A celebration of life will be held next month for Michael “Mike” Collins.
Collins was known in the local area and throughout the state for his passion for environmental stewardship. He and his late wife, Anna Bethune, lived in Gordonsville before moving to Orange where they spent the majority of their children’s childhoods.
Collins had a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from Virginia Tech and a masters of planning degree in land use and environmental planning from the University of Virginia. He began his professional career as a science teacher with Culpeper County Public Schools before becoming an environmental planner with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. He worked for the Town of Orange from 2004 to 2008, creating and staffing the community development department.
His first entrepreneurial venture was as the founder and president of Healthy Home, an environmentally friendly building supply and product store, in 1998. From there he worked as a water resources project manager for ENSAT Corporation and was a founder and principal of Virginia Groundwater. In 2006, he formed the Association of Conservation Real Estate, Conserv, with four colleagues. It later became the Center for Natural Capital which includes the creation of StreamSweepers, which began by cleaning tires and trash out of an 80-mile stretch of the Rapidan River and expanded to the watersheds of southwestern Virginia.
The Center for Natural Capital led to Collins co-founding American Climate Partners (ACP) in 2023. ACP continues the work of StreamSweepers along with SoilKeepers, Southern Climate Restoration Solutions and most recently, the Rapidan Fish Passage Project. In late June, Collins led a community information meeting about the project which aims to “boost the health of the mid-Atlantic anadromous fisheries through the removal of the Rapidan Mill Dam”. The project is funded through a $7.9 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
Collins passed away late last month while assisting a stranded motorist near Ruckersville. In a passage on its website, ACP representatives said Collins was known for his energy, vision and commitment to environmental causes. “The breadth of his work spanned from the conception and development of solutions for intractable problems to the hard day-to-day work of cleaning rivers, improving soil health and restoring habitats throughout central Virginia and beyond,” they wrote. “He had an abiding belief in the sacredness of the planet and our responsibility to steward it to keep it alive and healthy. He also believed strongly that healing the earth would lead to healing the climate and ourselves.”
Work on the Rapidan Fish Passage Project is ongoing. This week, crews have been collecting samples of the sediment behind and in front of the dam to be analyzed. Kara Nichols, ACP Program Director, asked for patience as the extended project team, staff and board grieve and regroup.
Collins is survived by his mother, JoAnn Nichols, father, Bela Collins, stepmother, Susan Ascendio, children Liza and Logan Collins and daughter-in-law Jessica, as well as numerous other family members and friends.
A celebration of life will be held Sunday, Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. at Oakencroft Farm and Winery, 1455 Oakencroft Circle, Charlottesville. Attendees are asked to RSVP at https://www.exploretock.com/oakencroftfarm/event/private/bd6a0595-41d7-440d-8f18-75d2c48f09d9.
