Matt Ledford was planning to serve a second AmeriCorps term when he landed a full-time position with Rural Action’s Watersheds program, where he’s working as a water quality specialist. Matt is leveraging his AmeriCorps training to continue cleaning local watersheds, and he also is working on a project to create a marketable product from septage, the material removed from septic tanks when they’re pumped. If that can be turned into safe fertilizer at an economical price, it could offset homeowners’ cost of pumping their tanks regularly. Tanks that aren’t properly maintained pollute local watersheds.
Matt grew up in Cleveland, served as an aviation hydraulics mechanic in the Marine Corps, and worked at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for 13 years before becoming an AmeriCorps member.