The Center for Protected Area Management’s core team of trainers & advisors for this seminar includes Ryan Finchum, Erin Hicks, Audrey Ramsey, Jim Barborak, Steve McCool, and Bonnie Lippitt, who have over 150 years of combined experience directly living and working around the world with a focus on protected area management, planning and managing public use of parks and reserves, and sustainable rural development. Ryan, Erin, and Audrey will be the core implementors of the program.  Jim, Steve, and Bonnie provide high-level advice and support in the design of the program and may interact with the participants virtual in the lead up to the in-person portion of the program.  In addition to the Center’s staff, a variety of professionals, including protected area personnel, and other conservation and tourism practitioners serve as guest lecturers and provide valuable insights during the seminar.

RYAN FINCHUM

Director, Center for Protected Area Management

Ryan Finchum is Director of the Center for Protected Area Management.  His B.S. in Environmental Science (from LSU) and an M.S. focused on Protected Area Management (from CSU).  Between 2008-2014 he led an initiative to design and launch a new master’s program in Conservation Leadership which uses a trans-disciplinary, problem-based curriculum.  Ryan’s areas of interest include public use & ecotourism, interpretation & environmental communication, protected area management, capacity development, and conservation leadership.  He has over a decade of experience as an ecotourism guide and business owner.  He has worked in over a dozen countries and has participated in the training of over 17,000 conservation professionals from 108 countries.

ERIN HICKS

Assistant Director, Center for Protected Area Management

Erin Hicks has a Bachelor’s Degree in Illustration from California State University of Fullerton and a MSc degree in Conservation Leadership from Colorado State University.  She conducted her thesis in Belize, looking at perceptions of ecotourism amongst Maya communities. She is passionate about art (illustration and photography), conservation, and working with Latin American communities. Her professional interests include community based conservation, sustainable community development, and social science.

AUEREY RAMSEY

Training Specialist, Center for Protected Area Management

Audrey Ramsey is the Training Specialist for the Protected Management Center at Colorado State University.  Audrey has a degree in Recreation and Ecotourism with a minor in Environmental Science from Ferrum College and a master’s degree in Global Conservation Leadership from Colorado State University.  Her additional areas of interest are in environmental/cultural interpretation, ecotourism, the link between tourism and conservation, and marine protected areas.  She has focused her professional work on interpretation in the past few years conducting projects in Latin America, focused on interpretation in Latin American protected areas and creating environmental interpretation plans with the Center and the Galápagos National Park

JIM BARBORAK

Senior Advisor, Center for Protected Area Management

Jim Barborak is Senior Advisor of the Colorado State University Center for Protected Area Management. Previously he worked for Conservation International for 4 years as Coordinator of the Protected Areas and Corridors Unit in Mexico and Central America, and previously for 15 years as a specialist in protected areas for the Wildlife Conservation Society. He has his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Natural Resources and studied at Ohio State University and Yale. His areas of interest include staff training, planning and management of protected areas, corridors and buffer zones, development of financial strategies, public use and institutional strengthening for parks and reserves, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and conservation and management of wildlife.

BONNIE LIPPITT

Retired Public Use Specialist, US Forest Service and CPAM Associate

Bonnie Lippitt recently retired after 37 years of federal service in the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service.  With assignments spanning California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, Bonnie focused her entire career on planning and managing public use, visitor services, and interpretation in US protected areas.   Since 2003, through the US Forest Service International Programs and the US DOI International Technical Assistance Program, she has also completed more than 25 technical assistance trips to countries including Gabon,Tanzania, Malawi, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and Chile and has been a member of the team providing long-term capacity development in Brazil since 2012.

DR. STEVE MCCOOL

Retired Professor, University of Montana & CPAM Associate

Steve is Professor Emeritus of Wildland Recreation Management in the Department of Society and Conservation of the College of Forestry and Conservation in the University of Montana. He focuses on complex issues associated with protected area planning, including the conflicts between recreation opportunities, integrated resource management, and application of frameworks to resolve competing demands. Recent publications include those focusing on reframing the notion of sustainable tourism, approaches to enhance the performance of protected area managers, frameworks for thinking about protected area management, an assessment of various visitor planning frameworks, and discussions about the relationships between tourism and protected areas. He has authored over 200 publications dealing with protected area management and provided advice and service to a number of park and protected area agencies in the U.S. and abroad including Canada, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Belize, Brazil, Iceland, Croatia, China, and New Zealand.