CLT Board

It is composed of six directors. They form the nucleus of the team that manages the trust. Doug Tompkins, Kris Tompkins, Carolina Morgado and Debbie Ryker work daily on the conservation projects for the Trust's lands. Quincey Imhoff and Peter Buckley support them with a perspective beyond the daily activities. They all share the same concern for the conservation of biodiversity, which represents the main axis of the Trust's work.

Doug Tompkins founded and has been president of the Conservation Land Trust since 1992 and of the Foundation for Deep Ecology since 1990. He also founded the California Mountain Guide Service (1963), The North face (1964), a documentary films company (1967) and co-founded the sportswear company Esprit (1970). Doug, climber, skier, kayaker, pilot and overall sports aficionado, has been pushing, for a long time, for the conservation of wild areas. He lives in South America, with his wife Kris. Doug has also directed the publication of seven books of large, photographic format, including ‘Clearcut: The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry' and ‘Welfare Ranching: The Subsidized Destruction of the American West' and ‘Amish: the Art of Tapestry'.

		Kris Tompkins helped in the forging of the outdoor clothes company Patagonia and directed it for 12 years, turning it into a renowned company on an international scale. She married Doug Tompkins in 1993, retiring immediately from Patagonia Inc. They moved to the south of Chile, where they created Pumalin Park and other projects associated with CLT. In the year 2000 Kris founded Conservación Patagónica (previously known as Patagonia Land Trust) to purchase, protect, restore and preserve the fragile Patagonian forests, grasslands and coastal areas.

		Debbie Ryker was finance director of Esprit and in being so, was a key agent for this enterprise to become a multinational company operating in nearly 60 countries. Her ample experience in large-scale conservation projects and in environmental philanthropy has been essential to the formation of CLT, Conservación Patagónica and Foundation for Deep Ecology. She lives in Mill Valley, California, with her husband and daughter.

		Quincey Tompkins Imhoff grew up with the notion that one day she would take charge of the family business Esprit. When her father Doug left the business towards the end of the 80s and started up Foundation for Deep Ecology, Quincey became the executive diector, a job which she carried out for ten years. During that period, the personnel of FDE grew from three people to a dozen and developed many programs of scholarships and books. Quincey lives in Northern California with her husband and two children.

		Peter Buckley is a philanthropist with a very extensive history in the trade, kayaker and surfer. After a career as CEO of Esprit-Europe, he began to create institutions for the environmentalist community. His projects include the co-foundation of the Centre for Ecoliteracy and the Greenwood School, added to his new project, the David Brower Centre, a facility designed to inspire and support the activist community.

Technical Staff in charge of the Iberá Project

Sofia Heinonen - Biologist

She has been in charge of the Project of Conservation in the Iberá Marshes since the beginning of 2005, and is living in Estancia Rincón de Socorro with her two children. Before this, for 15 years she had been working in the National Parks Administration office in Iguazú, involved in the management of National Parks of the northeast of Argentina; she has also worked for national NGOs dedicated to the protection of natural areas and endangered species.

Maria Paula Bertolini - Biologist

She is coordinator of the program "Social Awareness and Instruction in Conservation", which means she is constantly visiting Iberá's neighbouring localities, but she is based in Posadas, Misiones. Paula worked for many years in the Ribera Norte Municipal Reserve, Buenos Aires, whose main objective is to educate and form nature guides. She has also specialised in the planning of natural areas, coordinating numerous management plans for such areas in Misiones.

Edwin Harvey - Lawyer, Mediator

He is the coordinator of the program “Cadastral and Ownership Mapping of the Iberá Basin”. He carries out audits and analyzes legal operations related to CLT, combining his professional experience with his enthusiasm for adventure, which has led him to explore a great part of Iberá.

Ignacio Jiménez Pérez - Biologist, MSc in in Wildlife Management and Conservation

He is the coordinator of the programs "Recovery of Endangered Species" and “Ecological Monitoring”. Ignacio has had abundant international experience in conservation, he has coordinated projects of investigation and management planning for manatees (Costa Rica and Nicaragura), golden-crowned sifaka (Madagascar), wetlands (El Salvador) and programs for the recovery of endangered species (Spain).

Ramón Villalba - Degree in Conservation and Management of Protected Areas

As coordinator of the program called 'Protected Area Conservation and Extension of the Public Domain for the Conformation of a Park', Ramon administrates the Conservation Land Trust’s restricted areas. Native to Paraguay, his natural Guarani language skills permit fluent communication with the Iberá populace. He is genuinely committed to the conservation of nature, and has developed his extensive experience in protected areas across areas of Paraguay, Argentina and the USA.

Sebastian Cirignoli - Degree in Biology

He is the coordinator of the program “Restoration of Degraded Habitats within CLT Property”. He has worked in the La Plata Zoo and in NGOs in charge of projects for the conservation of natural areas. He has also taken part in many field surveys, studying mammals, birds and reptiles with the University of La Plata.

Leslie Cook

Leslie Cook is the Conservation Areas and Tourism Administrator for The Conservaction Land Trust’s ‘Rincon del Socorro’ and ‘San Alonso’ areas.

Alicia Delgado - Biologist

She is in charge of the Pampas Deer Project. Born in the town of Mercedes, Corrientes, she knows the landscape and its people very well, reason for which she is the ideal person to monitor one of the last populations of Pampas Deer in Argentina and handle relations with landowners in the area. She also takes part in grassland flora and invertebrate surveys.

Yamil E. Di Blanco - Honours Degree in Biological Sciences

Yamil is in charge of the monitoring and research of the reintroduced anteaters in the Rincon del Socorro Private Reserve. The title of the potential doctorate thesis is The Establishment of Aras of Action and Habitat Selection of the Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) in the Iberá Nature Reserve, Corrientes. He obtained his Honours in the University of San Luis and his professional career has always developed around research projects and the conservation of medium and large mammals of the Argentine Northeast.

Javier Fernández - Veterinarian

He is in charge of the assistance and adaptation of the anteaters in quarantine in the Corrientes Biological Station, within the framework of the Giant Anteater Reintroduction Project for the Iberá marshes. He is a member of the Asociacion Civil Rescate Silvestre (Wildlife Rescue Team) and has gained experience in the management of wildlife working in the Corrientes Zoo and in the Direccion de Fauna Silvestre de Argentina.

Abel Fleita - Degree in Social Communications

As from 2002 he carries out and learns about activities for conservation from oral and written communication, as well as with images, music, journalism and help in education and field research activities. He works in the area of institutional relations for CLT as well as for Mburucuyá National Park.

Carina Grandoli - Honours in Communication

She is in charge of the distribution of press news for the CLT website. Strongly committed to the protection of nature, she has carried out different works for diffusion about conservation for NGOs, Agencia Cordoba Ambiente in the Province of Cordoba, and National Parks.

Eduardo Maximiliano Navarro - Park Ranger

Graduated a Park Ranger from the University of Misiones, Eduardo is the ranger in charge of the Carambola Conservation Nucleus. He has previous experience in the management of protected areas from working with the Provincial System of Natural Areas of Salta and in the San Rafael Reserve of Managed Resources (Paraguay).

Clarice Neves Francisco - Degree in Environmental Management

She specialised in Environmental Education and Interpretation, working on urban nature reserves in the Province of Buenos Aires and in schools in Misiones. Being a photographer and keen observer of nature, she has travelled several of the country's provinces to get to know its environmental diversity. She carries out environmental education activities in the schools of Ituzaingó, working with both students and faculty.

Rene Ariel Ocampo - Park Ranger

Rene is the ranger in charge of the Cambyreta Conservation Nucleus. He also carries out bird and mammal censuses within the lands of the Conservation Land Trust.

Pascual Pérez - Park Ranger

Having graduated from the Park Ranger School of San Pedro, Misiones, he is the ranger in charge of the San Nicolas Conservation Nucleus. His experience with land-related work and the Guarani language allow for good rapport with the local people.

Ricardo Quintana - Pilot

Daniel Sandoval - Park Ranger

Graduated from the Regional Park Ranger Course run by the National Parks Administration in 2008, he is the ranger in charge of the Plumero and San Marcos Conservation Nuclei. Native to a local Iberá village, he knows its people and nature extremely well.

Gustavo Solís - Veterinary medic

He is the vet in charge of the “Endangered Species Recovery” program. He specializes in wildlife and has carried out a considerable amount of work for the National Fauna Directorate, Natural Resources Directorate of Corrientes, Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, the National Parks Administration, Chaco Parks and Reserves, and others.

Miriam Sotelo

Native of Yahaveré in the very heart of Ibera, Miriam has always been concerned for the welfare of her people. That is why she works towards a better way of life for the people of  her village and this goes hand in hand with a wholesome environment. She joined CLT to learn and be able to transmit the values of nature to the rest of her community. She works in a support role in environmental education and extension, especially in Concepcion and her village of Yahaveré

Malena Srur - Biologist

She is responsible for the coordination and processing of geographical information and field inventories for the program of “Cadastral and Ownership Ordering of the Iberá basin”.
She is specialized in the use of GIS tools and the processing of satellite imagery; her previous work was in different projects for CIES (Centre for Subtropical Ecological Research – CSER), National Parks of Argentina, and Agrienvironment Laboratory of the National University of Salta, among others.

Marcelo Viñas - Biologist and Documentarist

He is in charge of producing documentaries for educational and diffusion purposes. He is a renowned environmentalist for his work against industrial agriculture and its effects, and in the production of nature documentaries.

'Baquianos' (trackers) of the Conservation Areas of CLT:
Salvador Sotelo
Margarita Fernández
Juan Fernández
Tomás Sotelo
Omar Rojas

The memory of Veronica Pecozzi merits special mention; she was part of the CLT team, but died on 31st January 2008

A native of Sauce in the province of Corrientes, Veronica was from Sauce, Corrientes province. She worked for a year as environmental educator for CLT, getting fully involved with the program and the teachers in the schools, students and diverse actors in the different localities of Ibera. She went all out to learn and dedicated herself to the work and the people she worked with. Her attitude made her efficient and committed. Her memory is still very much with us and she left her indelible mark on all who worked with her.

Corporate Name in Argentina:
The Conservation Land Trust Argentina S.A.

Board:
Douglas Tompkins
Eduardo Chorén
Sofía Heinonen