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Project Coyote is part of the Earth Island Institute, a global network of conservation organizations. Go to:

www.earthisland.org

About Us

MISSION

Project Coyote promotes educated coexistence between people and coyotes; we do this by championing progressive management policies that reduce human-coyote conflict, supporting innovative scientific research, and by fostering respect for and understanding of America's native wild "song dog."

We believe coyotes are a vital component of rural and urban communities, deserving of respect for their adaptability, resilience, and intelligence. We aim to create a shift in attitudes toward coyotes and other native carnivores by replacing ignorance and fear with understanding and appreciation.

Project Coyote is a fiscally sponsored project of Earth Island Institute, a 501(c)3 non-profit, public interest, membership organization that supports people who are creating solutions to protect our shared planet. All donations directly support Project Coyote and are tax-deductible. To make a secure online donation and learn about other ways to support Project Coyote click here.

 

STAFF AND CONSULTANTS

Camilla H. Fox- Founder and Executive Director
For over 15 years, Camilla Fox has worked to protect wildlife and wildlands in the U.S. and internationally. She has served in leadership positions with the Animal Protection Institute, Fur-Bearer Defenders, and Rainforest Action Network and has spearheaded campaigns aimed at protecting native carnivores and fostering humane and ecologically sound solutions to human-wildlife conflicts.

As the Executive Director of Project Coyote and a wildlife consultant, Camilla assists communities, agencies, wildlife managers, and non-governmental organizations in creating innovative solutions to help people and wildlife coexist. A frequent speaker on these issues, Camilla has authored more than 60 publications and is co-author of Coyotes in Our Midst: Coexisting with an Adaptable and Resilient Carnivore and co-editor and lead author of the book, Cull of the Wild: A Contemporary Analysis of Trapping in the United States. Her work on behalf of wildlife has been featured in several national and international media outlets including the German documentary, Coyote: The Hunted Hunter, two North American documentaries: American Coyote- Still Wild at Heart, and On Nature’s Terms, as well as The New York Times, the BBC, NPR, Orion, USA Today magazine, and Bay Nature magazine.

Camilla holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies with a focus in Wildlife Conservation, Policy, and Ecology from Prescott College and a Bachelor’s degree from Boston University where she graduated magna cum laude in 1991. She has served as an appointed member on the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture's National Wildlife Services Advisory Committee and currently serves on several national and local advisory boards. In 2006, Camilla received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Marin Humane Society and the Christine Stevens Wildlife Award from the Animal Welfare Institute.

Gina Farr - Communications Director
Gina Farr is a multi-skilled communications artist who is passionate about communicating solutions that support the social and environmental health of our communities. Gina’s ability to connect an audience with a message is both science and art; the result of broad skills, professional experience, and an enthusiastic commitment to her vision of a better world. As a multimedia storyteller, Gina has created rich web resources for our National Parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and grassroots political campaigns. She is the producer of Wild Sound Stories, powerful sensory adventures that are the living stories of our vanishing wilds; and is the host of Conversations, a podcast series featuring personal portraits of local environmental, cultural and wildlife heroes.

Gina brings her considerable skills and talents to Project Coyote from the for-profit world. During her 30 years as a consultant and corporate professional, she co-managed the Corporate Trust Department for the Bank of America; designed products for Charles Schwab and Stanford University; and created the decision model for the development of affordable housing in Sonoma County, CA.

Gina's passion is for wildlife and wild places. She is an experienced wildlife rehabilitator, is medically trained as a Wilderness First Responder, and is an accomplished audio naturalist. She serves on the board of the Nature Sounds Society, is a sought after public speaker, and trains environmental advocates in effective communications for the Environmental Forum of Marin.

Megan Draheim, MS - Scientific Research Associate
Megan Draheim is a PhD student at George Mason University’s Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and is a firm believer in the importance of interdisciplinary and collaborative conservation work. Megan also completed her MS at George Mason, where her research involved measuring attitudes towards coyotes in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, where coyotes are an emerging species. In addition, her thesis measured the effects of various outreach-focused messages about coyotes on attitudes towards the species.

Megan has been involved with urban wildlife issues in a variety of other ways, including working with urban wildlife rehabilitators and examining feral cat issues. In addition, she has designed coursework on urban wildlife and human-wildlife conflict for George Mason undergraduates and is an instructor with the Smithsonian Mason Semester at the Conservation Research Center in Front Royal, VA.

Previous research includes exploring how programs with missions to reduce human-predator conflict evaluate their projects and examining the potential for sustainable marine mammal-based ecotourism in the southeastern Dominican Republic. She is also working with the Human Wildlife Conflict Collaborative on a needs assessment for professional training programs in the human-wildlife conflict field.

Becky Bailey Pomponio - Florida & Virginia Representative
For more than 20 years Becky Bailey Pomponio worked as a radio anchor, reporter and talk show host for the Mutual Broadcasting System, the NBC Radio Network and Voice of America. She then took her award-winning media skills to Capitol Hill in Washington where she served as Press Secretary to Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York and as Communications Director for Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. Later, as Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and then the United States Mint, Becky was responsible for the high media and public profile of these large organizations. Now retired, Becky Bailey Pomponio finds herself busier than ever, helping her small Blue Ridge community and Project Coyote.

Becky became interested in the plight of America’s native song dogs, upon hearing them nightly in the woods surrounding her home in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains and has studied them extensively. She helps Project Coyote in its political and public outreach strategy as well as on state campaigns. Becky divides her time between Florida and Virginia, after her long career in media and public affairs in Washington D.C.

Geri Vistein, MS - Maine Representative & Conservation Biologist
Geri Vistein is a Conservation Biologist whose focus is carnivores and our relationship with them. She resides in Maine where her conservation efforts on behalf of Project Coyote involve creative outreach projects, and collaboration with state and federal biologists, non-government organizations, university professors, and talented artists in the community.

Ms. Vistein received her undergraduate degree in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana, and her Master’s of Science in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont. Her Masters work focused on the conflict over hunting at Cape Cod National Seashore and the social psychology of human belief systems.

While living in Montana she participated in research projects concerning carnivores: The Grizzly Bear DNA Study in and around Glacier National Park, The Elk Calf Mortality Study (determining the carnivores that caused their deaths) in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana, and a Snowshoe Hare Study (in reference to an ongoing Lynx study) in Yellowstone National Park. In addition to her field work in the West, she was employed by Red Lodge Clearinghouse, a collaborative effort in the West that brings diverse groups of stakeholders together. Participants create projects that involve “thinking out of the box” in order to find solutions on behalf of land and wildlife protection.

Prior to pursuing her wildlife degree, Ms. Vistein had earned a Masters in Education. In addition to her experience educating children in the mainstream classroom, she also gave presentations to diverse audiences throughout Maine on behalf of Living Earth Learning Programs out of Boston concerning environmental, animal welfare, and endangered species issues.

 

ADVISORY BOARD

Marc Bekoff, PhD
Marc Bekoff is a former Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Marc also works closely with the Roots & Shoots program of the Jane Goodall Institute. He has won many awards for his scientific research including the Exemplar Award from the Animal Behavior Society and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Marc is a prolific writer with more than 200 articles as well three encyclopedias to his credit. The author or editor of numerous books, including Coyotes: Biology, Behavior, and Management, The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for the Animals We Love (with Jane Goodall), The Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, and The Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships. Other books include The Smile of a Dolphin, Minding Animals, The Cognitive Animal, Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues: Reflections on Redecorating Nature, The Emotional Lives of Animals, Listening to Cougar, Animals Matter, Animals at Play (a children's book), and Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals. In 2005 Marc was presented with The Bank One Faculty Community Service Award for the work he has done with children, senior citizens, and prisoners.

Marc's work has been featured on 48 Hours, in Time Magazine, Life Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, The New York Times, New Scientist, BBC Wildlife, Orion, Scientific American, Ranger Rick, National Geographic Kids, on NPR, BBC, Fox, Natur GEO, in a National Geographic Society television special (Play: The Nature of the Game), in Discovery TV's Why Dogs Smile and Chimpanzees Cry, and in Animal Planet's The Power of Play and National Geographic Society's Hunting in America. Marc has also appeared on CNN, 20/20, and Good Morning America. His homepage is literati.net/Bekoff.

Kim Murray Berger, PhD
Formerly a research biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, Kim joined the Snow Leopard Trust in 2008 as Assistant Director of Science. She specializes in population monitoring, predator-prey interactions, carnivore-livestock conflicts and coexistence, and conservation of wide-ranging species.

Her 2006 paper, Carnivore-Livestock Conflicts: Effects of Subsidized Predator Control and Economic Correlates on the Sheep Industry was part of the basis for a recent petition encouraging the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of toxicants for predator control. Kim has done field work in Alaska, Norway, Argentina, Namibia, Mongolia, and Wyoming, and has studied species ranging from caribou, moose, pronghorn, and saiga antelope, to coyotes, wolves, and snow leopards. She completed her PhD at Utah State University where her research focused on the impact of wolves on coyote/pronghorn interactions and pronghorn fawn survival in southern Greater Yellowstone.

Franz J. Camenzind, PhD
Franz Camenzined holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, an MS in Zoology from Brigham Young University, and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Wyoming. Franz’s Doctorate research involved six years of field research on the ecology and behavior of free-ranging coyotes in Jackson Hole Wyoming. His research was the first to document hierarchical and territorial behavioral patterns in relatively unmolested coyote populations. He has appeared in front of numerous federal committees testifying against the indiscriminant coyote killing programs conducted by state and federal agencies.

Dr. Camenzind is also well-respected wildlife cinematographer and has produced films for ABC, Turner Broadcasting and National Geographic and a film on coyotes for PBS-Nature. He was the first person to film giant pandas in the wilds of China. He has also produced films featuring wolves, grizzly bears, pronghorn antelope and black rhinos, and has filmed major segments on the California condor, black-footed ferret, and red wolf and Mexican gray wolf captive breeding programs.

Franz recently announced his retirement as the Executive Director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, a position he will have held for 13 years when his retirement takes effect in 2009. Previous to that he served as a board member for 13 years. He has also served on the boards of Keystone Conservation (Formerly, Predator Conservation Alliance), Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Wyoming Conservation Voters.

Michael W. Fox, PhD
Michael W. Fox was born and educated in the UK, earning his veterinary degree on a Derbyshire County Exhibition Scholarship studying at the Royal Veterinary College, London, from where he graduated in 1962, with honors in pathology and animal husbandry. He was awarded the gold medal and Fellowship of the Veterinary Medical Association by the Royal Veterinary College for his research report on Diseases of the Sheep-dog in Relation to Management and Nutrition. His subsequent research into animal behavior and development in the U.S. resulted in a dissertation entitled Integrative Development of the Brain and Behavior in the Dog, (published in 1971 by the University of Chicago Press), that earned a PhD in Medicine, from London University in 1967. After receiving the Outstanding Teacher Faculty Award from the Alumni at Washington University, St Louis Missouri, he continued behavioral and developmental studies in dogs, cats, wolves, coyotes, foxes and other related canids, for which he earned a D.Sc. in animal behavior/ethology from London University. In 1975, he wrote the highly acclaimed book, The Wild Canids: Their Systematics, Behavioral Ecology and Evolution.

In 1976, Dr. Fox chose to focus on advocating animal protection, rights and environmental conservation, and in continuing his avocation as a teacher and public speaker. Between 1976 and 2002 he served in various positions with the Humane Society of the United States, including Scientific Director and Vice President for Bioethics and Sustainable Agriculture. During this time he was a regular guest on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, and published two best-selling books, Understanding Your Dog and Understanding Your Cat.

Dr. Fox was chairman of the National Academy of Science (NAS) Committee on Applied Animal Ethology, and served on the NAS Committee on Laboratory Animal Care and Standards for Dogs and Cats. He was also a member of the Council for Agriculture, Science and Technology Task Force on Farm Animal Welfare, and was an advisor to the National Organics Standards Board on farm animal health, welfare, and humane, sustainable agriculture.

He has authored and edited over 40 books for adults and children, and has a widely read, nationally syndicated newspaper column (Animal Doctor with United Features Syndicate, NY). His regular monthly animal column in McCall’s magazine was the longest running column on animals in a U.S. magazine. Featured in Marquis’ Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Science and Technology, and Who’s Who in the World, Dr. Fox is a widely recognized expert, consultant and lecturer on animal awareness, emotions, rights, and well-being; on human- non-human bonds and rights philosophy; on bioethics, biotechnology, humane, sustainable agriculture, and holistic health.

His long-held basic premise that human health and well being are inseparable from animal health and welfare and environmental protection and conservation is now gaining international recognition as a bioethical imperative and prerequisite for a viable future. His websites: www.doctormwfox.org and www.twobitdog.com/DrFox/index.aspx

David R. Parsons, MS
David Parsons received his Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from Iowa State University and his Master of Science degree in Wildlife Ecology from Oregon State University. Dave is retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service where from 1990-1999 he led the USFWS’s effort to reintroduce the endangered Mexican gray wolf to portions of its former range in Arizona and New Mexico.

Dave’s interests include the ecology and conservation of large carnivores, protection and conservation of biodiversity, and wildlands conservation at scales that fully support ecological and evolutionary processes. He is the vice-chairman and a science fellow of The Rewilding Institute (a conservation think tank) and is the Institute’s Carnivore Conservation Biologist. Dave was a graduate advisor in the Environmental Studies Master of Arts Program at Prescott College, Arizona from 2002-Spring 2008. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and serves on several regional steering/advisory committees for organizations and coalitions advocating for wolf recovery and landscape-scale conservation in the Southwest.

In 2001, Dave was a co-recipient of the New Mexico Chapter of The Wildlife Society’s annual “Professional Award.” In April 2007 at the North American Wolf Conference, Dave received the 2006 “Alpha Award” for his “outstanding professional achievement and leadership toward the recovery of Mexican wolves.” In May 2008 Dave received the “Outstanding Conservation Leadership Award” from the Wilburforce Foundation and the “Mike Seidman Memorial Award” from the Sky Island Alliance for his conservation achievements.

Dave is the owner of Parsons Biological Consulting, which provides technical services, information, and policy advice on matters relating to wildlife biology and ecology, and wildlife and wildlands conservation to conservation-minded clients. He enjoys wildlife viewing and wilderness backpacking and lives in Albuquerque, NM, with his wife, Noralyn.

Paul Paquet, PhD
Dr. Paul Paquet is an internationally recognized authority on mammalian carnivores, especially wolves and other wild canids, with research experience in several regions of the world.

He worked as a biologist for the Canadian Wildlife Service for many years. Now, he is Senior Ecologist with the Conservation Biology Institute and Raincoast Conservation Foundation, an international consultant and lecturer. Paul is a long-time fellow of World Wildlife Fund Canada. He was one of the architects of the World Wide Fund for Nature and European Union’s Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe. He is an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary, where he supervises graduate student research. He is a member of several government, industry, and NGO advisory committees concerned with the conservation of large carnivores.

Dr. Paquet has written more than 100 scientific articles and reports and published several books on the behaviour, ecology, and management of wolves. His current research focuses on conservation of large carnivores and effects of human activities on their survival.

Hope Ryden
Author-Naturalist Hope Ryden has spent years in the field, studying and photographing North American wildlife. For two uncomfortable years Hope camped in remote areas of Wyoming and Montana, observing and photographing the elusive coyote in an effort to discover the truth behind the ignorance and misinformation that has plagued this much-maligned animal for over two hundred years. Out of this research she wrote God’s Dog: A Celebration of the North American Coyote, which is considered the classic treatise on the subject. It has prompted comparisons to Jane Goodall's work in Africa. Her behavioral findings have been published in National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Audubon magazine, and her books have been translated into German, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Russian. To date she has twenty-three books to her credit, all of which are illustrated with her own photography.

Hope is the recipient of many distinguished awards for her writings and work on behalf of coyotes and other wildlife including the Art and Literary Award 2002 from New York State Outdoor Education Association; the Outstanding Achievement Award from Augustana College; the Humane Excellence Award ASPCA; the Joseph Wood Krutch Award from the Humane Society of the United States; the Animal Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Animal Protection Institute of America ; the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the American Horse Protection Society; the Who's Who of American Women and the Who's Who in the East.

Michael Soulé, PhD
Michael Soulé is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz. He was born, raised, and educated in California. After spending much of his youth in the canyons, deserts, and intertidal of San Diego and Baja California, and after graduating from San Diego State, he went to Stanford to study population biology and evolution under Paul Ehrlich. Upon receiving his Ph.D. at Stanford, Michael went to Africa to help found the first university in Malawi. He has also taught in Samoa, the Universities of California at both San Diego and Santa Cruz, and the University of Michigan. He was Chair of the Environmental Studies Department at UCSC. He has done field work on insects, lizards, birds, and mammals in Africa, Mexico, the Adriatic, the West Indies, and in California and Colorado.

Michael was a founder and first President of the Society for Conservation Biology and The Wildlands Project (also the current President). He has written and edited 9 books on biology, conservation biology, and the social and policy context of conservation. He has published more than 170 articles on population and evolutionary biology, fluctuating asymmetry, population genetics, island biogeography, environmental studies, biodiversity policy, nature conservation, and ethics. He continues to do research on ecosystem regulation by highly interactive species. He is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, is the sixth recipient of the Archie Carr Medal, was named by Audubon Magazine in 1998 as one of the 100 Champions of Conservation of the 20th Century, is a recipient of the National Wildlife Federation’s National Conservation Achievement Award for science, the recipient of the Conservation Medal for 2007 from the Zoological Society of San Diego and in the first class of recipients of The Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Pioneer Award.

Now living in Colorado, Michael speaks and writes on ethics and conservation, and serves on the boards of several conservation organizations, including the Wildlands Network, and consults internationally on nature protection. He is completing a book about the origins and evolution of sin and how it can inform our understanding of human nature can guide conservation and related life-affirming movements. To read more about Michael’s work and publications, visit: www.michaelsoule.com.

Adrian Treves, PhD
Adrian Treves earned his B.A. in 1990 in Biology and Anthropology from Rice University and his PhD in 1997 in Behavioral Ecology and Biological Anthropology from Harvard University. After six years working for international wildlife conservation organizations, he returned to applied research.

In 2007, he founded the Carnivore Coexistence Lab at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Adrian’s research focuses on how to balance human needs with wildlife conservation. To study this question, he explores people's conflicts with large carnivores, particularly livestock predation in the USA and abroad. This line of inquiry includes livestock husbandry, wildlife management, human and carnivore behavior, and methods for mitigating human-carnivore conflicts. In the field, he measures the behavior of problem carnivores using spatial predictive models and people's responses to and perceptions of conflicts. Adrian and his students conduct fieldwork in Wisconsin (wolves), Ecuador (Andean spectacled bears), and East Africa (lions and hyenas) with a variety of collaborators. For links to his recent research articles on carnivores, compensation, hunting, mitigating human-wildlife conflicts, and co-management, see www.nelson.wisc.edu/people/treves/Publications.htm

Becky Weed
Becky Weed ranches in Southwestern Montana with her husband Dave Tyler. They operate Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool Company, a certified organic, predator friendly sheep ranch, as well as a small wool mill. Thirteen Mile joined the board of Predator Friendly shortly after its inception in the mid-90s, and has been marketing products made from Predator Friendly wool ever since.

Weed is nationally recognized for her efforts in Predator Friendly ranching and was featured in Time Magazine in their series on "Heroes for the Planet" in 2000. As an outspoken proponent for human-predator coexistence, Weed advocates for dialogue with both consumers and producers through the Predator Friendly program.

Weed is trained as a geologist, and worked in that field for many years before becoming involved in agriculture. She has been involved with carnivore conservation issues for several years, and currently serves on the Board of the Wild Farm Alliance and the Conservation & Science Board of Lava Lake Land & Livestock, a very large Idaho ranch with a dual mission for conservation and economically viable ranching. She is a member of the Montana Board of Livestock.

Jennifer Wolch, PhD
Jennifer Wolch, PhD is Dean of the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley and the William W. Wurster Chair of City and Regional Planning. She was the founding director of the University of Southern California’s Center for Sustainable Cities, where she also served as Professor of Geography.

Her research focuses on metropolitan sprawl, physical activity and urban design, urban environmental justice and political ecology, and society-animals relations. She has also investigated problems of urban poverty, homelessness, and human service delivery, and the evolution of state-civil society relations. With Jody Emel, she edited Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity in the Nature/Culture Borderlands (Verso, 1998), and has published articles and book chapters on population diversity and attitudes toward animals, racialization and animal practices, and the place of animals in the city.

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