Jan Cassin

Jan is an ecologist with expertise in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater systems. Her career has emphasized applied research and practice in a wide range of water resource management issues – including integrated watershed management, environmental flows assessment, ecosystem services quantification, and innovative financial mechanisms such as wetland banking, and investments in watershed services (IWS). Jan directs Forest Trends’ work on investments in watershed services; she has also worked with Forest Trends’ Business and Biodiversity Offset Programme to support and promote the use of best practices in biodiversity offsets and biodiversity conservation around the world. Prior to joining Forest Trends, Jan received her Doctorate at the University of Michigan and worked for eleven years as a senior project manager and ecologist for Parametrix (a Seattle-based engineering and environmental consulting firm), and for nine years as a biologist for The Nature Conservancy. Jan developed recommendations to the Puget Sound Partnership on the use of innovative financial mechanisms for the recovery of the Puget Sound ecosystem, worked with the Puget Sound Restoration Fund to establish a payments for services pilot for nitrogen removal by shellfish in Puget Sound, assisted BC Hydro develop performance measures for their long term environmental goal, and led studies evaluating impacts of flow alteration on aquatic ecosystems for King County. Jan has traveled extensively in Central and South America, has proficiency in Spanish, and enjoys photography, travel, kayaking, and hiking.