Where Conservation Takes Root: The Journey of NCWF Volunteer Donna Bolls

For Donna Bolls, conservation didn’t arrive as a single awakening.

It grew – quietly and steadily – like a root system extending beneath the surface, connecting one part of her life to the next.

Her story begins in the suburbs, where wildlife wasn’t always abundant –  but curiosity was. Donna was the child who ran toward the snake instead of away, the teenager who ventured away from the pavement and into the woods to explore with her dog, the zoo-lover who could spend hours watching animals. Although her family wasn’t outdoorsy, she instinctively sought out nature wherever she could find it.

College brought her to horticulture, and later motherhood brought her into a world of animal books and adopt-a-tiger certificates for her daughters. But true conservation – understanding ecosystems, species dependence, and the role of people in restoration – came later.

That big shift towards conservation began in 2010 when Donna discovered North Carolina Wildlife Federation through NCWF’s HAWK Chapter in Matthews. She attended every program she could, drawn to the blend of science, storytelling, and hands-on learning that defines NCWF’s community work. It was through these programs that she first met longtime conservation leader Ernie McLaney, who would later become her mentor and partner in leadership.

When Ernie launched what would eventually become NCWF Charlotte Wildlife Stewards Chapter in 2013, Donna found her home base. At first she attended quietly, unsure what she could contribute. Eventually she joined leadership, offering photography and logistical support. As the chapter grew, she stepped further in—first as vice president, and ultimately as president, guiding the chapter through a period of transformation.

Alongside her chapter experience, Donna enrolled in the Certificate in Native Plant Studies at UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens in 2018. There, she learned the ecological significance of native plants – something her horticulture education never covered. The courses deepened her understanding of how plants, insects, and wildlife were knit together and interconnected… and they introduced her to the people who formed the early roots of her conservation community.

Under Donna’s leadership and her extensive knowledge in habitat restoration, the chapter has become one of NCWF’s most active, intergenerational, and community-rooted teams. She restructured the traditional “board” into a more welcoming leadership team, moved from large committees to small, functional teams, and helped cultivate an environment where new volunteers find a clear role and real ownership. The chapter also drew in younger professionals, students, and families – an evolution that has strengthened NCWF’s presence in Charlotte.

Donna’s heart is in community connection, and no project embodies that more than Kids in Nature Day. This event brings hundreds of families – representing every background, neighborhood, and level of outdoor experience – into the woods for hands-on, sensory learning. Children pet snakes, feed turtles, touch mammal and reptile skulls, and examine insects and other biofacts under magnification. High-schoolers volunteer to assist activities and parents rediscover wonder alongside their kids.

For many attendees, it’s their first direct experience with wildlife, and it happens through NCWF’s community-based conservation model – accessible, local, and rooted in joy.

Donna’s conservation journey has changed her, too. She now embraces insects and spiders,  and studies native bees and beetles, collects specimens for education, and uses her jeweler’s loupe to peer into the small worlds that keep these ecosystems running. She talks to her grandkids about Red Wolves, native wildlife, and the importance of working with nature rather than against it. She sees every person as a potential steward – if given a way to connect.

Through leadership transitions, chapter growth, new partnerships, and a rapidly expanding volunteer base, Donna has helped build a thriving NCWF community in Charlotte – one where people find skills, friendships, purpose, and a deeper relationship to the natural world.

Her approach is simple:
Start with connection; a connection to wildlife, to native plants, to neighbors, to a shared mission.

Because when people feel connected – and have a community to team up with – they are empowered to act.
And when they act, conservation grows.

In Charlotte, that growth is unmistakable – family by family, event by event, habitat by habitat.
And at the center of so much of it are leaders like Donna Bolls: whose love of wildlife evolved into leadership, whose leadership built community, and whose community continues to advance the mission of protecting, conserving, and restoring wildlife and wildlife habitat every day.