury Mountain Wilderness Preserve,” said Jon Leibowitz, President and CEO of Northeast Wilderness Trust. “Efforts like the Green Mountain Conservation Camps are an essential way to encourage that immersion, and we are excited to give this opportunity to local families and to honor Brendan and Dorothy Whittaker.”

The scholarship is a fitting tribute to the Whittakers’ legacy. As ANR Secretary, as well as in other conservation-focused roles throughout his career, Mr. Whittaker made indelible contributions to Vermont’s environmental health and outdoor landscape. He represented Vermont in negotiations that led to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP), the first international agreement to address acid rain. He also took part in an international joint commission on water levels in Lake Champlain with fellow regulators from Canada and New York.

But Whittaker would like the scholarship to elevate more than just him and his professional accomplishments. “None of these achievements were solely my own,” he said. “They were all done by wonderfully dedicated staff.” He expressed a wish that the dedication and service of Edward Kehoe and Gary Moore, both former commissioners of Vermont Fish and Wildlife (then known as “Fish and Game”), are also honored by the scholarship.

Whittaker reserves the most praise, however, for his late wife of nearly 70 years, Dorothy. He and Dorothy, who passed away last year, raised three children and stewarded for more than 60 years an award-winning 67-acre tree farm in Brunswick in the Northeast Kingdom. Alongside a career in teaching, Dorothy was a talented gardener whose bounty of fruits and vegetables won a loyal local following at her roadside farm stand and on the menus of restaurants in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Looking forward, both Whittaker and Murphy hope the scholarship allows young people to connect more fully and reverently with the natural world. “It is indescribable and invaluable, especially today, to tear ourselves away from screens and to get outside. To immerse ourselves in the forest,” Whittaker said. “That’s the value of conservation camps.” Murphy agreed: “When you educate children at a young age, it fosters lifelong conservation practices and respect towards the land.”

The scholarship aligns well with Northeast Wilderness Trust’s mission. For the wilderness conservation movement to continue to grow, members of the next generation must be prepared to receive the torch from leaders like Mr. Whittaker. The Green Mountain Conservation Camps are an invaluable resource for equipping the next generation with the foundational skills for a career in the environmental field, and the scholarship will ensure this opportunity is available to two young central Vermonters every summer—whose experiences may someday inspire them to help conserve forever-wild landscape for Nature and people.

Those interested in contributing to the Brendan and Dorothy Alden Whittaker GMCC Scholarship may contact Anna Dundas, Development Director, at anna@newildernesstrust.org or 802.224.1000 x 104 for more information.