Jefferson County Naturalist Brittney Tiller to step down

FAIRFIELD — Jefferson County Naturalist Brittney Tiller has announced that she will step down from her position near the end of this year.

Tiller has been Jefferson County’s Naturalist since 2019 when she took over from longtime Naturalist Therese Cummiskey. Tiller had worked under Cummiskey part-time since 2016 until taking over the role herself.

Tiller said she and her family have been thinking hard about this decision for the past six months.

“I’ve excited to spend more time with my family, take a step back and take a breather,” she said.

Tiller’s husband is Matt, who works for the City of Fairfield’s Water Department, and they have three children: Malachi, Emerson and Quinn. Tiller said that this was a hard decision since she loves her job, but her family has to come first.

“It’s a job where you’re on a lot of the time, and even when the weather is bad, you have to be making a plan for the next day,” she said. “Therese built such an amazing program over 30 years, and it was fun to pick up the baton from her and maintain a lot of what she did in different areas.”

Tiller said that some of the highlights from her tenure as naturalist include the construction of the Camp Kyle Amphitheater, the remodeling of the Jefferson County Nature Center, and her personal favorite, building the summer camp program.

Tiller’s last day will be Dec. 8, 2023. The Jefferson County Conservation Office hopes to hire a replacement for Tiller before that date.

“I love the conservation field and, who knows, in a few years when our kids are older, it’s not out of the possibility that I’ll be back in conservation in some capacity,” Tiller said.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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