The International Seminar on Protected Area Management is a collaborative effort of the University of Montana and the United States Forest Service International Programs.
Key public agency personnel from the US Forest Service and the National Park Service will join the program and assist with program content development. Leaders in protected area management from non-governmental organizations and private enterprises will provide key insights into seminar topics.
research is broadly centered in human-environment interactions and the intersection of conservation and development. Within this, my focus is on ecotourism, community development and natural resource management, particularly in mountainous areas and developing countries. The pursuit of these investigations has taken me to a wide range of geographic locations where I have had the opportunity to study a diversity of topics. These include adventure tourism and economic crisis in Argentina, Scientific Tourism in Patagonia, Women’s roles in ecotourism in India and population and development issues in Nepal. Since 2005 I have been conducting field courses with university students in the Indian Himalaya. This experience has been both challenging and immensely rewarding for me and my students. My experiences in India led my wife and I to start a small ecotourism venture called the Nature-Link Institute. We now run several courses a year to the Himalaya. In my free time, I enjoy being outdoors and moving through the landscape. My passions include trail running, rock and ice climbing, snowboarding, high altitude mountaineering and teaching and learning with students in a field setting
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Sarah Eiden is a graduate student at the University of Montana currently pursuing her master’s in resource conservation with a concentration in international conservation and development. She is interested in the development of agroforestry practices focusing on place-specific diversified systems for ecological resiliency with local community engagement. Sarah graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelors in international relations. She spent the last three years living and working in Russia. When not on campus, Sarah is an avid rock climber and enjoys getting into the mountains or finding herself surrounded by trees.
Leon is originally from Michigan, and has always had a passion and curiosity concerning nature and natural systems. Whether that was the woods, farms, rivers, or the Great Lakes that Michiganders hold dear. He received his bachelor’s degree in International Relations with a specialization in South Asian Studies from Michigan State University. Studying Hindi and Urdu during his time there offered the opportunity to study for a semester in Varanasi, India. After university, Leon joined the U.S. Peace Corps and served for 27 months as an English Teacher and Teacher Trainer in a village outside of Ponorogo, Indonesia. Leon continued working in international development, in an operations capacity in Washington D.C. before moving to pursue his Masters in Resource Conservation in International Development at the University of Montana. Leon enjoys exploring all the trails and rivers of his new home in Missoula with his partner Mia and his dog Luna. He is excited and honored to be working with protected area specialists from across the globe as part of the ISPAM team.
Prior to joining International Programs, Chris lived in El Salvador for three years as a Peace Corps volunteer, working with small communities on agroforestry and watershed conservation projects. Chris received a B.S. in Environmental Science with a minor in chemistry from the University of Rochester in New York, and spent one semester abroad as an undergraduate in Costa Rica. |
Chris joined the US Forest Service International Programs in August 2005 as a Program Specialist in the Technical Cooperation unit and currently serves as the Regional Operations Manager for the Africa and Middle East program. In this role, Chris supports activities across the region with special attention to Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, the Lebanon Reforestation Initiative, and community forestry activities in Cameroon.
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Eric Rosenfield grew up in Los Angeles, California. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and then joined the Peace Corps in Panama where he served as an Environmental Health Volunteer working on water resources issues in a small indigenous community. After nearly three years in Panama, Eric returned to the US to receive his Masters in Public Administration with a focus in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University in New York. His studies ultimately brought him back to DC where he worked with the White House Office of Management and Budget for over three years, focusing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s research and development programs, as well as those related to children’s health. Eric joined the US Forest Service’s International Programs Office just 10 months ago, where he focuses on activities to combat illegal logging in the Latin America and Caribbean region.