Betsy Herbert

Betsy Herbert is an environmental scholar and activist. She completed her PhD at UC Santa Cruz in environmental studies in 2004 and has written widely about the environment. Her dissertation, entitled Forest Management by West Coast Water Utilities: Influences and Consequences, analyzed forest policies and practices of public water utilities in the coastal regions of California, Oregon and Washington. Her research results were published in 2007 in the Journal of the American Water Works Association.

A recipient of a Switzer Leadership Award in 2005, Dr. Herbert served as community liaison to the town of Felton, California, facilitating the public acquisition of the Felton water system from California American Water. She also administered the San Lorenzo Valley Water District’s environmental programs for eight years, working on watershed management, climate change greenhouse gas emissions tracking, and environmental grants. For sixteen years, she served on the board of directors of Sempervirens Fund, the oldest land trust in California, and chaired its Science Advisory Panel.