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Our Beloved ED is Leaving for New Horizons in Land Conservation

Darla Guenzler, founder and Executive Director of California Council of Land Trusts for twelve years, is leaving to become the new Executive Director of Wildlife Heritage Foundation, a statewide land trust dedicated to preserving California’s rich heritage of open spaces, agricultural land, and diverse wildlife.

“Darla’s dedication to land conservation and her tireless efforts on behalf of California land trusts over the last decade is truly remarkable,” said Linus Eukel, CCLT Board Chair. “The impact of her vision and advocacy at the state and local level will be felt for decades to come.”

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Darla has spent her many years at CCLT supporting land trusts, advocating for strong laws and creating programs that connect people to the outdoors. With the Conservation Horizons initiative, she mapped out an ambitious strategy to keep conservation relevant in a changing California landscape and started a statewide conversation about the future of land trusts. She will now have the opportunity to take her vision, leadership and expertise to WHF where she can help implement the programs and ideas that she envisioned for all California land trusts. We are sad to see Darla leave CCLT, but thrilled that such a champion of our beautiful outdoor places will continue to work on behalf of all Californians.

darlaAt CCLT Darla provided strategic direction and program development for a statewide association of more than 150 nonprofit land trusts. As a passionate public policy advocate for conservation law, Darla researched, wrote, negotiated, and championed 16 laws that have improved land conservation, mitigation and land trust operations.  She led a public policy initiative that sponsored legislation, negotiated state budget and bond appropriations, improved state regulatory processes, and supported state and local ballot measures.Darla has spent her many years at CCLT supporting land trusts, advocating for strong laws and creating programs that connect people to the outdoors. With the Conservation Horizons initiative, she mapped out an ambitious strategy to keep conservation relevant in a changing California landscape and started a statewide conversation about the future of land trusts. She will now have the opportunity to take her vision, leadership and expertise to WHF where she can help implement the programs and ideas that she envisioned for all California land trusts. We are sad to see Darla leave CCLT, but thrilled that such a champion of our beautiful outdoor places will continue to work on behalf of all Californians.

Darla wrote the first laws in the nation to protect conservation easements in the condemnation process and to guide endowment management for mitigation properties. Her deep familiarity with conservation easement drafting and interpretation, monitoring and enforcement has made her a nationally recognized expert in these areas. She founded California Conservation Law Forum, a tri-annual educational opportunity for attorneys and senior practitioners to learn about current cases, explore legal issues, and advance conservation law.

She has led numerous policy, research and collaborative projects on improving the use and management of land protection and management tools.  In addition to many reports and publications, Darla co-authored Conservation Trusts, a book on the use of charitable trusts to manage natural resources.

editdarlacut“It has been a great honor and pleasure to serve as the founding Executive Director of CCLT and to work with members, agencies and others on issues of vital importance to land conservation,” said Darla Guenzler. “I am looking forward to the opportunity to advance land conservation in deeper ways and implement the directions and ideas we developed at CCLT at a statewide land trust.”

“While we are sad to see Darla go, we are excited about building on her accomplishments for the future of CCLT,” said Linus. “Preparations for our annual conference in March and Take It Outside California! in May are well underway.  We also have a variety of new training opportunities, publications and programs we will be rolling out next year.  And, we are pleased to begin the search for Darla’s successor today.”

Darla’s visionary leadership at CCLT has laid a strong foundation for the future of conservation in California. CCLT will continue its Horizons initiative work to lead the changes necessary for long term success for land trusts and conservation as well as continuing training, education and advocacy.  We wish Darla all the best as we begin our search for someone to fill an enormously large pair of shoes for conserving land and water conservation for all Californians.

If you are interested in applying for CCLT’s Executive Director position, please click here for more information. All inquiries should be directed to [email protected].

If you would like to support CCLT to continue its great work, please donate.  Your donation will help fund CCLT’s statewide efforts on behalf of land trusts.