Mark Johnsen  Orcas Island

Mark Johnsen is a passionate advocate for land conservation with more than 30 years of experience in the field. While primarily based in Seattle, he has owned a home on Orcas Island since 1994 and began spending more time there after retiring from the Karr Tuttle Campbell law firm in 2020.

In 1993, Mark joined the King County Conservation Citizens Oversight Committee, where he quickly became the chair of the Acquisitions Subcommittee. The committee was responsible for overseeing the acquisition and conservation of properties throughout King County, using funds from the Conservation Futures tax and recent bonding against that fund. During his time there, Mark helped conserve many ecologically significant properties through purchase or conservation easements.

In 1996, Mark joined the board of the newly formed Land Conservancy of Seattle & King County, which later became the Cascade Land Conservancy and, more recently, Forterra. Around 2002, he conceived of expanding the organization’s mission into the Olympic Peninsula and southwest Washington, with a focus on conserving high-quality unprotected coastal wetlands, estuaries, and lower river reaches. He left the board to become the director and sole on-the-ground manager of this effort, called the Coastal and Estuary Program.

Mark also served as an active member of the King County Conservation Futures Advisory Committee, serving as Vice Chair for about 12 years and, most recently, as Chair.

With his extensive hands-on experience and skillset in land conservation, Mark is eager to bring his expertise to the San Juan Preservation Trust, of which he has been a member and supporter since the 1990s.