Laura Starkey is the Founder and Executive Director of Heartwood Preserve Conservation Cemetery, a 41-acre nature preserve in Trinity within the Tampa Bay area’s first conservation cemetery, which opened its doors in November 2016. After growing up on a cattle ranch in Odessa, she lived in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Ecuador, and for the past 19 years, in Tampa’s Seminole Heights along with her daughter. She holds a B.A. in music from Maryville College, and a M.A. in Applied Linguistics from USF. In 2003, she left her career as a teacher of English as a Second Language to work at her father’s ecotour business, Jay B Starkey’s Flatwoods Adventures, later becoming Director of Conservation Lands for Starkey Ranch. In 2010, she became a Certified Prescribed Burn Manager.

She completed her NATA Certificate in Natural Areas Management in May of 2017. The courses were interesting, educational and fun, but she especially enjoyed the time spent with & getting to know other land managers from around the state. The program helped her with the design and implementation of Heartwood Preserve’s land management plan, from site assessment to managing visitors. The Managing for Diversity Across Florida’s Unique Landscapes course helped her to focus her plans for the nature preserve from a more scientific basis, while the Managing Visitors and Volunteers in Natural Areas course helped with the community-based aspect of her work.