FMU Alumni of the Year: Hughes Page

Please join us in congratulating Hughes Page, PDLT’s Land Conservation Manager, as he was honored last evening by Francis Marion University’s Biology Department as the Alumni of the Year!

Dr. Travis Knowles, a former FMU professor of Hughes’s introduced him with the following remarks: Hughes is a Jack-of-many-Trades. He has a thirst for knowledge and proactively engages in new opportunities to expand his skills and working understanding of all things in the land protection world. Hughes is a genuinely kind man that is always willing to help others, whether it’s helping out a fellow staff member with a work project or assisting someone in the community, Hughes steps up to lend a hand. We at Francis Marion University are so proud of Hughes and all his work to protect and steward the environment.

Hughes joined Pee Dee Land Trust in 2017 as a Land Conservation Associate and was promoted to Land Conservation Manager in 2024. He was born and raised in Marion, SC growing up around the family farm from an early age.

Hughes graduated from Francis Marion University in 2009 with a BS in Biology, minoring in History and Chemistry. Hughes and his wife, Heather, spend many of their weekends running paddle tours on Lynches River in Scranton, SC (with Heather’s family’s business- River Rats) and chasing their son, Oliver, and daughter, Aubrey.

Dr. Knowles mentioned some of the training and work Hughes is engaged with currently:

• Certified Master Naturalist through Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service and the South Carolina Wildlife Federation -Master Wildlifer through Clemson Cooperative Extension
• Volunteered countless hours helping with conservation efforts, including helping to preserve and clean Lynches River of unnatural debris, along with educating others on the importance of keeping our water systems clean
• Serves currently as the Friends of the Revolutionary Rivers committee Chairman
• Certified American Canoe Association Level II guide and spend weekends guiding tours on Lynches River in Scranton, SC
• Certified Water Quality Tester through SC DHEC's Adopt-A-Stream program
• Licensed Commercial Drone operator
• Currently working towards becoming a SC Certified Prescribed Fire Manager through the SC Forestry Commission and Master Gardener Certificate
• Serves on the Pee Dee Water Basin
• Represents Pee Dee Land Trust on multiple partnerships throughout the watershed and state
• Hughes manages the Land Trust’s annual monitoring program that covers all 111 conservation easement properties across the Pee Dee Watershed
• Hughes works with private landowners to plan their land legacy through permanent conservation easements