After an extensive search process, the Parks Foundation of Clark County has named Alex S. Earl as Executive Director. He started his new position on Friday, September 1st, 2023. A leader with a diversity of experience as well as a passionate advocate and volunteer for many causes throughout Clark County and beyond, Alex has worked across the nonprofit spectrum including defending whales in Antarctica; working on climate change, plastic pollution and marine debris; working with immigrants and refugees; working with youth; working on
antipoaching and working to advocate for refuges and parks.
“We are excited that Alex will be joining the Parks Foundation of Clark County at this pivotal time for our organization and Southwest Washington,” said Tim Leavitt, Board President of the Parks Foundation of Clark County. “His passion and commitment to the nonprofit sector and to our region is an asset to our organization and we share his view that parks and natural spaces are accessible and equitable gateways to the natural world. They are also critical to our collective mental and physical health. As we navigated an unprecedented global pandemic, the treasures that are our parks became lifelines to the community and to the natural world. It has never been more important to honor the legacy of those who ensured we have some of the best and most diverse county and city parks in the nation but also to actively support them for present and future generations.”
Mr. Earl exclaims, “The ancestral lands currently known as Clark County were cared for by indigenous peoples for millennia. Their communities thrived while maintaining a balanced, sustainable relationship with the natural world. These values were passed down from generation to generation and are still practiced today including by the Cowlitz and the Chinook. We pay our respects to these peoples, past and present and follow in their footsteps with our volunteers, supporters and partners who have worked tirelessly to preserve, honor, cultivate and enhance the quality and accessibility of our natural areas. The ecological and biological diversity of our county is unique on a global scale and ranges from stunning crystalline lakes and emerald rivers; to volcanic formations; to waterfalls; to white sand beaches; to grasslands; to ancient cathedrals of trees; to creative and inclusive playgrounds; to challenging skateparks and to amazing dog parks. It is all here welcoming us to come together collectively as a community and to recreate.”
Mr. Earl serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, on the Ridgefield Parks Board, on the Advisory Board of Ocean Defenders Alliance and as an Assistant Scoutmaster with Troop 14 in Salmon Creek, WA. Complementing his professional and volunteer experience, Alex is an alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School, Executive Education; a full merit scholarship alumnus of the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders at Stanford Graduate School of Business; a full scholarship alumnus of the Berkeley, Haas School of Business in Global Social Entrepreneurship & Nonprofit Operations; and an alumnus of Canada’s equivalent to the US Peace Corps. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from the University of British Columbia as well as a diploma from the United Nations Environment Programme and the University of Eastern Finland in Global Environmental Security and Environmental Law and Policy.
Alex was raised on the border of Alaska and British Columbia at the end of one of the longest fjords in the world next to the largest national forest in the United States. He has lived, studied, worked and volunteered in many countries and regions but he came home to the Pacific Northwest to live, and he chose Clark County to raise his family.