Conservation Biologist Jim Tolisano

Conservation Biologist Jim Tolisano has worked on nature conservation projects in more than 50 countries, ranging widely and wildly through such experiences as Grizzly Bear conservation work in Colorado, to forest conservation work with remote communities in Papua New Guinea, chimpanzee conservation work with Jane Goodall’s Institute in West Africa, nature-based business development with Afro-Ecuadorian communities in Ecuador, national park developments in Sri Lanka, wolf conservation in rural Italy, lowland gorilla and forest elephant conservation in Congo, and marine conservation in Cuba.  Jim worked principally as an independent consultant since his early 20s.   Jim joined support conservation teams working with non-government organizations (NGO's) such as the World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, The Nature Conservancy and large development institutions like the World Bank and USAID.  Jim has been a Trainer for Peace Corps volunteers, developed an interdisciplinary undergraduate program in conservation-social science-arts at The College of Santa Fe and developed and directed a unique conservation leadership program, the Kinship Conservation Fellows, which continues to be on the cutting edge leadership programs for conservation professionals.  For the past 8 years he has been an adjunct Professor in the interdisciplinary Gallatin School at New York University, where he teaches a very cross-disciplinary approach to conservation biology.  He completed a memoir that recounts a 2,000 kilometer journey I took on bicycle from Palermo, Sicily to Venice as an homage to his late wife after she died suddenly from a voracious and fast-acting cancer.  He is working on a second book that ties together the connections between the recent pandemic, illegal wildlife trafficking, and people’s relationship to nature. He is also working on a novel that explores the immigrant experience in rural America, again through our relationships to land and nature.  Conservation Biologist Jim Tolisano is joined on this episode by his daughter, Coral who joined him on many of his adventures in the wilds around the globe.