Our Team / Kat Selm
Kat Selm is a collaborative problem solver with over a decade of experience in the environmental field.
Kat focuses on achieving equitable outcomes for communities when tackling complex environmental challenges. Kat currently works on the firm's conservation, environmental, and intersectional climate portfolio.
Her expertise spans relationship building, scientific research, natural and working lands management, parks and public access, riparian conservation, building decarbonization, and grassroots climate organizing. Previously with The Nature Conservancy in California, Kat managed conservation lands across the south and central coast, addressing critical issues like sustainable agriculture, groundwater, and watershed resilience. Notably, she led the initiative to establish Ventura County's first publicly accessible space along the Santa Clara River: the Santa Clara River Preserve.
In 2021, Kat co-founded the Conejo Climate Coalition (CCC), a grassroots organization advocating for equitable climate policies in the Conejo Valley and beyond. CCC and its coalition partners have been instrumental in several campaigns in Ventura County and across California. Additionally, Kat serves as an advisory committee member to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Ventura Land Trust, representing the city of Thousand Oaks.
Kat holds a BS in biology from the University of North Carolina, Asheville, with a research focus in botany, and an MS in natural resources and geographic information systems from North Carolina State University. Her graduate research in the urban ecology lab at NCSU explored gender-bias in climate change perceptions and household adaptive capacities in urban environments.
In her spare time, Kat enjoys playing cello, roller-skating, cuddling her two cats, and exploring wilderness areas.