Land Use & Open Space Conservation

Fellow

Gillian Lui

2020 Fellow
Gillian is a trained environmental scientist committed to advancing interdisciplinary climate solutions. She’s focused now on elevating environmental and social sustainability as business bottom lines.
Fellow Story

Addressing human security and cultivating innovation in Colombia

Ekow Edzie is a recent graduate of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the graduate school of international affairs at Tufts University. The summer after his first year at Fletcher, Edzie conducted field research on the land restitution process in Colombia using his Switzer Fellowship. He analyzed the unique challenges facing victims of land displacement in Colombia in their return to rural livelihoods and the structure of government aid intended to ensure their future success.
September 30, 2019
Fellow

Janae Davis

2019 Fellow
Janae Davis is an Associate Director of Conservation at American Rivers. She works to promote the health of the rivers, riverside lands and river communities in North Carolina and South Carolina to ensure clean drinking water supply, reduce...
Fellow

José Guadalupe Gutierrez

2019 Fellow
José Guadalupe Gutierrez is community organizer and landscape designer passionate about park equity and working with communities to expand access to parks, open spaces, tree shade, and recreational opportunities to all. Jose served as a...
Fellow

Zully Juarez

2019 Fellow
Zully Juarez provides research and analysis of environmental justice policies to Just Solutions Collective. With the direction and input of BIPOC frontline policy practitioners, she works to identify, research, review, and analyze existing...
Leadership Grant Grant

Southern California Conservation Analyst: Year Two

California Native Plant Society (CNPS) hired Nick Jensen as its first Southern California Conservation Analyst in 2017, with support from a Switzer Leadership Grant. This second year of funding will provide continued support as CNPS...
May 22, 2019
Fellow Story

Jensen and colleagues kicked out of Tejon Ranch project after criticism

To fend off lawsuits over its plans to build a new city in the rugged countryside northwest of Los Angeles, Tejon Ranch Co. made a landmark concession to environmentalists. It promised a decade ago to preserve 90% of its land — 240,000 acres — as an untouched ecological conservancy for public enjoyment through educational and research programs.
December 10, 2018
Fellow Story

Pairis' organization awarded large grant for climate change resilience project

Editor's note: The Climate Science Alliance was founded and is led by Fellow Amber Pairis. The Switzer Foundation provided foundational funding to create CSA with a Leadership Grant.
December 3, 2018
Fellow

Lindsay Olsen

2018 Fellow
Lindsay is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where her work focuses at the nexus of conservation and development. She is passionate about advocating for the needs of...
Fellow, Fellows Advisory Committee

Karen Diaz Ruvalcaba

2018 Fellow
Karen Díaz is an advocate on issues of food justice and outdoor equity. She received a dual Masters of Urban and Regional Planning at the Luskin School of Public Affairs and a Masters of Public Health at the Fielding School of Public Health...