At the August 11, 2011 District Board meeting former Associate Board member Laura H. Parker was officially sworn in as the newest member of the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors. John Phelps, who served as a Board Supervisors for 35 years, recently resigned and joined the Friends of the District. At the same meeting he was voted to serve as an Associate Board member for the Wake District. Laura Parker is an attorney with a background in lobbying, regulatory matters and advocacy. She graduated from the UNC School of Law in 1996 an has worked in the field of environmental law and regulation. After many years of work in private and public areas, including coordination of grassroots political efforts, she now serves as a legal consultant for her husband’s produce sales and marketing company as well as for his farm operations in Wendell and Knightdale. We congratulate Laura and John in their continued service to Wake County citizens in water quality protection and other natural resources work.