Sally Collins served as the first Director of the USDA Office of Environmental Markets (OEM) prior to retiring from USDA. OEM was established in 2008 “to advance markets for ecosystem services provided by farms, forests, and ranches across the country.” She has spent more than 25 years in natural resource management, working at the “field level” as a forest manager for 20 years prior to coming to Washington DC. Her last field assignment was Forest Supervisor of the 1.6 million acre Deschutes National Forest. For eight years, she served as Associate Chief for the U.S. Forest Service, sharing responsibilities with the Chief for management of all of the 155 National Forests and Grasslands, providing support to tribal, state and private lands, and overseeing research and international programs.
Sally currently owns a consulting firm dedicated to primarily two types of work: international forestry and ecosystem services valuation. She works as a Fellow with Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) to help the largest forested countries of the world establish secure tenure arrangements and laws for their forested estates. Since 2006, Sally has served (and continues to serve) as Co-Chair of MegaFlorestais.