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Kevin Morse hired as Nature Conservancy’s Skagit Delta manager

Mount Vernon, WA – Kevin Morse, a regional planner, consultant and conservationist who has spent the past 14 years helping to shape economic development initiatives in rural communities, has become The Nature Conservancy’s new Skagit Delta project manager, the organization announced Monday.

For the past three and a half years, Morse has been executive director of the Mid-Shore Regional Council in Easton, Maryland, a regional planning agency and council of governments that serves three counties and 21 municipalities. Prior to that, he worked for nearly 10 years in the Skagit Delta, as manager of the environmental industries program for the Economic Development Association of Skagit County, president of Samish Bay Consulting and president of Native ArtNet.

His return to the Skagit Delta is a homecoming for Morse and his family; his wife, photographer Kirsten (Kirty) Morse, is a native of the valley.

"For the past few years, we’ve been homesick for our friends and family in Skagit County and for the beauty of this landscape," he said. "I’m looking forward to diving back into life here and to working, once again, with friends and colleagues in the economic development, agriculture and conservation communities."

Morse was a community leader in the Skagit Delta before he left for Maryland. In 1997, after facilitating a multi-stakeholder planning process to create a wetland management plan and policies for the Port of Skagit, he was named a "Founder of the New Northwest" by Sustainable Northwest. He has also served on the board of trustees for the Skagit Land Trust, the Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group and the Skagit Audubon Society.

As the Conservancy’s new Skagit Delta project manager, Morse will develop and coordinate a number of projects focusing on habitat conservation and farmland preservation. The Conservancy, which has been working in the upper reaches of the Skagit River for nearly 30 years, recently began to focus on habitat and farmland conservation in the delta as well.

"I’m thrilled to have Kevin join our team," said Bob Carey, the Conservancy’s Skagit Area program manager. "He has a deep connection to this region, understands the economic and cultural landscape, and cares passionately about helping to build a healthy and vibrant future—one that enables us to thrive economically as well as ecologically."The Conservancy’s work in the Skagit Region

The Nature Conservancy has been working in the Skagit for nearly 30 years. And as the organization’s understanding of this complex ecosystem has evolved, so too has its work. What started out as an eagle preserve in 1976 is now a watershed-wide, seas-to-summit program, a vision to safeguard the watershed and coastal ecosystem in a way that allows both human and natural communities to thrive.

Working closely with multiple partners, the Conservancy has helped to conserve more than 12,000 acres in the Skagit region, lands that encompass forested uplands, the main stem of the Skagit, Sauk and Suiattle rivers and estuarine habitats. The Conservancy, a private, international, non-profit organization, works collaboratively with landowners, public agencies, and others to conserve the diversity of life on Earth.

On the Web at nature.org/washington.