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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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. |
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