Linda Parks is the Executive Director of SOAR (Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources) and sits on the Boards of the Environmental Defense Center and Mothers for Peace. She was elected to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors where she served from 2003 to 2022. She is a past Mayor, Councilmember and Planning Commissioner for the City of Thousand Oaks. Some of her accomplishments include creating laws protecting open space and farmland, helping to preserve the 3,000 acre Ahmanson Ranch as a State Park, drafting local campaign reform laws, initiating a bookmobile for Ventura County's children and seniors, founding the Ventura County Discovery Center, and establishing the free, popular, Kanan Shuttle bus service in Oak Park.
As a Ventura County Supervisor she developed a nonprofit native plant nursery, Growing Works, that provides horticultural therapy and employment for people with mental illness. She organized a series of free Senior Summits for hundreds of participants to determine ways to better serve senior citizens, and created the Ventura County Mental Health and Safety Task Force to find ways to prevent gun violence in the wake of the Borderline Bar and Grill mass shooting.
Ms. Parks led the effort that brought the largest population segment in the United States to use 100% renewable energy as a member of the Clean Power Alliance of Southern California, and established a requirement for the County to oversee planting of 1,000 trees a year for the next 20 years. She helped eliminate toxic pesticides, and created a law that requires testing water and soil next to rocket test sites. Ms. Parks also led the effort to build parks and trails, established a first-of-its kind wildlife corridor zone, and has added traffic reduction measures including the realignment of Somis Road at SR118 that eliminated gridlock, synchronized signals on Santa Rosa Road, and initiated the Potrero Road bike lane in Hidden Valley.
Supervisor Parks served on the following Boards and Commissions:
- Clean Power Alliance of Southern California
- Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy
- Local Agency Formation Commission
- Air Pollution Control District
- California State University Channel Islands Site Authority
- Ventura County Transportation Commission
Linda has a Master's Degree in Urban Planning from the University of Washington and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She has been honored with the 2024 SSFL Environmental Legacy Award, Small Business Administration's 2019 Phoenix Award for Outstanding Contributions to Disaster Recovery by a Public Official, the 2019 Justice for Victims Award from the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, the "Environmental Hero Award, 2017" by the Sierra Club Los Padres Chapter and the Santa Monica Mountains Fund, the "Paul Harris Fellowship Award" by the Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks Sunrise, the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation "Citizen of the Year Award," the Carla Bard “Environmental Integrity in Public Service Award” from the Environmental Defense Center, the “Walk the Talk Award” from Heal the Bay, and the “Edward L. Masry Integrity in Community Service Award.” Upon her retirement a park on Lewis Road was named in her honor as well as the courtyard of the Ahmanson Ranch House at Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve. She has been married 42 years and has four children and four grandchildren.