Students to Learn About Species and Habitat Conservation On Research Trip to Honduras This Summer

This summer, just over 50 students and educators from three Redding area schools (Shasta High School, University Preparatory High School, and Shasta College) will join Operation Wallacea (or OpWall), in Honduras to engage in learning how to save species-rich habitats, while gaining college credits. Dr. Tim Coles, Founder of the Operation Wallacea Trust, will be speaking about Operation Wallacea Thursday evening, March 19th, 2015 from 6pm to 7pm on the Shasta College Main Campus in room 802 (signs on the campus will point the way). A reception will follow. This is a free event and open to the public.

Dr. Coles’ talk will include the importance of biodiversity research and how Operation Wallacea is connecting scientists and students in amazing biodiversity rich regions throughout the world to learn about and conserve these unique ecosystems in 15 countries around the world. Students work with graduate and post-graduate level researchers, learning data collection and cataloging techniques in a variety of habitats including tropical jungle and oceanic reef systems (students have the opportunity to do SCUBA diving as part of their field study). Any high school or college students, educators, school administrators, community leaders, and anyone interested in education that includes a global perspective, sustainability, and hands-on field research experiences are encouraged to attend.

Research efforts from the OpWall program are directly responsible for numerous invertebrate and vertebrate species discoveries around the globe. OpWall is associated with the United Nations Reductions in Emissions and Deforestation and Degradation (“REDD+”) whose goals are to support conservation through sustainable management of forests and the facilitation of forest carbon sequestration. In this effort, OpWall considers forests as ecosystems, each species intricately tied to the next, and so works to conserve, through study, the forest ecology in its entirety. In a similar way, OpWall looks at reef ecology mainly in tropical and subtropical regions as massive carbon stores and species rich habitats.

Dr. Tim Coles is a dynamic and inspiring speaker who enjoys sharing his passion for species and habitat protection and the opportunities for students OpWall provides. As Founder and Project Director of Operation Wallacea, Dr. Coles has gained recognition within the UK and the UN as well as acknowledgement from the research community as his program directs over $2 million in conservation practices world-wide. Some of this funding supports local indigenous communities and socioeconomic charges inclusive of the establishment of conservation areas and national parks.

Tim has a PhD in fisheries management and over 13 years of experience in biological assessment in the UK water industry and National Rivers Authority. In 1990 he established both IEMA (the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment) and EARA (the Environmental Auditors Registration Association). IEMA now has over 12,500 individual and corporate members based in 87 countries, and is a leading international membership-based organization dedicated to the promotion of sustainable development, and to the professional development of individuals employed in the environmental sector. EARA has now evolved into the IEMA Environmental Auditors Register, which has over 1,650 auditors listed in over 50 countries worldwide.

Tim and Operation Wallacea have received numerous awards for their work in the environment sector, including an RSA Better Environment for Industry Award, an EC Environment Award, the Best New Tourism Project Award from the Guild of British Travel Writers, and the British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Award for Best Project in a National Park. Tim also received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) on the Queen’s birthday honors list 2012 for services to environmental conservation.