Executive Director - Sarah Otterstrom, PhD

sarah@pasopacifico.org

Sarah is an ecologist with over 17 years experience in Central America where she has lived and worked as a student, scientist, and leader in biodiversity conservation. After learning first-hand of the unique beauty of tropical dry forests and pacific coast habitats, she became determined to dedicate her life to protecting them. Otterstrom received a Ph.D. in Ecology, in the area of emphasis of Human Ecology, from UC Davis. Her scientific research has focused on the ecological impacts of fires in tropical forests and the cultural practices that influence tropical fire regimes. As a conservation scientist she serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biotropica. She has also served on the Association for Fire Ecology and the Sociedad Mesoamericana para la Biología y Conservación.

 Director of Conservation Science – Kim Williams-Guillén, PhD 

kwilliamsg@pasopacifico.org

Kim is a conservation scientist whose main interests involve the role of agricultural and human-managed lands in tropical mammal conservation. She coordinates Paso Pacífico’s long-term biodiversity monitoring programs and the application of conservation science for target species such as migratory birds and spider monkeys.  Kim received her Ph.D. in 2003 from New York University. Currently, she recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan where she worked with Dr. Ivette Perfecto on the role of bats and in agricultural systems in Mexico. Kim is an adjunct professor at the University of Washington, Bothell.

Programs Assistant - Melissa Furlong

Melissa is a devoted tree hugger passionate about writing and wildlife. She earned a BA beneath towering redwoods at UC Santa Cruz in Community Studies, with emphases on agriculture, international development, and social justice. As part of her degree program, she participated in a field study with Action Against Hunger in New York as an external relations specialist. She then moved on to work with numerous non-profits in a variety of fields, but decided to get back to her conservationist roots by joining Paso Pacifico’s team. 

Administrative Assistant – Nicole Salazar

nicole@pasopacifico.org

Nicole started at Paso Pacifico in 2010 as an administrator at the US office.  Nicole's experience and degree in sociology and business management has helped her to adapt her skill set to the needs of Paso Pacifico.  Working here has been a good fit because helping and teaching has been a consistent part of her work, from working as an English teacher in Taiwan to teaching people healthy living at Weight Watchers.  As an amateur photographer, her favorite subject has always been nature.  As an observer and lover of nature, she has enjoyed working with Paso Pacifico by providing administrative and accounting support to further their causes.

Country Director – Liza González, MSc

liza@pasopacifico.org

Liza has been a leading conservationist in Nicaragua for over a decade. As an ecologist trained at the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua, she has worked in varying capacities for non-governmental organizations, on community-based conservation projects and in leadership positions within the Nicaraguan ministry of the environment. In recent years she was director of the National Protected Areas System, overseeing the management of 76 protected areas and also served as the Director of the Biodiversity Program, an agency charged with evaluating and protecting the nation’s biodiversity. Most recently, González served as a consultant to the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor project developing strategies for corridor implementation.

Environmental Education – Julie Martínez

Julie leads our environmental education program, sharing the wonders of our natural world with children at six different schools across the Paso del Istmo. She studied biology at the Universidad Nacional de Nicaragua in Managua. Since joining Paso Pacifico in 2006, Julie has been instrumental in organizing many community workshops and school events. She especially enjoys helping students to gain hands-on learning in the forests and beaches in their neighborhood.

Forest Ecologist - Claudia Nohemi Perla Medrano

Claudia Nohemy is a forest ecologist who recently graduated from Universidad Nacional Agraria in forestry. Claudia’s college thesis focused on the seasonally dry tropical forest vegetation located at the Escameca Grande Private Reserve located in the Paso del Istmo. Claudia is from the northern Nicaragua province of Matagalpa where she has also carried out forestry management plans in that regions native pine forests. Currently, Claudia works for the Paso Pacifico tending to the hundreds of thousands of trees in the Return to Forest Project. Claudia is passionate about protecting and restoring the native forests of her homeland.

Conservation Scientist – Martín Lezama, MSc

nicapinol2002@yahoo.com

Martín is a wildlife biologist with expertise in wetland conservation, parrots, and migratory birds. Martín taught ecology at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) for fourteen years. As part of Paso Pacifico's scientific team, Martin is working to understand the threats and status of the endangered Yellow-naped Parrot in the Paso del Istmo. Recently, Martín was an author on the management plan for Nicaragua's largest protected area, Reserva Indio Maíz. He presently serves as the secretary for the Sociedad Mesoamericana para la Biología y Conservación.  

Turtle Program Coordinator - Salvador Sanchez

Since Paso Pacifico began working with the coastal community of El Ostional in 2007, the young and energetic Salvador was an important supporter.  When he completed his term as an elected community leader in 2008, Salvador joined Paso Pacifico to work as Coordinator for Community-Based Turtle Conservation programs. As a natural born leader, Salvador’s positive influence has helped convince many turtle poachers to abandon their trade and begin protecting sea turtle nests, where they receive a performance payment for every baby sea turtle successfully hatched.   Salvador also helped Paso Pacifico identify and recruit the community tour guides, who now lead the area’s most exclusive nature tours.        

Communications and Outreach - Wendy Purnell

wendy@pasopacifico.org

Wendy is a PR and fundraising professional with over a decade of experience in publishing, education, and policy. She started the Czech Republic's first nationwide environmental education program where she brought interdisciplinary lessons into high school civics and science classes. Wendy enjoys highlighting the achievements of non-governmental organizations, and working with Paso Pacifico combines her passion for individual rights, deep commitment to wildlife conservation, and love of the people and landscape of Central America.

Conservation Scientist – Stephanie Spehar, Ph.D.

Stephanie is a primatologist and conservation scientist who received her Ph.D. from New York University in 2006. Her primary interests focus on large-scale ecosystem conservation and the response of “umbrella species” such as primates and other large-bodied wildlife to anthropogenic habitat disturbance, with an eye toward developing effective conservation policy. She is also interested in the ecological role of primates and their effect on overall biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Her dissertation research was conducted with white-bellied spider monkeys (Ateles belzebuth) in northeastern Ecuador, and she also has experience working on wildlife-related conservation issues in Asia. She visited Nicaragua in January 2007 to assist in sample collection and project planning, and is currently working with Paso Pacífico to examine the habitat use and behavioral ecology of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) living in forest fragments in southern Nicaragua.

 Conservation Scientist – Suzanne Hagell, PhD 

 sehagell@gmail.com

 Suzanne completed her Ph.D. with Paso Pacifico and the School of Forestry at Northern Arizona University.  Her dissertation used  genetic techniques to understand how the endangered Central American spider monkeys interact with the fragment dry tropical  forestes of the Paso del Istmo. Suzanne found that the monkeys rely on forest restoration and protection to persist in Nicaragua.  Suzanne has volunteered for Paso Pacifico for several years training young Nicaraguan biologists, making maps, and participating in  primate monitoring activities.

Wildlife Management Advisor - Cortney Vargas

cortney@pasopacifico.org

Cortney began working for Paso Pacifico in 2008 as the Program Administrator, managing the US headquarters and keeping staff well-equipped. Cortney left a significant and lasting legacy at Paso Pacífico by designing the Karen Warren and Susan White Spider Monkey Sanctuary and Education Center located at Domitila Reserve, Nicaragua. Cortney continues to act as an advisor for the sanctuary as she finishes a degree in Wildlife Conservation at Humboldt State University. Cortney has degrees in Wildlife Education, Animal Behavior Management, and Exotic Animal Training and Management.

Program Development - Teresa Lang

teresa@pasopacifico.org
    
Teresa first joined the Paso Pacifico team in 2007, when she worked as an intern in Nicaragua, helping to launch our eco-tourism training program and supporting initial phases of the sea turtle conservation program.   Currently, as Program Development Manager, Teresa manages our intern program, administers web content, and helps to design and seek out funding for new programs, such as our programs on climate change adaptation and environmental education with local surfers.  She has a Masters degree in International Environmental Policy from Columbia University.  Prior to returning to Paso Pacifico, Teresa spent time working for the Environmental Team at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

Danny is a Dutch student pursuing a Bachelor degree who has always had a passion for cold-blooded forest animals.  He is studying Animal Management, with a major in Wildlife Management at the Van Hall University in the Netherlands. In September 2009, Danny joined the Paso Pacifico team and is currently on a project monitoring reptile and amphibian species in different areas of the Paso del Istmo.

Robert Euwe

Robert is a 22 year old Wildlife Studies student at Van Hall University in the Netherlands. He is passionate about large carnivores and currently is specializing in big cats. His experience with these cats involves projects about leopards and South African lions.  In Robert’s current internship with Paso Pacifico in the south of Nicaragua, he is working on a jaguar and puma project. In this project, he is attempting to assess the presence of (and the possibilities for) these big cats. Through this project, he works to contribute to the future of big cats in Nicaragua. After this 6 month project, he will start his final thesis, and after graduating he will continue on to study ecology.

Daniel Sullivan

Daniel graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2009 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Molecular/Cellular biology. Due to his love of the outdoors, Daniel chose to forgo the typical lab research positions and opted for ecological research with Dr. Michael Mooring who was studying American Bison in the San Hills of northern Nebraska. During his two summers spent at the Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge in Valentine, Nebraska, Daniel worked under the US Fish & Wildlife Service, working exclusively in the field with a collection of undergraduate and PhD students. He was made the lead undergrad researcher and chosen to present the groups findings at the West Coast Biological Conference in 2007 and 2008. After his university research concluded, Daniel accepted a congressionally appointed internship in Washington DC. On Capitol Hill, he and his congressional staff worked closely with the Natural Resource and Foreign Affairs committees—introducing new bills and acquiring co-sponsorship. Upon graduation, Daniel volunteered at various health clinics and hospitals in Eastern Africa. Since then, he has begun working as the marketing account director at the Continental Exhibit Group, while also working with Paso Pacifico as a policy writing intern

Anna Guasco

Anna Guasco is a Senior in high school from Ventura, California.  She first heard of Paso Pacifico when Director Sarah Otterstrom  spoke to her Sophomore chemistry class in 2010.  Immediately entranced, Anna contacted Paso Pacifico and eventually started an internship working on a website project and writing.  As a college-bound student, Anna is interested in exploring the field of environmental studies, and participated in U.C. Santa Barbara’s “School for Scientific Thought” program and U.C. Santa Cruz's COMOS summer science program.  She recently founded "Ventura Eco-Renewal,' a student organization working to establish native plant gardens and to promote sustainability in the Ventura community.