Karin P. Sheldon became Executive Director of WRA in 2007. For fourteen years prior, she was Professor of Law, Associate Dean for the Environmental Law Program, and Director of the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School. Her areas of specialty are natural resources and environmental law, in particular federal land management, wildlife conservation, water resources allocation, and watershed management and protection.

Before joining the faculty at Vermont Law School, Ms. Sheldon was President of the Wilderness Society in Washington, D.C., a staff attorney with EarthJustice in Colorado, a partner in a public interest law firm in Washington, D.C., and one of Ralph Nader’s original “raiders.” Her work included efforts on behalf of environmental organizations and Native American tribes on issues of mining and oil and gas development, endangered species protection, and federal reserved water rights.

Ms. Sheldon serves on the Board of Directors of Defenders of Wildlife, EarthWorks, and the Natural Resources Law Center of the University of Colorado School of Law. She has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Law Institute, and the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation.

Ms. Sheldon received her AB in Political Science from Vassar College and her J.D. from
the University of Washington School of Law.

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