The Washington State Conservation Commission (SCC) has appointed Kate Delavan to be SCC’s next policy director. Delavan led the Office of Farmland Preservation for four years previously.
Under Delavan’s leadership, the Office of Farmland Preservation (OFP) partnered with conservation districts and land trusts to permanently protected over 5,000 acres of farm and ranch land with another 10,000 acres are currently in the pipeline.
OFP has also built and implemented an innovative new approach to protecting farmland and facilitating land access to underrepresented farmers and ranchers, and deepened relationships with conservation districts, government agencies, land trusts, and key conservation partners.
Delavan has also served as a co-lead of the state Food Policy Forum, supporting diverse stakeholders to come together on recommendations to improve the food system.
SCC’s Executive Director James Thompson said, “I am delighted for Kate to bring her extensive talents to the policy program and to serve in this role.”
Thompson continued, “I am confident that her previous experience and her talents in this area will serve the conservation community well as we continue to build on the great policy work that was previously accomplished.”
Delavan has a strong background in working lands conservation, policy, and program strategy. She holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Science in Global Business from the University of Redlands and is a graduate of the AgForestry Leadership program.
“SCC and conservation districts do absolutely critical work across our state, and I am thrilled to continue to support this work through a new role,” said Delavan. “I look forward to applying lessons learned across my career and building on existing and new relationships to advance our collective efforts to support locally led voluntary conservation.”
Since Delavan is now focused primarily on the policy work at SCC, her previous position of Office of Farmland Preservation Coordinator is open and accepting applications. You can find that application and position description here.
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