All Hands Ecology Executive Director John Petersen will retire at the end of March after a 35-year career in conservation. A Board-directed executive search is underway; Nils Warnock, Ph.D., currently director of conservation science, has been appointed as the interim executive director, beginning on April 1.

“Under John’s leadership, All Hands Ecology is tackling the region’s ongoing conservation challenges of dwindling biodiversity and climate-driven wildfire in ways that have delivered better outcomes for ourselves, our wild neighbors and the complex ecosystems of Northern California. His persistence in these areas will improve quality of life for generations of North Bay residents,” said Phillip Carlsen, president of All Hands Ecology’s Board of Directors, in a note to supporters.

In the nearly four decades since John arrived at All Hands Ecology as a fresh-faced ecologist, conservation science and environmental education have evolved to become structural underpinnings of daily life in the San Francisco Bay Region. Building on the legacy of the grassroots battles of the 1960s and ‘70s to protect critical habitat against commercial development, John was part of a new generation of scientists and educators. They recognized the role environmental organizations like All Hands Ecology, regional lands trusts and others could play in supporting a year-round natural-sciences workforce, professionalizing nature-based education curricula, collecting long-term data sets on key species, and supporting public policy with science-based recommendations.

In his announcement to staff and volunteers earlier this year, John highlighted collaboration with the community as the key to All Hands Ecology’s success, noting “I’m proud to have spent the majority of my professional career with such a great group of people united in action. It’s been an honor to have known and worked with All Hands Ecology’s visionaries; David Bouverie, Clifford Conly, Jim and Shirley Modini, and Marty Griffin, as well as a highly accomplished staff of nearly 40, our supporters, and the thousands of dedicated volunteers, some actively marking their 40-50-year anniversaries with All Hands Ecology.”

John is All Hands Ecology’s longest-serving employee, initially hired in 1986 as the first resident biologist of the Bouverie Preserve, and has served the organization in several leadership roles culminating in his appointment as executive director in 2014.

Como biólogo residente en los años ochenta y noventa, John estableció el programa de gestión de la Reserva Bouverie, que incluye la restauración de robles y praderas, el seguimiento del tritón de Stuart Creek (que ahora cumple 30 años), y añadió más oportunidades estacionales para que los escolares del condado de Sonoma conecten con la riqueza de plantas y animales endémicos de su propio patio trasero.

In 2008, John assumed the operational responsibilities of the organization and was key to expanding All Hands Ecology’s preserve holdings into Northern Sonoma County to safeguard important creek and riparian areas within the Russian River watershed—as landowners Jim and Shirley Modini put it, to “save it for the wildlife”—as well as expanding the reach of All Hands Ecology’s nature education program into Bay Area neighborhoods through its cross-cultural environmental leadership (XCEL) program.

John’s appointment to lead the organization in 2014 was in part a recognition of his vision to deepen All Hands Ecology’s partnership with the community from preserve-based nature education and wetland species monitoring to programs that operate across suburban and rural landscapes, work side-by-side with local residents and public and private land managers, and press the region into action, exemplified by All Hands Ecology’s Living with Lions and Fire Forward programs.

John has not only championed the precious landscapes of Marin and Sonoma counties but also the cultural legacies All Hands Ecology stewards, as seen by the resurgence of interest in the great American author M.F.K. Fisher and her Last House on the Bouverie Preserve.

En cuanto a lo que le depara el futuro a John, afirma: "Ahora estoy deseando hacer las otras cosas que me gustan, como pasar más tiempo con la familia (¡y con mi nuevo nieto Leo!), viajar, hacer senderismo, dedicarme a la fotografía y permitirme otras distracciones varias."

A Board-directed executive search is underway to find the new leader who will bring All Hands Ecology into the next decade and beyond, as the organization looks forward to celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2022. Nils Warnock, Ph.D., currently director of conservation science, has been appointed as the interim executive director, beginning on April 1 until a new ED is hired. Prior to joining All Hands Ecology in 2018, Nils served as the executive director of Audubon Alaska and a vice president of the National Audubon Society. Nils has deep roots in the North Bay, having begun his career in West Marin at Point Blue, where he was the co-director of the Wetlands Division from 2000-2008.

"John ha reunido a un equipo con talento y dedicación, que está preparado para guiar a la organización a través de una transición fluida en el liderazgo", ha declarado Carlsen, Presidenta de la Junta Directiva. "Invitamos a todos a celebrar los éxitos de John y a desearle un feliz aterrizaje en sus merecidos años de jubilación".