Yolo County Planning Commissioner Mary Kimball

Biography:

Mary is the Director for the Center for Land-Based Learning, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing experiential opportunities for high school students statewide in sustainable agriculture and natural resources conservation. Mary oversees the three major programs of CLBL – the FARMS Leadership Program, the SLEWS Program, and the Farm on Putah Creek. There are six FARMS Leadership Program sites statewide from Chico to Orange County, and three SLEWS Program sites, Chico, Stockton, and Sacramento-Yolo. CLBL works directly with over 1,000 high school students statewide each year.

Prior to working as the Director for the Center for Land-Based Learning, Mary was the Hedgerow Project Manager for the Yolo County Resource Conservation District from 1997-1999. The Hedgerow Project worked with farmers in Yolo County to assist them with implementing native plant hedgerows for use as buffers and to harbor beneficial insects and other wildlife.  This project served as the catalyst for Yolo County’s farmers to utilize hedgerows as a part of their farming practices, and is the highest-utilized conservation practice cost-shared by the Woodland Field Office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Currently, Mary is active in many local organizations and community efforts; She is the Secretary of the Yolo Land Trust Board of Directors, a member of the Yolo Agriculture Futures Alliance, Advisory Board member of the Yolo Community Foundation, Regional Co-Director of the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation’s Fellows Council, Vice President of the River City Rowing Club, and Secretary of the Ohio State Alumni Club of the Sacramento Valley. She is a Class XXXII graduate of the California Agricultural Leadership Program.

Raised on a farm west of the town of Yolo, Mary is a 1987 graduate of Woodland High School.  Mary holds a Master’s Degree in Human and Community Development from the Ohio State University (1996), and a B.S. Degree from the University of California at Davis in Agriculture Science and Management, Plant Science Option (1992).

Contact Mary Kimball at mary@landbasedlearning.org