Rodd Kelsey

About Rodd Kelsey

A strategic conservation leader with over 25 years of experience, I currently serve as Director of Land Protection and Stewardship at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) California. I oversee the management of acres of diverse ecosystems while leading a team of 70 professionals with an annual budget exceeding $40 million.My work focuses on accelerating land and water conservation through innovative public-private partnerships, policy influence, and creative financing solutions. I\'m passionate about maximizing biodiversity benefits, enhancing climate resilience, and ensuring conservation efforts serve both people and nature.Previously, I led TNC\'s Water Program strategy, spearheading initiatives to create wildlife-friendly agricultural landscapes and restore critical habitats along the Pacific Flyway. My experience spans forest restoration in the Sierra Nevada, migratory bird conservation, and natural resource management for the U.S. Navy.I combine scientific expertise with practical conservation approaches. I serve on multiple boards including the California Council of Land Trusts, California Natural Resources Agency 30x30 Partnership Coordinating Committee, Conservation Farms and Ranches, Western Field Ornithologists and the Institute for Bird Populations.

Experience

1. Director, Land Protection & Stewardship - California

   The Nature Conservancy

   May 2023 — Present · Sacramento, CA, US

   In this role, I lead a team of over 50 staff dedicated to expanding and restoring protected lands across California, including management of acres of land TNC California\'s Land Trust manages. This program is focused on strategic initiatives aimed at conserving and restoring terrestrial ecosystems to sustain biodiversity in the face of climate change and provide a suite of ecosystem services that benefit society. Our strategies focus on collaboratively demonstrating science-based solutions to environmental challenges in California, and to \"scale up” successful models through policy change or dissemination to effect conservation more broadly. As the Land Program Director I\'m responsible for leading three main program areas: 1) protection of lands and waters that are most important for building out a network of public, private and tribal conservation areas that will connect and fully represent California’s diverse ecosystem types; 2) Accelerating restoration of priority landscapes by reversing degradation and restoring the key species, natural communities and ecological processes that sustain diversity, enhance resilience, and maximize co-benefits such as carbon retention and groundwater recharge; and 3) advancing best practices in land management by using TNC’s extensive and dispersed conservation estate as a platform for experimentation and constituency building. Through our network of land holdings across the state, the Program strives to understand and predict climate-driven changes in natural systems and to develop practices to keep pace with them, such as by assisting the migration of species outside of their historic ranges.

Education

• University of California, Davis

  Ph.D., Ecology and Animal Behavior

• University of California, Davis

  Ph.D., Ecology

  2003 — 2008

• Thacher School

  High School Diploma

  1981 — 1985

• Princeton University

  Ph.D. Candidate, Ecology

  1998 — 1999

• California State University, Long Beach

  MS, Biology

  1995 — 1998

Skills

• Natural Resource Management
• Non-Profit Administration
• Environmental Policy
• Wildlife Conservation
• Ecology
• Climate Change
• Environmental Science
• Conservation Easements
• Environmental Issues
• Wildlife
• Environmental Awareness
• Natural Resources
• Endangered Species
• Conservation Issues
• Biodiversity
• Ornithology
• Landscape Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• Grant Writing