Date: March 16, 2017
Contact: Mike Theune, 559-565-3703
Contact: Dayna Higgins, 559-561-4808
SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS, Calif. March 16, 2017 – Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and Sequoia Parks Conservancy are happy to announce that a new Executive Director for the Conservancy has been chosen. After an intensive search, Karen Dallett, will lead the organization into summer 2017 and forward.
Sequoia Parks Conservancy Board Chair, Matt Colby, considers her experience in non-profit management and strong commitment to our national parks and other public lands, a great match for what our organization needs in order to meet the challenges and successes that await us in the future.
Karen Dallett is the Executive Director of the Glen Canyon Natural History Association. In her prior position as executive director of the friends group, Friends of Black Rock-High Rock, she was a leader in conservation and stewardship of public lands. Karen has a strong commitment to our national parks and other public lands. Her background includes wildlife conservation and restoration, publishing, youth programs, visitor center operations, fundraising, citizen science, and non-profit leadership. Dallett has expressed her enthusiasm for the upcoming change, “I have tremendous respect for the impact Sequoia Park Conservancy has meant to our nation’s second oldest national park. Its influence is felt throughout California and beyond. The organization is poised to further strengthen and expand its efforts and am thrilled that the Conservancy board of directors selected me as the new executive director. I look forward to working with the board of directors and agency partners to identify priorities and setting to achieve a shared vision for the future.”
Outgoing Sequoia Parks Conservancy executive director, Mark Tilchen, knows Karen through the Public Lands Alliance and is very excited by the board’s selection, “My staff and I have built the Conservancy into an organization that plays a critical role in supporting education and philanthropy in our national parks. Karen brings a wealth of stewardship, non-profit, and environmental skills to the Sequoia Parks Conservancy. She is a strong leader who can take the organization to the next level in support of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.”
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks superintendent, Woody Smeck, is pleased by the selection, “We are thrilled to welcome Karen to Sequoia Parks Conservancy. As our official philanthropic partner, the Conservancy supports projects and programs that enhance the natural beauty and visitor experience in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. We are indebted to Mark Tilchen for his many years of services to Sequoia and Kings Canyon. The impact of his educational and philanthropic work has touched generations of park visitors.”
-###-
About Sequoia Parks Conservancy
The non-profit partner to the National Park Service in Sequoia and King Canyon National Parks. The Conservancy funds and enables projects and programs that protect, preserve, and provide access to the natural and cultural resources of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. To learn more, visit www.sequoiaparksconservancy.org.
About Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
These two parks, which lie-side-by-side in the southern Sierra Nevada in Central California, serve as a prime example of nature’s size, beauty, and diversity. Over 1.8 million visitors from across the U.S. and the world visit these parks for the world’s largest trees (by volume), grand mountains, rugged foothills, deep canyons, vast caverns, the highest point in the lower 48 states, and more. Learn more at https://www.nps.gov/seki or 559-565-3341.
