Jan Cassin

Director, Water Initiative

Jan Directs Forest Trends’ Water Initiative, where she leads the organization’s work on scaling nature-based solutions for sustainable water management and climate solutions. An ecologist with expertise in terrestrial and freshwater systems, her career has emphasized applied research and practice in a wide range of water resource management issues – including integrated watershed management; wetland, stream, and floodplain restoration; natural infrastructure design and assessment; ecosystem services quantification; nature-based adaptation, and innovative financial mechanisms such as wetland banking and investments in watershed services (IWS). Prior to joining Forest Trends, Jan received her Doctorate at the University of Michigan, and has worked as an environmental and water resources consultant, as a research assistant at MIT’s Center for Policy Alternatives, a biologist for The Nature Conservancy, and in southwestern Colorado on tree planting and firefighter crews for the US Forest Service.