Speakers for Welcome Ceremony and Plenary Sessions
Below are descriptions of our distinguished presenters and the topics they will address during the Welcome Ceremony or our evening Plenary Sessions.
Andrea MacKenzie
"A Visual and Music Montage: Advancements in Bay Area Land Conservation"
Sunday, July 15, 2012 (Opening Reception)
Andrea Mackenzie is general manager of the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority and has a distinguished record of service and accomplishment in regional land use planning, open space protection, and conservation policy challenges in California. She serves as the president of the Bay Area Open Space Council, a collaborative of member organizations actively involved in permanently protecting and stewarding important parks, trails, and agricultural lands in the ten-county San Francisco Bay Area. Ms. Mackenzie served as general manager for the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District from 2000-2009, and led the successful effort to reauthorize the District’s funding. Ms. Mackenzie has worked for the National Park Service, the City and County of San Francisco and the East Bay Regional Park District. She is a past fellow of the National Conservation Leadership Institute in Shepherdstown, W. VA, has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from U.C. Santa Barbara and a master’s degree in Urban Planning and Natural Resources from U.C.L.A.
Michael E. Soulé
"Conservation Science Then and Now"
Sunday, July15, 2012 (Opening Reception)
Michael was a founder and first President of the Society for Conservation Biology and The Wildlands Network (formerly Wildlands Project) and is currently the VP for Science. He has written and edited 9 books on biology, conservation biology, and the social and policy context of conservation and has published about 175 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 strongly interactive (keystone) 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 awarded in 2009.
Congressman George Miller
"Championing Wildlife and Wildlands"
Sunday, July 15, 2012 (Opening Reception)
Serving California's 7th District (East Bay of San Francisco) in the U.S. Congress since 1975, Rep. Miller is one of the most effective and consistent champions of the nation's wildlife and wild lands. His conservation achievements include providing key leadership in protecting the integrity of the Endangered Species Act and advancing congressional actions to increase funding for federal lands conservation. Miller, born and raised in California, has also secured important protections for that state's land and water. In 1992, he authored the historic California water reform law known as the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, which mandated a doubling of California's salmon populations and the protection of other fish and wildlife. He also co-authored the 1994 California Desert Protection Act with Senator Dianne Feinstein. He has served on the Education and Workforce Committee since first coming to Congress and was its chairman from 2007 through 2010. From 1991 to 1994 George chaired the House Natural Resources Committee, one of the primary committees overseeing the environment, energy and public lands, and served as the committee's Senior Democrat until 2000. Congressman Miller recently received Friends of the River's Peter H. Behr award, given to an elected official who has taken significant and noteworthy action to preserve and protect California rivers. He is also the recipient of Defenders of Wildlife's Spirit of Defenders Award for Public Service and the Glen Canyon Institute's David R. Brower Award for Outstanding Environmental Activism. George is a leading advocate in Congress on education, labor, the economy, and the environment.
Dr. Anthony Barnosky
"Changing Climate, Changing Conservation Biology: Where To From Here?"
Monday, July 16, 2012 (Plenary Speaker)
Since 1990, Anthony D. Barnosky has been on the faculty at UC Berkeley, where he currently holds the posts of Professor of Integrative Biology, Curator of Fossil Mammals in the Museum of Paleontology, and Research Paleoecologist in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Author of numerous scientific publications, op eds, and blog posts, he is a paleobiologist who studies the evolution and extinction of species and how climate change and other disturbances impact earth's ecosystems. His book Heatstroke: Nature in the Age of Global Warming (2009) highlights what today's changing climate means for practicing conservation biology in the coming decades. Further information is available from his website: http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/barnosky/adbprofile.htm and he can be followed on Twitter @tonybarnosky
Dr. Patricia Koleff
"Assessing Conservation Priorities in Mexico: Challenges and Perspectives"
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 (Plenary Speaker)
Patricia is the Director of Analysis and Priorities at the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity in Mexico (CONABIO). Her main activities are to define strategies and programs to gather, systematize and analyze biodiversity data and information for the National Biodiversity Information System, to provide access to stakeholders, decision makers and general public. She has been part of numerous international Committees, representing Mexico. One of the major tasks during the last years has been coordinating the Secretariat to develop an Ecosystem Assessment for Mexico (Natural capital of Mexico), and the National Invasive Species Program, among others. Her research interests include the study of patterns and process of species distributions from a macro ecological perspective, biodiversity information standards and management and systematic planning for conservation biology. She coordinated the national GAP analysis to identify priority conservation areas. Patricia has more than 40 publications including papers, book chapters and books. She was a professor at UNAM from 1989 to 1996 and, has been teaching a postgraduate course about Introduction to Biodiversity Informatics since 2007. She completed her Bachelor and Master Studies in Biology at UNAM and her doctoral at University of Sheffield.
Anne J. Castle
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012 (Plenary Speaker)
Anne J. Castle was confirmed as U.S. Assistant Secretary for Water and Science on June 19, 2009. In this capacity, she oversees water and science policy for the Department of the Interior and has responsibility for the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey. Castle spearheaded Interior’s WaterSMART program, which provides federal leadership on the path toward sustainable water supplies, and has had success in sustainable hydropower generation. She provides hands-on leadership on Colorado River issues, and she is a champion of the National Land Imaging Program. Castle has a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics and a J.D. from the University of Colorado. She is known to be a dynamic speaker with big ideas on water, energy, and climate.