Born in Fredericton, but having grown up in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Heustis remembers a childhood spent largely outdoors.

“My dad fished,” said Heustis. “He used to take us out on weekends. So it set in at a young age to have an appreciation for the outdoors and different recreational activities.”
That interest in the natural world led to an affinity for science classes throughout school. Heustis didn’t know exactly what she wanted to do, but she knew it would be something to do with science.
“I figured taking a Bachelor of Science was a pretty good place to start,” said Heustis.
And she did just that, earning a Bachelor of Science from St. Francis Xavier University, followed by a Master of Science from the University of New Brunswick in 2017. Heustis worked briefly as a lab and field supervisor at the Hugh John Flemming Forestry Complex before joining the Foundation for Conservation of Atlantic Salmon as Conservation Program Coordinator in 2018.
“When I started in 2018, I was responsible for coordinating our funding program for Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island,” said Heustis. “That entails preparing all the documentation for the funding applications, helping groups with their funding applications, creating their funding agreements that we follow with our program objectives, establishing performance measures and then ensuring that those are met at the end of the year when they get their funding, as well as final reports.”
Heustis describes the role as being largely administrative, but one that she derived satisfaction from. She said that it was always enjoyable to see the great work that the different groups are doing through the funding that the FCAS provides. One particular project which stood out as near and dear to her was through the Stewardship Association of Municipalities in Newfoundland.
“They help municipalities around Newfoundland integrate salmon conservation into municipal plans,” said Heustis. “We’ve funded them to now have a trifold positive influence on salmon conservation in Newfoundland. And so now that it is integrated into a few different municipal plans around the province, that will continue and go forward. That’s really interesting to me – the municipalities don’t necessarily know what needs to happen with salmon conservation. But they can go talk to the association, who has all the expertise and they can implement the plan.”
Heustis had more recently taken charge over Scientific Advisory Committee projects and says that she still looks forward seeing the projects that come out of that program. The benefits that those projects can provide to a variety of watersheds and communities is why she took a great deal of pride in the work of the FCAS.
“It’s a really great funding model,” said Heustis. “The funding is at FCAS in perpetuity, the grants that they can give away, and they will be able to do that for as long as they have the trust fund. It was really exciting to be able to help groups year after year contribute to their own conservation work. I really enjoyed that I could help a lot of different people and not just one specific river or one specific project. It’s almost 60 projects per year that we help fund.”
Heustis lives in Fredericton with her husband Chris and two children and recently moved on from the Foundation to take the position of Executive Director for the Nashwaak Watershed Association in Fredericton.