P Lynn Scarlett

Former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior Lynn Scarlett is visiting scholar and co-director of the Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth at Resources for the Future, working on issues pertaining to ecosystem services, landscape-scale conservation, water, and climate adaptation. She is a senior policy advisor to Bracy Tucker Brown and Valanzano in Washington, D.C. She also co-chairs the Large Landscape Conservation Practitioners Network and is a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. From 2005 to January 2009, she served as the deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of the Interior, a post she took on after four years as the Department's assistant secretary for policy, management and budget. She served as acting secretary of the Department for two months in 2006. Ms. Scarlett initiated Interior’s Cooperative Conservation Task Force in 2002 and chaired the Department's Climate Change Task Force. She is the author or coauthor of recent publications on climate change adaptation; urban greening; large landscape conservation; offshore oil issues; and ecosystem services. She received her B.A. and M.A. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also completed her Ph.D. coursework and exams in political science.