The State Land Board voted unanimously to appoint Vicki Walker as the interim director of the Department of State Lands (DSL). Current DSL director Jim Paul will leave the agency at the end of February to take a position as Assistant Director for Administrative Services at the Oregon Department of Corrections. Walker served as the Oregon State Director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development from November 2009 to January 2017. While at USDA, Walker oversaw the investment of $4.8 billion for more than 24,000 projects that helped rural Oregonians. Projects included helping low-income rural residents purchase and repair homes; building or maintaining 200 low-income apartment complexes; and assisting 900 rural businesses expand operations. Before her work at the USDA, Walker served for ten years in the Oregon Legislature (2003 to 2009), and as the administrator of the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision in 2009.
