The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors confirmed Hannah Ormshaw as parks director on Tuesday, Sept. 15, promoting an 11-year department veteran who led wildfire recovery at Pescadero Creek Park.

Ormshaw had served as assistant parks director since 2021. She takes over a system of 24 parks spanning more than 16,000 acres and 190 miles of trails, replacing Interim Parks Director Emma Gonzalez.

The appointment appeared as Item 14 on the Board of Supervisors' regular agenda. Individual supervisor votes were not available as of Wednesday, Sept. 16.

Ormshaw first joined San Mateo County Parks in 2015 as a Student Conservation Association Youth Stewardship Crew Leader. After two years as an assistant ecologist with the Alameda Resource Conservation District, she returned to the department as a natural resource specialist. She rose quickly. She was promoted to natural resources manager in 2019 and assistant parks director in 2021.

Her highest-profile project came after the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire burned more than 2,800 acres of Pescadero Creek Park. Ormshaw led development of a Climate & Habitat Resiliency Plan for the park, shepherding it through community input sessions to adoption by the Board of Supervisors in 2022, according to the county's announcement. The plan included a funding mechanism that allows less resilient trees to be sold for lumber, with proceeds going into a trust fund for future restoration.

As natural resources manager, she also oversaw habitat enhancement, invasive species control, wildfire fuel reduction, forest health, GIS mapping and wildlife monitoring across the county park system.

"Having worked closely with Hannah, I've seen firsthand how deeply she cares about the people she works with, our parks, and the communities we serve," Gonzalez said in the county's announcement.

Ormshaw holds a bachelor's degree in environmental studies from the University of Waterloo and a master's degree from the University of Toronto. Before joining San Mateo County, she worked with Parks Canada, Natural Resources Canada and the Toronto & Region Conservation Authority.

The county has not announced specific priorities or a timeline for Ormshaw's first initiatives as director.