The Alliance is excited to welcome two new faces! Jake Solyst joins us as the Web Content Specialist for the Chesapeake Bay Program Communications Office, and Lydia Martin joins us as our Green Infrastructure Coordinator in our Pennsylvania office.

Jake Solyst has several years of content production and social media experience, and while he dabbles in multiple creative outlets—from design to animation to video production—his expertise is the written word. Jake holds a B.A. in Mass Communication and is enrolled in a Professional Writing M.S. program at Towson University, his alma mater.

As a web content specialist at the Chesapeake Bay Program, Jake writes, edits and manages content for the Chesapeake Bay Program’s flagship website while overseeing the partnership’s social media strategy.

A Maryland native, Jake grew up in a suburb of Annapolis (about a bike ride away from the Severn river) and now lives in Canton, Baltimore, where the iconic Professor Trash Wheel is docked. In addition to visiting the city’s harbor, Jake likes to go on hikes with his Miniature American Shepherd, sample local cuisine, and hunker down working on the next great American short story.

Lydia Martin joins us as the the Green Infrastructure Coordinator at the Alliance, working with the City of Lancaster and community partners to advance green infrastructure practices in the City, County, and across the Chesapeake Bay watershed. She is excited to enhance existing Lancaster programs including Save It! and Tree Tenders, as well as expand new ideas and projects to engage diverse audiences to improve land and water resources.

She is passionate about the natural world and using her time to connect with people, especially youth and families, to be active in restoring and advocating for a safe and healthy environment. As a child she spent her free time in Adams County exploring local streams, climbing trees, observing wildlife, and growing plants.

In April 2019 Lydia received the Penn Future Women of Environmental Education award for dedicating herself to educating the community about sustainability and environmental policy. With her commitment to lifelong learning and research in the natural sciences she is a steadfast conservationists serving as a Pennsylvania Master Naturalist, Donegal Trout Unlimited member, Pennsylvania iMapInvasives Program reviewer, and Community Conservation Committee (C3) officer. She serves on the PA DCNR Trails Advisory Committee and Martic Township Rail Trail Advisory Committee for the Enola Low Grade Trail System.