[The session title is RNR496B/696A]

 

 

 

Born in Mexico City, biologist Sergio Avila-Villegas attended the University of Aguascalientes, then University of Baja California for a Master’s degree in Arid Lands Management. For over a decade, Sergio has gained extensive training and experience working in northwest Mexico on wildlife research and conservation projects on species like pumas, Cactus ferruginous pygmy-owls, California sea lions, river otters, Santa Catalina rattlesnakes and sea birds. In 1997 Avila lived amongst one of the largest indigenous groups of North America, the Tarahumara Indians of Chihuahua’s Copper Canyon. From 1998 to 2000 he conducted a study on pumas in Sierra San Pedro Mártir, Baja California; and in 2003 he initiated work on jaguar research and conservation in the Sierra Madre of Sonora where he monitored the northernmost breeding population of jaguars. At Sky Island Alliance since 2005, Sergio has taken the lead on cross-border connectivity and wildlife research and conservation efforts in northern Mexico, currently filling a critical niche with community outreach, research and conservation in places where no information currently exists regarding the status of the borderland’s cuatro gatos (jaguar, puma, ocelot and bobcat). The Northern Mexico Conservation Program was born in 2006 based on Avila’s initial exploratory trips and outreach in Sonora. The program’s mission is to create an inter-connected network of conservation lands in northern Sonora to allow for safe routes for wildlife, and to document the diversity of animals and plants in the Sky Island Region in northwestern Sonora. He has lived in Tucson since 2004.

 

Francisco Zamora Arroyo joined the Sonoran Institute in April 2002to manage activities in the Delta of the Colorado River. Dr. Zamora has more than fourteen years experience working in the Delta as a researcher and project manager. As the director of the Colorado River Delta Legacy program, he is responsible for integrating community stewardship, applied science, and local values in an alliance to reform water policy, conserve and restore priority areas, and build knowledge and capacity for collaboration between water managers and local leaders. Over the past fourteen years Dr. Zamora has developed close relationships with Mexican and U.S. agencies involved in water and land management, and communicates frequently with regional or national officials dealing with issues in the Colorado River Delta. He spends a good portion of his time in the field working with communities, visiting potential restoration areas, and doing field research and restoration work. He obtained his Ph.D. in Resource Geography from Oregon State University in October 2002. He also holds a master’s degree in Marine Resource Management from Oregon State University and a BS degree in Oceanography from Autonomous University of Baja California.

 

Mark Briggs, M.S., is a hydroecologist with the World Wildlife Fund’s Chihuahuan Desert Program. He is a natural resource scientist with emphasis on river restoration in the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. His current work with the Chihuahuan Desert program focuses on developing a bi-national response to bringing back the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo through Big Bend. Over the last twenty years, he has been involved in a variety of river conservation efforts in wildland, exurban, and urban settings along such rivers as the Colorado River, Santa Cruz River, Little Colorado River, Gila River, and Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. Although the specific objectives of these projects vary with location, the general thrust involves understanding the causes of ecological decline, developing strategies to improve bottomland ecological conditions, and implementing monitoring programs to both gauge the effectiveness of restoration efforts as well as understand how and why ecological conditions are changing.   Briggs also conducts workshops on river restoration in both Mexico and the United States. His technical publications include a book on developing river restoration projects and numerous articles on restoration, monitoring, and natural resource research. Briggs sits on the editorial board of the international journal Restoration Ecology and The Research Ranch Foundation.