PETER ZAHLER

Peter Zahler's experience in conservation extends across North America (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, New York), South America (Venezuela, Peru), Africa, and across much of Asia.

 

Peter's extensive managerial experience in conservation includes designing and implementing three full-sized country programs in Pakistan, Mongolia, and Afghanistan. These three programs (with roughly 100 staff in total) are considered cutting-edge examples of institutional governance building, protected area design and development, community-based conservation, payment-for-ecological-services, and partnering with industry, from mining to fashion. In Pakistan Peter helped create 65 new community governance structures and 22 IUCN Category VI protected areas managed by local communities, and in Afghanistan he helped create the country's first two protected areas, Band-e-Amir and Wakhan National Parks.

 

Peter has supported and supervised programs and projects in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tanzania, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Mongolia, China, the Russian Far East, the Russian-Alaskan Arctic (Beringia), Peru, Mexico, and the Pacific Northwest region of the US. He has had primary responsibility for raising a budget of roughly $6 million per year and managing a staff of approximately 150 people.

 

Peter also managed a graduate scholarship program that provided opportunities for young  developing country conservationists to study for their Masters or PhD at institutions of academic excellence such as Yale, Oxford, Cornell, and Florida. He continues to sit on the committee to provide graduate scholarships to deserving young conservation leaders in the developing world for the Wildlife Conservation Network. He helped oversee the Conservation Leadership Program (CLP), a partnership with FFI and BirdLife. He was the Senior Advisor for Conservation Strategy for the WCS Health Program, and as Snow Leopard Coordinator he managed snow leopard field projects and policy initiatives across Asia. 

 

Peter brings extensive experience to his work. His field efforts in Pakistan led to the re-discovery of the four-foot giant woolly flying squirrel (previously thought to be extinct). He has performed field research on various other mammals (e.g., snow leopard, markhor) and birds (e.g., hoatzin, white-naped crane, mountain plover, bristle-thighed curlew), and he has helped design and supervise field projects on a wide variety of other wildlife, from Amur tiger and Asiatic cheetah to Marco Polo sheep and Mongolian gazelle. He has experience developing climate adaptation and resilience programs, anti-poaching initiatives, applying new technology to conservation, and creating new protected areas managed by local communities or indigenous people. He is globally known as a leader in helping marginalized local communities take ownership over natural resource management and develop a voice for their rights.

 

Peter has published over 70 journal articles and book chapters, while regularly publishing about wildlife and conservation for the general public in magazines, on-line fora, The New York Times, and other media outlets to raise awareness about conservation. He also has 15 years of experience writing and editing curriculum development for the K-12 educational textbook field in subjects ranging from science to literature, math, reading, and language arts.

 

Peter lives in Seattle, WA with Lisa Herb (a lawyer who also started and runs the International Alliance for Women’s Rights, www.aiwr.org) and their 13-year-old son.