Past Leadership Grant Recipients
In this second year of Switzer funding, Leslie Abramson will continue to lead an interdisciplinary working group addressing the issue of whales and ship strikes in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. This area off the coast of San Francisco provides breeding and feeding grounds for blue, gray and humpback whales and other marine mammals. In recent years, there have been several incidents of whale deaths due to ship strikes. As Project Manager, Leslie has been leading the working group to develop a set of recommendations on ways to minimize these incidents. This year, Leslie will focus on implementation of the recommendations developed over the course of the previous year. She will lead the development of a cooperative research proposal between west coast sanctuaries and the National Marine Fisheries Service to model critical whale habitat to assess where whales are at the greatest risk of ship strikes. She will oversee the integration of the working group's recommendations into the Sanctuary Management Plan and will continue to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders such as mariners and the shipping industry, as well as with neighboring sanctuaries to the north and south to ensure the entire region benefits from this work.
This grant will fund Chuck Striplen's time as environmental scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) to create a new Tribal Initiative within the Historical Ecology Program of the organization. The Initiative will integrate the historical, ecological and cultural knowledge of California's native tribes into conservation planning and management of non-reservation land and watershed resources. This grant creates an opportunity for Chuck, as a tribal member, scientist and staff member at SFEI, to take on a leadership role in a unique new program that aims to better integrate landscape and cultural priorities on a watershed scale. This year, Chuck will focus on establishing a steering committee comprised of tribal representatives, public agencies, other non-profit conservation groups, municipalities and others, and prepare for building the new program's capacity over the coming years.
Eunice Blavascunas will join the staff of SERC Institute as a social scientist responsible for developing a social science program for the organization. SERC Institute, located on the Schoodic Peninsula in Winter Harbor, Maine, was created in 2004 as a National Park Service Research Learning Center supporting research and education efforts at Acadia National Park. Eunice is a cultural anthropologist with expertise in large-scale land conservation and its effects on rural communities. Eunice will examine issues around the success or failure of large-scale land conservation, using Maine's conservation lands as her case study. Ultimately, Eunice and SERC Institute intend to develop collaborative projects with the social science community that create a unique niche for SERC Institute as a center that provides social science to inform the process of large-scale land conservation nationwide.
The Adirondack Nature Conservancy has hired Jessie Levine as a consultant to develop a pilot program for funding the replacement and upgrade of road culverts to benefit aquatic species and habitat. Working with state and local governments and ANC’s academic and NGO partners, Jessie will help local highway departments in the Adirondack region by developing cost-share programs to offset the costs of installing new culverts that are better adapted to more severe weather scenarios under a changing climate. Culvert upgrades will help to ensure habitat connectivity for aquatic species and help to preserve the integrity of wetlands and waterways as severe storms and high water events become more common. Jessie’s background in watershed management and environmental policy will provide needed expertise to complement ANC’s science and policy staff.
Community Water Center (CWC) has hired Carolina Balazs as Research Scientist and Scientific Advisor. Carolina will add scientific capacity to this grassroots advocacy organization to help inform its policy and planning efforts as it works to ensure that communities in California’s San Joaquin Valley have access to safe, clean, affordable drinking water. The San Joaquin Valley is one of the country’s richest agricultural regions, yet it also has some of the most contaminated drinking water in the country. Economically disadvantaged agricultural communities are disproportionately affected by the poor drinking water quality. Carolina will generate and analyze scientific data and provide information for CWC’s activities and policy campaigns. Her employment at CWC builds on years of dissertation research on Central Valley water issues, during which she worked closely with CWC.
Whale Trust received a second year of support for Meagan Jones as its first full-time Executive Director. Meagan co-founded the organization in 2001 while getting her PhD, and began working full time after finishing her degree. Meagan is leading the organization through the next phase of its growth and development after a successful previous year developing a strategic plan and fundraising plan. Over the course of the next year, she will continue plans for the development of Whale Trust’s research and education center and continued exploration of collaboration opportunities with University of Hawaii-Maui College.
Leadership Grant: Reed-Wildlife Conservation Society (Project Leader - Western Private Lands & Connectivity Conservation)Friday, May 27 2011 | by elloyd
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) will hire Sarah Reed as Project Leader for the Western Private Lands and Connectivity Conservation Project, building on work Sarah has already done with WCS through her David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellowship. Sarah's participation in the project will allow WCS to expand its capacity in several priority areas in North America in looking at ways to reduce the impacts of rural sprawl on wildlife habitat. Sarah will examine how the concept of Conservation Development may be used in the Southern Rockies, the Adirondacks, and the Greater Yellowstone region to both recognize the realities of how people live and interact in those areas and the need to conserve wildlife habitat. She will evaluate and compare Conservation Development ordinances adopted by local jurisdictions in WCS priority areas, produce a publication to synthesize her findings targeted to land-use planning and development practitioners, and will ensure the application of this information into conservation strategies through strategic outreach in these priority areas.
This grant will allow the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association to expand Leslie Abramson's position to full time at the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Leslie will fill the role of Project Manager for the Whale/Vessel Interactions Project where she will coordinate and guide an interdisciplinary working group addressing the issue of whales and ship strikes. This area off the coast of San Francisco provides breeding and feeding grounds for blue, gray and humpback whales and other marine mammals. In recent years, there have been several incidents of whale deaths due to ship strikes. The working group will develop an action plan with recommendations on research and monitoring, communication and outreach to stakeholders, industry best management practices, and new policies and regulations; will consult with and make formal recommendations to the U.S. Coast Guard on altering shipping lanes in the Bay Area; will work towards a nationally coordinated approach to reduce impacts on whales from vessel traffic; and will present its work and findings nationally and internationally. This project builds on Leslie's prior experience with other national marine sanctuaries, and as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in Washington, D.C. last year where she served as part of the U.S. delegation to the International Whaling Commission annual meeting in Morocco.
Leadership Grant: Stabinsky-Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy (International Climate and Ag Policy)Friday, May 27 2011 | by elloyd
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) has hired Doreen Stabinsky as a consultant to advise the organization on a range of issues involving climate change and agriculture. Doreen's expertise will elevate IATP's capacity to provide substantive leadership on the links between agriculture and climate change leading up to and during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa in November/December, 2011. Doreen will advise the organization on the Durban process and how to engage governments and other NGOs on the impact of UNFCCC proposals on small-scale farmers and rural communities, and on agricultural soil carbon markets and initiatives to develop these markets. Doreen's past experience includes a number of years with Greenpeace as Science Advisor and Campaigner. She is currently a professor of global environmental politics at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Leadership Grant: Rogers-Pinchot Institute for Conservation (Year Three - Forest Conservation in the Ecuadorian Choco)Friday, May 27 2011 | by elloyd
The Pinchot Institute for Conservation has been awarded a third year of funding for Amy Rogers as Project Director, continuing to develop a conservation program for the Mache-Chindul Reserve in Ecuador focusing on reforestation and, this year, testing the concept of environmental mortgages. Amy has established a conservation program in the Esmeraldas Province in Ecuador focusing on two primary goals: to understand forest regeneration ecology in the Choco Forest, and to undertake reforestation and conservation strategies in a way that also supports local stewardship and economic development so that forest-based livelihoods can be sustainable and meet forest conservation goals. This year, Amy will work with Switzer Fellow Josh Donlan of Advanced Conservation Strategies, to test the concept of 'environmental mortgages' as a way to create these sustainable livelihoods.
Susannah McCandless will work as full-time International Program Director to strengthen the Global Diversity Foundation's capacity to deliver grassroots conservation initiatives. The Global Diversity Foundation (GDF), a UK-based organization, develops programs in partnership with local and international institutions framed around biodiversity and community. GDF has a rich history of building community-based conservation projects in Malaysia, Mexico and Morocco working with government institutions, NGOs, academic research scientists to train local community members in protecting biodiversity while also respecting local livelihoods and traditions. Susannah will direct the organization's U.S. office from her home base in Vermont, thereby building its administrative capacity in addition to her programmatic work. She will assume supervision of the organization's Regional Coordinators in Meso-America and Southeast Asia. Susannah also works as an Adjunct Professor in the University of Vermont's Department of Geography, teaching about the social and ecological impacts of conservation. This project builds directly on her experience in human-environment geography.
Leadership Grant: Lerman - US Forest Service Northern Research Station (Urban Wildlife and Biodiversity Initiative)Friday, May 27 2011 | by elloyd
The U.S. Forest Service's Northern Research Station, based in Amherst, Massachusetts, will work with Susannah Lerman to lead a project to incorporate a wildlife habitat component to the NRS's urban forest evaluation program. The end goal will be to improve the Forest Service's overall urban forest management activities. Specifically, Susannah will integrate metrics on bird habitat as an indicator of ecosystem health into the Forest Service's computer modeling software to develop an overall picture of urban forest biodiversity. The data will be available to a broad range of users including forest managers, municipalities, planners, students and volunteers for information on bird populations as an indicator of biodiversity and ultimately, as a tool to assist land managers. Susannah completed her PhD in biology from UMass Amherst in May, 2011. Her past experience includes scientific research with the Center for Biological Diversity in San Diego, CA; with the Ashuelot Valley Environmental Observatory in Keene, NH; and with the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences in Woodstock, Vermont.
Leadership Grant: Tompkins-American Rivers (Year Two - Ecological Leadership for California's Flood Management)Friday, May 27 2011 | by elloyd
Mark Tompkins will continue his consultancy with American Rivers for a second year as technical and policy advisor on the finalization of California's Central Valley Flood Management Plan (CVFMP). The CVFMP is a multi-year process to review the status of flood management infrastructure in California's Central Valley and to develop guidelines for effective flood management. Mark has participated in the process as a consulting engineer for the past year under a Switzer Leadership Grant. He will build on the progress from the first year's grant, and on the expertise and relationships he has built over the year, to influence how ecologically based strategies can be incorporated into long-term flood planning. American Rivers's goal is to ensure that California's new flood management system includes fundamental improvements that integrate and restore ecological processes specifically through floodplain restoration and reconnection. Mark Tompkins is an integral part of the Flood Management Team that has been making the case for alternative flood management to stakeholders, policy makers, and the public.
Leadership Grant: Mulvaney - Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (Year 3 - Clean and Just Solar Energy Campaign)Wednesday, December 22 2010 | by elloyd
Dustin Mulvaney will continue his research into the safety and sustainability of the solar photovoltaic industry for a third year. Dustin and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) will build on the momentum of the past two years of Dustin's role as Research Scientist on the Clean and Just Solar Energy Campaign. This third year of funding will allow Dustin to continue his research into the chemicals and processes used in the solar industry, prepare and release public outreach documents and information, continue policy research and analysis, and continue to serve as SVTC's media liaison. Dustin will continue to support SVTC as it deepens its work with the solar industry, legislative representatives, government agencies, university researchers and the public to document solar industry practices and potential environmental and human health risks.
This grant provides a second year of funding for Misha Mytar’s position as Senior Planner in Maine’s Department of Conservation, Bureau of Parks and Lands. Misha’s work focuses on enhancing the economic and community development potential of conservation lands in rural downeast Maine. Misha’s work for this second year will continue to involve acting as a bridge between local and state-level planning needs. This region of Maine has great potential for economic development based on the amount of conservation lands acquired in recent years and the corresponding potential for nature-based tourism. Misha provides needed state staff resources while continuing to be an active participant in local initiatives in this remote area.