Sam Lawson

Sam brings a lifetime of experience to the Mesa Refuge in national and community service, community-based conservation and non-profit management. From civil rights advocacy and service as a Peace Corps-Ethiopia Volunteer in the 1960s, Sam has worked as a community organizer, conservation practitioner and nonprofit manager, most recently for Save the Redwoods League and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). His work with TNC in California helped protect critical habitat throughout the State and restore Sacramento River floodplain forests and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta wetlands. In Kenya, he led projects that protected critical habitat for Black Rhino and other plains game on private lands and on tribal trust lands controlled by community-based conservancies. When he is not pursuing a passion for travel, Sam splits time between Point Reyes and San Francisco.