Fredrick Kioko Kilonzo
Fredrick Kioko Kilonzo is a 25-year-old conservation leader from Kenya, and the Founder and Species and Sites Program Manager of NatureHub Collective Community Organisation. Shaped by the ecological wisdom of his community and his…
Maula Nadia
Maula Nadia is a marine biologist from Indonesia who is actively conducting both research and conservation for elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) through various initiatives. She is a Ph.D. student researching the use of molecular methods for elasmobranch fishery and…
Yamat Lengai
Yamat Lengai is the Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Adaptation Officer at African People & Wildlife, where she has worked since 2016. A native of Loibor Soit ‘A’ in northern Tanzania,…
Nicorll Maenzanise
Nicorll Maenzanise, a Catmosphere Fellow with Conservation Nation, is the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust. Her role involves supporting evidence-based wildlife conservation research and human-wildlife conflict…
Taylor L. Rabe
Taylor L. Rabe is a Biological Science Technician with the Yellowstone Wolf, Cougar, and Elk Project and serves as Conservation Nation’s Education and Engagement Facilitator. In 2022, she became Conservation…
Alma “Rosie” Sanchez
Alma "Rosie" Sanchez, a Conservation Nation Fellow, is the Carnivore Biologist for the Nez Perce Tribe and a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she studies under…
Deepshikha Sharma
Deepshikha Sharma, a Catmosphere Fellow with Conservation Nation, has always felt inspired by the stories of human resilience and is especially drawn to local stories and movements of community-led conservation.…
Andrea Thomen
Andrea Thomen, a Catmosphere Fellow with Conservation Nation, is a conservation biologist and PhD candidate at Manchester Metropolitan University, specializing in the conservation of endemic Caribbean birds. Her research focuses…
Julee Jerang
Julee Jerang, a Catmosphere Fellow with Conservation Nation, is an Indigenous researcher from the Bori traditional territory in the Siang Basin of Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. She is the first from…
Hamna Hussain
Growing up on the island of Fuvahmulah, Hamna Hussain fell in love with the ocean and its apex predators at an early age. Driven by this passion, she became her island’s first female dive instructor, a journey…
Michelle Fournet
Michelle Fournet is a National Geographic Explorer, an assistant research professor of marine biology at the University of New Hampshire, a behavioral ecologist, and the director of the Sound Science Research Collective.…
Amir Dehbi
Amir Dehbi is a data scientist and applied machine learning researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder, specializing in audio signal processing and deep learning for acoustic analysis. He applies…
Jessa Marie Caabay
Jessa Marie Caabay is an environmental scientist and marine conservation practitioner serving as Technical Manager of Community Centred Conservation (C3) Philippines. Her work focuses on dugong conservation, seagrass ecosystem protection, and community-based…
Reem AlMealla
Dr. Reem AlMealla is a Bahraini marine ecologist and founder of Nuwat for Environmental Research & Education, Bahrain’s first environmental research and conservation think tank. Her work focuses on marine biodiversity conservation, coral reefs,…
How Listening to Nature Builds Empathy — and Why That Matters for Conservation
What if listening may be the key to helping solve our biodiversity crisis?Not just hearing — really listening. To the roar of a lion. The haunting song of a humpback…
The Biodiversity Crisis Isn’t Just About Science — It’s About Who Sees a Future in Conservation
The biodiversity crisis is often framed as a science problem, but at its core, it is a human one — and it calls for a human-centered solution. Around the world,…
Tricia Reilly Koch named to The Explorers Club 50 – Class of 2026
Conservation Nation is honored and thrilled to announce that our CEO, Tricia Reilly Koch, has been chosen to join The Explorers Club 50 — Class of 2026. Each year, the…
Andrea Fuentes Arze
Andrea Fuentes, one of Conservation Nation’s 2025 Conservationist Grant recipients, is an environmental engineer, conservationist, and founder and coordinator of the Jucumari Program in Bolivia. Her work focuses on the…
Ayushi Jain
Ayushi Jain, one of Conservation Nation’s 2025 Conservationist Grant recipients, is a PhD candidate at the University of Miami’s Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy and a recipient of…
Fredrick Kioko Kilonzo
Fredrick Kioko Kilonzo, one of Conservation Nation’s 2025 Conservationist Grant recipients, is an early-career conservationist and founder of NatureHub Collective Community Organisation, dedicated to community-based conservation and environmental justice in…
Maula Nadia
Maula Nadia, one of Conservation Nation’s 2025 Conservationist Grant recipients, is a marine conservationist and co-founder of the Elasmobranch Project Indonesia (EPI), a local nonprofit dedicated to shark and ray…
Gabriela Sandoval
Gabriela Sandoval, one of Conservation Nation’s 2025 Conservationist Grant recipients, is an Ecuadorian biologist, committed to conservation and the protection of biodiversity and threatened species. From childhood, she has felt…
Jennifer Yu
Dr. Jennifer Yu is one of Conservation Nation’s 2025 Conservationist Grant recipients. Her interest in wildlife conservation was first sparked by volunteering at a local zoo in high school and…
Impact Report 2024
Celebrating an Incredible Year of Impact 2024 was an extraordinary year for Conservation Nation — a year of growth, innovation, and unforgettable moments in conservation. From inspiring nearly 3,000 students…
Bring Your Snake to Work Day
When people ask me if I have any pets, I get the pleasure of seeing a wide range of reactions when I tell them I have a snake! Cosmo is…
Celebrating Young Voices of the Anacostia River
When I think about nature and what makes it beautiful,I know that I am nature.I am the sun. I am water.I am the wind blowing, pushing, and proddingnew seeds deeper…
Out WEST!
Heading Outdoors with the Willson Environmental Stewardship Team as they visit Yellowstone National Park with Conservation NationCan you imagine the excitement of being a young girl and leaving your middle…
Behind the Scenes with the Conservation Nation Academy and Colossal Biosciences
Did you ever wonder what it's like trying to catch dog drool in a test tube? Have you pondered whether you would survive a disease outbreak if you were a…
Conservation Through a Multi-Faceted Lens: Taylor Rabe takes on Tanzania
I was recently fortunate to spend two weeks in Tanzania working alongside African People and Wildlife through the support of Conservation Nation and Yellowstone Forever. This past June, Conservation Nation…
Behind the Scenes with the Conservation Nation Academy
The Conservation Nation Academy has some exciting new lessons in the works!Our Educational Multimedia Producer, Gabriela Paola Franco Peña, has been busy this fall creating video lessons that will introduce…
Teen Leaders from Anacostia High School Advocate for Equitable Access to Nature
“New people, new beginnings” were the apt words of reflection shared by students from Southeast DC after spending a transformative day with Conservation Nation and the Outdoors Alliance for Kids…
Veronica Dandzo-Adzagudu
Veronica Dandzo-Adzagudu is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. She is a Ghanaian early-career conservationist passionate about saving threatened species from extinction. Veronica holds a bachelor’s in natural…
Shelby McCahon
Shelby McCahon is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. She has a bachelor’s in wildlife biology and conservation from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is working toward…
Risper Oteke
Risper Oteke is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. She is a trained environmentalist, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) practitioner, and storyteller. She is passionate about gender…
Rasolozaka Natacha
Rasolozaka Natacha is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. Hailing from Madagascar, she holds a master’s in business administration from Institut National des Sciences Comptables et de l'Administration…
Preety Sharma
Preety Sharma is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. She is bi-racial, with roots in the Indigenous Lotha tribe of Nagaland, India. Over the past decade, she has…
Pema Khandu
Pema Khandu is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. Hailing from the ecologically rich country of Bhutan, he has devoted his life to exploring the natural world and…
Parfait Thiombiano
Palamanga ‘Parfait’ Thiombiano is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. He has a master’s in animal behavior and ecology from the University Joseph KI-ZERBO (UJKZ) in Ouagadougou, Burkina…
Mai Trinh
Thi-'Mai' Trinh is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. She has a bachelor’s in environmental science from Vietnam National University of Science and a master’s in applied ecology…
Lorna Dax
Deoclearancia “Lorna” Dax is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. Originally from the nature-deficient region of central Namibia, Lorna later developed a passion for conservation and community outreach…
Jamal Musa Holle
Mukhlish ‘Jamal’ Musa Holle is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. As an ecologist, his focal area of interest is the sustainable management of agricultural landscapes in Southeast…
Eva Johnson Ayaro
Eva Johnson Ayaro is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. Her passion for wildlife began during a high school trip to Serengeti National Park (SNP) in Tanzania, Africa—an…
Colleen O’Donnell
Colleen O’Donnell is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. Her professional background includes work in wildlife conservation, community-based climate adaptation, wildlife crime reduction, sustainable and wildlife-friendly living, and…
Arpitha Joy
Arpithamol “Arpitha” Joy is one of Conservation Nation’s 2024 conservationist grant recipients. Hailing from Chikmagalur, Karnataka, India, she developed an interest in nature and wildlife coexistence at a young age.Arpitha…
Collaborating for Conservation: Alma “Rosie” Sanchez, Conservation Nation Fellow with the Nez Perce Tribe
I’m beyond excited to join the Conservation Nation community as their newest fellow! Through this fellowship, I’ll be working alongside the Nez Perce Tribe Wildlife Division, focusing primarily on carnivore…
Crossing Continents for Conservation: My Fellowship Exchange in Yellowstone
I recently traveled to the United States for the first time to visit Yellowstone National Park, the world’s oldest national park. This was a dream come true for me as…
Bilingual Book Walks Combine Reading and Nature Appreciation!
Teachers in Montgomery County, Maryland started the school year with fun, multicultural outdoor literacy lessons thanks to a bilingual book walk provided by Conservation Nation Academy. What is a book…
Celebrating Black Excellence in Conservation with Anacostia Teens
This summer, Conservation Nation was honored to partner with the Department of Interior and the University of the District of Columbia’s Justice-40 Youth Internship Program to bring amazing nature experiences…
How a Group of Teens Became the Environmental Science Leaders at Their School
During the 2023-2024 school year, our Teen Leaders in Conservation (TLC) program engaged 88 students at four schools in hands-on, meaningful explorations of nature and local city wildlife. Not only did…
DC Teens Put Down their Phones to Explore Nature and Conservation Careers
During the 2023-2024 school year, our Teen Leaders in Conservation (TLC) program engaged 88 students at four schools in hands-on, meaningful explorations of nature and local city wildlife. Not only did…
Women & Wildlife: Coexistence Across Continents
Yamat Lengai has grown from a Maasai girl fearing lions to leading efforts to mitigate human-wildlife conflict in Tanzania, and Taylor Rabe, our inaugural Fellow, is reshaping perceptions about wolves in…
Be a Friend to Cicadas!
If you’re a little scared of cicadas, you’re not alone! Many people are scared during the emergence of periodical cicadas — but we have good news: there’s no reason to be.…
Waking Up for Wolf Conservation
Late last year, Conservation Nation’s newly appointed board member, Dr. Gabby Salazar traveled to Yellowstone National Park in Montana to meet with our inaugural Fellow, Taylor Rabe. Taylor shared what…
Manatee Tales: Exploring a Real-World Conservation Challenge
Middle schoolers can now put themselves in the footsteps of Conservation Nation grantee, Fátima Ramis, as they explore a conservation challenge.In our newest lesson for the Conservation Nation Academy, students…
Nature Learning Ideas and Resources
To help teachers across the country foster students' love of the outdoors, our Nature Learning Ideas and Resources download offers outdoor activity ideas, interactive worksheets, and more. In this resource,…
Field Trip Transportation Grants
As our funding allows, Conservation Nation is pleased to cover the cost of bus transportation for DC-area Title I schools that plan nature-based field trips using our Educator's Guide to…
Educator’s Guide to Exploring Nature in Washington, DC
We're proud to release our newest Conservation Nation Academy publication, the Educator’s Guide to Exploring Nature in Washington, DC!When students in our Conservation Nation Academy schools have interviewed our grantees…
Teen Leaders Tackle Food Waste
Amazing resources! Interactive and engaging! Very informative! Loved the hands-on activities! Wonderful use of literature! Very excited to bring everything back to my school!What does that forgotten container of take-out…
DC Students Engage in TLC for our Planet
Our planet’s amazing web of biodiversity needs some TLC: Teen Leaders in Conservation! In March 2024, we launched this new program as an outgrowth of our former Youth Advisory Council and…
Educators: Join the Conservation Nation Academy!
Amazing resources! Interactive and engaging! Very informative! Loved the hands-on activities! Wonderful use of literature! Very excited to bring everything back to my school!Do you want to introduce students to…
Impact Report 2021-2023
We’re so proud of our journey and progress since we launched in September 2021. Some of the highlights of our work are featured in our Impact Report. We thank those…
Building My Conservation Professional Toolkit
As I continue on a path of professional growth as a Conservation Nation Fellow, I recently had the opportunity to immerse myself in two courses in Nairobi, Kenya, aimed at…
Novita Putri
Novita is a newly designated 2023 Conservation Nation grant recipient. She earned her bachelor’s degree in marine science from Diponegoro University in Indonesia. She has been working on the Anambas…
Saving Snow Leopards: One Cadre of Camera Trappers at a Time
In October 2023, Deepshikha Sharma traveled to the village of Kibber in the Himalayas of Northern India to kick off her Conservation Nation Fellowship. While there, she held a workshop for local women interested in learning how to set up camera traps.
Training “Nature-Wise” Teachers
Amazing resources! Interactive and engaging! Very informative! Loved the hands-on activities! Wonderful use of literature! Very excited to bring everything back to my school!These were some of the reactions of…
Conservation Nation Academy Celebrates its First Book Launch!
On November 8, 2023 at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), we celebrated the launch of Through My Anacostia Eyes: Environmental Problems and Possibilities, the first ever Conservation…
Manuela Patricia Hernández Gómez
Manuela Patricia Hernández Gómez is one of Conservation Nation's 2023 emerging conservationist grant winners. She is a renowned biologist and herpetologist who is passionately dedicated to the conservation of tropical…
Paola Nogales Ascarrunz
Paola Nogales Ascarrunz is one of Conservation Nation's 2023 conservationist grant winners. She has years of experience leading projects dealing with the conservation of felids, from Geoffroy’s cats to jaguars…
Ny Aina Tiana Rakotoarisoa
Ny Aina Tiana Rakotoarisoa is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. She has spent more than a decade working in conservation in Madagascar, a country with extremely high…
Conservation Nation Awarded Grant from Chesapeake Bay Trust
We are excited and honored to receive a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust to expand our environmental leadership opportunities for middle school students!Through this generous funding, Conservation Nation is…
Exciting New Lessons Coming to the Conservation Nation Academy
We have been hard at work creating new lessons that introduce students to inspiring conservation role models in fun and interactive ways. Our materials are designed to challenge stereotypes and…
Empowering Women to Save Snow Leopards
For years, Deepshikha Sharma has worked to strengthen the relationship between people in India and the snow leopards that live there. She’s built communities of wildlife champions that include women…
Giovanna Bonadonna
Giovanna Bonadonna is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. Currently, Giovanna is a postdoctoral researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, where she is studying the impacts of…
Gabriela Agostini
Gabriela Agostini is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. For the past 15 years, she has been dedicated to studying the decline of amphibian populations, taking a leading…
Alys Granados
Alys Granados is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. Her conservation experience has taken her around the world, from North America to Borneo, and has led her to…
Maria Angélica Tovar Bravo
Maria Angélica Tovar Bravo is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. She is a Colombian conservationist and professional biologist at the Universidad del Amazonas, where she received a…
Jessica Blakeway
Jessica Blakeway is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. She has held a deep love for the ocean ever since growing up in a small coastal town in…
Adriana Hernández Alvarez
Adriana Hernández Alvarez is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. Because she was born in a small coastal city, she has a longstanding love of the shore, and…
Naim Khandakar
Naim Khandakar is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. Growing up in a rural area in the deltaic plains of Bangladesh, he was always passionate about nature. But…
Yudmila Chunguane
Yudmila Chunguane is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. With a background in conservation and biology, as well as an interest in sustainable development, Yudmila has worked on…
Yitmwa Joel
Yitmwa Joel is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. She was born and raised in northern Nigeria, a biodiversity hotspot that forged a fascination and love for nature…
Empowering Community-Driven Conservation in Tanzania
Human-wildlife conflict mitigation plays a pivotal role in Tanzania's conservation efforts, fostering a delicate balance between preserving the country's remarkable wildlife and ensuring the well-being of local communities. Over the…
Girls Going Green
Conservation Nation wants all girls to have the confidence to see themselves as conservation champions, all the way up to pursuing STEM academic and career paths into the field. At…
Viewing the Natural World Through “Anacostia Eyes”
If I were a birdwing butterfly, I know what I would love how my wings spread so beautifully - up to 11 inches wide, and delicate - so handle me…
Spring Education Update from Diane Lill
It was a great honor for me to join the amazing Conservation Nation team in September 2022. Together with my education colleague, Joanna Levi, we have been focused on building…
New Middle School Lessons Coming in 2023
We are looking for educators to join the Conservation Nation Academy, gain free access to unique ready-to-teach lessons featuring wildlife conservationists from traditionally underrepresented groups, and provide us with feedback…
Native Plant Garden Update
My NxtGen grant project was to create a native plant garden for Freedom High School. The garden is a combined effort of me, The Center for Environmental and Natural Sciences…
Taylor Rabe Update from Yellowstone
Over the last six months, I have served as Conservation Nation’s first inaugural fellow. My fellowship is at Yellowstone National Park (aka Yellowstone), where I work as a biological science…
A Champion for Big Cat Conservation
Thanks to support from Catmosphere—a foundation dedicated to raising awareness about crucial work in big cat conservation—Yamat Lengai will join us as Conservation Nation's newest fellow! As the Monitoring, Evaluation,…
Tatjana Washington
Tatjana Washington is one of Conservation Nation’s 2022 emerging conservationist grant winners. She is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist whose mission is to provide solutions to mitigate climate change impacts…
Parker Levinson
Parker Levinson is one of Conservation Nation’s 2022 Emerging Conservationist grant winners. She grew up in Monterey, California, and received her B.A. in environmental sciences from Northwestern University in 2018.…
Morgan Hughes
Morgan Hughes is one of Conservation Nation’s 2022 emerging conservationist grant winners. She graduated from Utah State University with a B.S. in wildlife management and the University of Florida with an…
Minh Nguyen
Minh Nguyen is one of Conservation Nation's 2022 emerging conservationist grant winners. She was born near the Annamite Mountain Range, a biodiversity hotspot that runs along the border of Vietnam,…
Lotanna Micah Nneji
Lotanna Micah Nneji is one of Conservation Nation’s 2022 emerging conservationist grant winners. He was born and raised in Nigeria, which sparked his passion and career path in wildlife conservation.…
Jaime A. Botet Rodriguez
Jaime A. Botet Rodriguez is one of Conservation Nation's 2022 emerging conservationist grant winners. Originally from Gurabo, Puerto Rico, Jaime holds a B.S. in natural sciences from the University of…
Herdhanu Jayanto
Herdhanu (Dhanu) Jayanto is one of Conservation Nation's 2022 emerging conservationist grant winners. He is originally from Indonesia, and is currently pursuing his master's degree at New Mexico Highlands University.…
Giorgia Auteri
Giorgia Auteri is Conservation Nation’s 2022 established conservationist grant winner. She developed an interest in wildlife conservation at an early age after observing the effects of water pollution on animals…
Fátima Ramis
Fátima Ramis is one of Conservation Nation's 2022 emerging conservationist grant winners. She holds a B.S. in biology from Stetson University and an M.S. in biology with an emphasis on…
Academy Pilot Program Completes a Successful First Year
Imagine a world where students with access to nature and conservation-minded professionals become change agents for environmental conservation—both in their daily lives and future careers. That is the ambitious overarching…
Fall 2022 Emerging Conservationist Grant Program
We are no longer accepting applications for this grant program. The Conservation Nation Grant Program provides funding to help save endangered animals and their ecosystems by building a stronger, more…
Fall 2022 Established Conservationist Grant Program
We are no longer accepting applications for this grant program.The Conservation Nation Grant Program provides funding to help save endangered animals and their ecosystems by building a stronger, more diverse…
Now Recruiting: Youth Advisory Council
Calling All Youth Who Are Passionate About Wildlife, the Environment, and Community Leadership! Conservation Nation is a Washington, DC non-profit with a goal to preserve the planet by growing a more…
Planet of Trees
This project, funded by the Conservation Nation NxtGen Conservationist student grant, had two goals: educate others on the beneficial impact of trees on the planet and plant trees in my community.
A Conversation About Rhinos
In this episode, we highlighted the work of three female conservationists working to conserve and protect freshwater and marine ecosystems – Robin Abell, Tania Romero Bautista, and Dr. Nikki Traylor-Knowles.
Conservation Nation Announces Inaugural Fellow
We are excited to announce our first Conservation Nation Fellow! Taylor Rabe is an inspirational emerging conservationist. Dedicated to helping wolves in Yellowstone, she spent years working multiple jobs to…
One Health: The Intersection of Wildlife and Human Health
In this episode, we featured veterinarians Dr. Suzan Murray from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and Dr. Deborah McCauley from Veterinary Initiative for Endangered Wildlife.
Conservation Nation Academy Pilot Launches in Two DC Schools
This March, Conservation Nation launched the Conservation Nation Academy. This 8-week pilot program for 80 middle school students in Washington, D.C., encourages youth to explore local nature, examine their abilities…
Women in Freshwater and Marine Conservation
In this episode, we highlighted the work of three female conservationists working to conserve and protect freshwater and marine ecosystems – Robin Abell, Tania Romero Bautista, and Dr. Nikki Traylor-Knowles.
Nina Attias
Nina Attias is one of Conservation Nation's 2022 Established Conservationist grantees. She is a Brazilian conservation biologist with over 15 years of experience in ecological studies. She is passionate about…
Lorna McCallister
Lorna McCallister is one of Conservation Nation's 2022 Established Conservationist grantees. Lorna holds a BS in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida and an MS in Interdisciplinary…
Dr. Dawn Zimmerman
Dr. Dawn Zimmerman is one of Conservation Nation's 2022 Established Conservationist grantees. She is the Director of International Programs for the Veterinary Initiative for Endangered Wildlife, assistant professor adjunct of…
NxtGen Conservation Projects Impact Local Community
Our NxtGen Conservationists have hit the ground running with their community conservation projects. These youth are solving conservation challenges in their communities with help from micro-grants provided by Conservation Nation.…
Mid-Year Established Conservationist Grants
Thanks to our generous donors who helped make our year-end fundraising goal a success, we are offering a Mid-Year Established Conservationist Grant Program for spring of 2022.
NxtGen Conservationist Program
Are you passionate about wildlife, the environment, and leading a conservation movement? Become a Conservation Nation Next Generation Conservationist!
Lauren Augustine
Lauren Augustine is one of Conservation Nation’s 2021 established conservationist grant winners. A life-long herpetology lover, Lauren received her undergraduate degree in Ecology and Environmental Biology from the University of…
Tania Romero Bautista
Tania Romero Bautista is one of Conservation Nation’s 2021 established conservationist grant winners. Born and raised in Madre de Dios, Peru, Tania is passionate about supporting Amazonian communities. Through her…
Maddy Jackson
Maddy Jackson is one of Conservation Nation’s 2021 emerging conservationist grant winners. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2017 with a BS in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior and…
Elise Loggers
Elise Loggers is one of Conservation Nation’s 2021 emerging conservationist grant winners. After obtaining her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington, she spent three consecutive years
Carlisle Segal
Carly Segal is one of Conservation Nation’s 2021 emerging conservationist grant winners. Carly spent her childhood in northern California exploring tidepools, streams, forests, and mountains where she gained an early…
T’Noya Thompson
Established conservationist grant winner T'Noya Thompson is studying the community, birds, and the environment in Nassau, Bahamas.
Cirenia Torres
Cirenia Torres is one of Conservation Nation's 2021 emerging conservationist grant winners. Cirenia has an MS from USC. Her thesis was titled "Assessing the Connectivity for the jaguar (Panthera onca)…
Kassandra Townsend
Kassandra Townsend is one of Conservation Nation’s 2021 emerging conservationist grant winners. She hopes to be one of the voices that can bridge a gap between western science and Indigenous…
Nova West
Nova West is one of Conservation Nation’s 2021 emerging conservationist grant winners. Nova is an artist, scuba diver, filmmaker, photographer, and environmental educator from Minnesota. Their passion lies in exploring…
Isaac Wilson
Isaac Wilson is one of Conservation Nation’s 2021 emerging conservationist grant winners. Isaac is a Herpetology keeper at the Saint Louis Zoo (STLZ) working with several species of endangered viper…
Conservation Nation Out in Our Communities!
The Conservation Nation team recently began the important relation-building process with our communities. Our first step? Listening to those we plan to work with first – youth in the DC…
Emerging Conservationist Grant Program
We provide funding to emerging conservationists from underrepresented groups, such as women, people of color, Indigenous people and those from disadvantaged communities to underwrite internships and professional development activities that might otherwise be beyond their reach.
Established Conservationist Grant Program
We provide grants for global, wildlife-saving work being done by mid-career conservationists from underrepresented groups, such as women, people of color, Indigenous people, and those from disadvantaged communities.
Helping Rescued Orangutans in Borneo
Borneo is home to the largest population of critically endangered orangutans in the world: about 55,000. But those numbers are falling fast. Forest fires and fragmentation have ravaged much of…
Monitoring Rare Tigers in Bangladesh
Scientists need to research a rare tiger population whose mangrove-forest habitat is threatened by rapid sea-level rise, and they need to do this as soon as possible. They will analyze…
Setting the Stage for Rewilding the Guam Kingfisher
The Guam kingfisher is extinct in the wild. For now. Scientists hoping to rewild the species need to launch a study gathering key information about how they can successfully breed…
Saving Pangolins in Peril Throughout Asia
The most trafficked mammal in the world is the critically endangered pangolin. To help the species' numbers grow, veterinarians want to help save the pangolin across Southeast Asia by purchasing…
Solar Trackers Shed Light on Giraffe Struggles
In 2017, scientists tagged 11 reticulated giraffes with high-tech, solar-powered, satellite transmitters. Just months later, the information gathered revealed a sobering reality—four of the animals had been poached. And for…
First Set of Meadowlarks Take Flight
Conservation Nation purchased tiny high-tech GPS tracking devices to outfit eastern meadowlarks in order to help Smithsonian researchers know the path of a depleting population of songbirds as they migrate up and down the East Coast.
Protecting a Symbol
The dedicated folks at the Red Siskin Initiative are unflappable. With Conservation Nation's support, the initiative has focused its energies on commencing daily conservation activities at the brand-new Red Siskin…
Saving Dolphins in Peru
Eavesdropping on cetaceans—someone's got to do it. And thanks to Conservation Nation, and supporters like you, that someone is going to be marine biologist Dr. Ximena Velez-Zuazo and her team.…
Machu Picchu’s Shaggy Star
The "spectacled" Andean Bear already stands out, thanks to distinctive eyeglass-shaped facial markings and its newfound celebrity status as none other than the movies’ Paddington Bear. Add to that its…
Saving Endangered Canids
There are 35 species of canids, including the maned wolf, dhole, African painted dog, and the critically endangered red wolf. Smithsonian scientists are using in vitro fertilization and other techniques to...
Protect the Vulnerable Lowland Tapir
The Lowland tapir is critical to the biodiversity of the Paraguayan Chaco's rich ecosystem. But because of habitat loss and poaching, this species' numbers are falling. That's why we want…
Track and Test Asian Elephants
Elephants out of a job? It might sound like a joke, but for critically endangered Asian elephants trained to work in logging camps, unemployment is a serious problem. Smithsonian scientists…
Preserve Critically Endangered Black Rhinos
You are what you eat. And for dwindling numbers of the southern black rhinoceros, that saying is true now more than ever. The black rhino is critically endangered – fewer…
Turn the Tide for Marine Mammals
Dolphins and porpoises living off the coast of Peru face daily threats: industries expanding into their native waters and a lucrative poaching trade. To help, Smithsonian researchers need to study…
Tracking the Iconic Eastern Meadowlark
The song of the Eastern meadowlark sounds like a flute that drops its pitch—beautiful and distinctive. These days bird enthusiasts hear the meadowlark’s sweet call in the wild less and…
Saving Chicks, One Nest at a Time
Not many people can say that they raised a thousand chicks at one time. Curator Steve Sarro is one such person. He has been a leading African penguin researcher for…
Tracking Giraffes in Kenya
You would think the world’s tallest land mammal would be easy to study, but very little is known about Kenya’s reticulated giraffe population. Scientists believe that habitat loss and increased…
Stopping the Decline of the Wild Cheetah
In addition to owning the title of fastest land animal in the world, cheetahs are also the most endangered African cat species, with roughly 6,700 left in the wild. Inbreeding…
Tracking Vulnerable Andean Flamingos
The Andean flamingo—listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species—is native to the Andes Mountains, and is among the rarest flamingo species on the planet. Andean Flamingos…
Funding Safe Nests for African Penguins
In just three decades, the African penguin population has declined more than 50 percent. Now endangered, African penguin populations continue to decline, due to destruction of breeding grounds for the…
Providing Healthcare for Endangered Rhinos
Rhinos are among the most universally recognized species in the world, but they are also one of the most endangered with only two rhino species remaining in Africa. With so…
Saving an Endangered Bird
The red siskin is one of Venezuela’s most iconic birds, but the illegal pet trade and habitat loss have nearly guaranteed its extinction. Several ways that scientists are working to…
Restoring Central America’s Frog Population
Central America’s Harlequin frog population was pushed to the brink of extinction by the amphibian chytrid fungus disease. There is hope after the “soft release” of 400 frogs back into…
Using Unique Technology to Monitor Asian Elephant Health
Ensuring the health of endangered Asian elephants in Thailand is critical to creating a healthy population—in human care and in the wild—but a desperate area of focus is detecting and…
Monitoring Once-extinct Oryx
Since 1985 the scimitar-horned oryx has been extinct in the wild. In 2016, 23 oryx grazed on their native soil in the African country of Chad for the first time in 30…
Tracking Asian Elephants to Save Them
Fewer than 1,850 wild Asian elephants remain in Myanmar. Habitat loss, conflicts with farmers, illegal capture, and poaching have caused Asian elephant populations to fall by more than 70 percent—a…
Making Andean Bears a Priority in Peru
Andean bears are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, with a likely decline of more than 30 percent within the…