Jim Lyons

Founder, THW Conservation Strategies

Jim Lyons has been an innovative leader in conservation policy for three decades, helping to pioneer some of the most important concepts at work in ecosystem management today. 

As USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment overseeing the Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in the Clinton Administration, Jim was an architect of the Northwest forest plan, helped forge new protections of National Forest roadless areas, and rewrote agency planning rules to emphasize “ecological integrity” as a national forest management objective.  He also led development of the conservation and forestry titles of 1990 Farm Bill as staff on the House Agriculture Committee. 

In the Obama Interior Department, Jim was a leader of the team that developed the historic 11-state management plan to conserve the Greater sage grouse and advanced efforts to generate wind and solar energy on public lands. 

He serves as a consultant and advisor on conservation policy and climate issues.