Washington & Jefferson College

The Sustainability Committee is bringing Paul Hansen to campus on Feb. 27 to visit classes and give a public lecture in the evening in Yost Auditorium.   Paul Hansen is a lifelong conservationist. For 12 years, he was executive director of the Izaak Walton League of America located outside Washington D.C., and for 11 years director of the League’s Midwest Office in Minneapolis. Hansen was chair of the “Green Group” – the leadership forum of the CEOs of the major national environmental groups – and a founding member of the American Wildlife Conservation Partners (AWCP), a similar forum of hunting conservation leaders. Hansen was also the Director of The Nature Conservancy’s Greater Yellowstone program. He was a founding board member of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, SaveOurEnvironment.org, and the Sustainable Forestry Board. He has served on several other nonprofit boards including: The Natural Resource Council of America, The Keystone Center, Yellowstone Business Partnership, League of Conservation Voters, Wildlife Habitat Council, National Conservation Leadership Institute and Americans for our Heritage and Recreation. He served on the Demand-side Management Advisory Board for Northern States Power Company. He is a life member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and a professional member of the Boone and Crockett Club. Hansen is a longtime member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, The Wildlife Society, and a participant in the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference. He has a Master’s Degree in Natural Resource Management and Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Antioch University. He is the 2008 winner of the prestigious Keystone Leadership in the Environment Award and the Izaak Walton League’s 54 Founders award. He has written hundreds of articles on various conservation topics, and is completing a book on conservation success – Green in Gridlock or Progress: Common Cause for Conservation Success – documenting the need for engagement, collaboration and compromise. He served on the U.S. Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee and was a speaker at the 2005 Centennial Forest Congress.