Spencer Beebe

Beebe is a fourth-generation Oregonian and earned a Master of Forest Science degree from Yale's School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (now the Yale School of the Environment).^[1] In the early 1980s he helped develop The Nature Conservancy's international program.^[1]

Beebe co-founded Conservation International with Peter Seligmann in 1987 to pursue global biodiversity conservation through what the founders described as more innovative approaches.^[1] One of the organization's first actions was the 1987 Bolivia debt-for-nature swap, which involved purchasing foreign debt from Bolivia in exchange for the creation of a multi-million-acre nature reserve.^[1]

Beebe founded Ecotrust in 1991 and served as its founding chairman and president.^[1][2][3] The nonprofit is based in Portland, Oregon and works in the U.S. Pacific Northwest on projects linking conservation goals with local and regional economic development, including partnerships with Indigenous communities.^[1][2][3] Ecotrust's work has included initiatives such as a regional "Salmon Nation" and a "conservation economy".^[3]

In a 1997 profile, Beebe emphasized resilience and conservation approaches that work with natural processes.^[2] His book Cache: Creating Natural Economies draws on his career in conservation and development.^[1][4]

In 2014, he was selected to receive the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Distinguished Alumni Award.^[1] In 2015, he received the National Audubon Society's Dan W. Lufkin Prize for Environmental Leadership.^[5]

• Cache: Creating Natural Economies (2010)^[4]