Peter H. Dykstra, is Special Counsel at Trust for Public Land, where he is responsible for legal and project manager services on conservation real estate acquisitions in Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Montana. Peter is also the founder and owner of Dykstra Law and Policy PLLC, where he counsels nonprofits, local, state, and tribal government agencies, and business entities on water rights, conservation real estate transactions, landscape-scale natural resource strategies, ecosystem service market development and transactions, and complex natural resource projects.
As a conservation real lawyer and project manager, Peter has negotiated and closed on the purchase of over 400,000 acres and over $725 million of land for outdoor recreation and public access, habitat protection, conservation of farmland, and carbon sequestration across the United States.
As a water lawyer, Peter negotiated the earliest transactions in Washington State securing water rights for instream flow, created and implemented the first local government efforts to create water mitigation banks in Washington State, and led efforts to create watershed-scale climate and drought resiliency strategies through partnerships involving tribes, agriculture, local, state and federal government agencies, and the environmental community.
As a facilitator and political strategist, Peter has helped cultivate and lead numerous successful multi-stakeholder, collaborative efforts among historically-adverse constituents to solve complex natural resource issues involving water resources, tribal treaty rights, coastal restoration, forest health, climate resiliency, recreational access to public lands, and public land acquisition and protection.
Prior to his current positions, Peter spent twelve years as a partner at Plauche and Carr LLP, nearly decade working as a leader in the Washington nonprofit conservation community, and several years in private law practice in Seattle. He began his career as Assistant Attorney General for Washington State. He earned his B.A., M.P.A., and his J.D. (cum laude), from Indiana University in Bloomington.
