Conservation Works!

Things feel awfully glum lately, don't they? I decided for this blog post, I would seek out some good conservation news, because I think we could all use a pick-me-up. It turns out a team of researchers, led by Cambridge University, had just the news I was looking for.

According to their article published in PLoS Biology, most of the species who have made a comeback from near extinction did so because of specific conservation measures. In other words, we are on the right track, and the hard work conservation scientists do is working!

The researchers reviewed data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, which is the world's largest database on biodiversity and species population status. They used this information to assess whether specific conservation actions had led to species being "downlisted," meaning their threat of extinction has gone down (for example, from "endangered" to "vulnerable"). They found 201 species of animal had been downlisted, including three species who had previously been extinct in the wild!

A San Bernardino Kangaroo Rat. Photo courtesy of the San Diego Zoo.

One of the most successful conservation action categories was translocation/reintroduction. Translocation means moving a population of a certain species to a more suitable habitat, such as the case of San Bernardino Kangaroo Rats, who were translocated from an area slated for development to conservation lands.

An Iberian Lynx. Photo courtesy of Rewilding Europe.

For species like the Iberian Lynx, reintroduction to their native habitat after captive breeding has proven successful. Other measures, such as education, legislation, and invasive species control have also contributed to successful outcomes.

These conservation successes are cause for celebration and a renewed sense of hope. Knowing that we can accomplish our conservation goals keeps the spark ignited and helps me keep going in the face of tough environmental times. But this doesn't mean we can rest on our laurels and pat ourselves on the back just yet. Six times more species experienced a population decline than were downlisted. Even in the face of such devastating numbers, I am encouraged by the conservation successes we have seen. To me, it means that we can have a positive impact if we keep going. It means that our mission of expanding equitable access to conservation behavior is a light on the horizon, ensuring a growing number of conservationists will be at the ready to increase the number of species who are downlisted in the future.

I hope this has given you something to smile about today. For me, even just seeing pictures of lynxes and kangaroo rats can do the trick. I suppose that's why conservation has always been so important to me - at the very least, I want plenty of animals around so I can look at them and smile.

The Threat to DEI Initiatives

As someone who has built a business around increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in wildlife conservation, I would be remiss if I didn't address the Trump administration's attack on DEI. On January 21, President Trump signed an executive order entitled "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity," which claims that DEI initiatives are discriminatory and violate civil rights laws. This action revokes five executive orders that were intended to combat discrimination, and it sets forth new directives intended to demolish existing DEI programs in government and the private sector. Among the most concerning of these directives is the requirement that federal grant recipients must certify that they do not operate any DEI programs that "violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws." While it is unclear exactly how a DEI program would violate anti-discrimination laws, the message seems to be that promoting DEI discriminates against individuals from majority communities. For non-profits like the Wildlife Research Alliance, as well as larger institutions like public universities, this means that we are potentially ineligible for any federal funding.

Why is this bad?

I was on a panel to review federal grant proposals this week. The panel was open to all applicants of this specific grant, and the purpose was to provide feedback on the 60+ proposals that had been submitted to assist in determining which proposals to fund. Each applicant was required to include a statement detailing how their project seeking funding would promote DEI (proposals were submitted in October 2024, well before this executive order). Some applicants had thoughtful, detailed statements including trainings their staff had taken, paid positions being offered to individuals from minority backgrounds, and free education opportunities they provide for underserved communities. Others simply copied and pasted their institution's DEI statement and put no additional effort into describing a plan for how their project would combat systemic discrimination. I couldn't help but feel that, in a white-dominated field (this particular federal grant aids marine mammal research), not all players can be relied upon to advance DEI on their own.

Here's the thing: if people could be trusted to do the right thing, DEI initiatives wouldn't be necessary. Throughout history, we have seen that people, unfortunately, cannot always be trusted to do the right thing. This is why we have things like the Civil Rights Act, on which this executive order relies to combat discrimination. However, according to this article by Dr. Russ Wigginton for the Civil Rights Museum, the Civil Rights Act was merely a stepping stone toward further anti-discrimination action. Dr. Wigginton writes:

"[The Civil Rights Act] shrouded the criminal acts of subconscious racism and emboldened race-neutral policies that resulted in racial prejudice and exclusion."

The Civil Rights Act alone is just not enough to combat institutional racism and unconscious bias. Here is a very basic example of how anti-discrimination policies still enable racism:

Two people apply for the same job. One is Black and one is white. The hiring manager is white. Both applicants are equally qualified and both interview very well, but the hiring manager just feels more comfortable with the white applicant, so that is who gets hired. The workplace has an anti-discrimination policy in place, but without a DEI initiative to combat the hiring manager's unconscious bias, the Black applicant is left without a job. This is an incredibly simplified scenario, but the point is that, given the choice, it is more likely that people from a majority will hire people from that majority, essentially ensuring that other populations do not get equitable access to the same opportunities.

The fear that DEI initiatives violate civil rights laws is based in racism and ableism. I can't find any evidence that majority communities have been harmed by these programs; on the contrary, DEI benefits everyone. Rolling back these programs mainly serves white, male, able-bodied populations, none of whom have historically experienced discrimination or underrepresentation. I can only imagine how disheartening this is for young people from populations DEI programs were designed to help as they prepare to enter the workforce. It is important to remember that systemic racism and ableism, along with generational trauma, are present throughout a person's life; by the time someone affected by one or more of these factors starts their career, they have likely experienced several instances of being devalued. Experiencing inequitable employment opportunities adds to the cumulative stress that research has shown can prematurely age people.

It is easy to get discouraged by presidential actions such as this one. I think the goal is to make it harder and harder to do the right thing so we eventually stop trying. I am so proud of the work we do here at the Wildlife Research Alliance, and I am excited to be on the right side of history. Will must keep making our voices heard and pushing for equity. There truly is no down side when we diversify the workforce, whether in science or any other field.

Why Paid Internships?

Paid internships are important to us at the Wildlife Research Alliance. So important, in fact, that it's mentioned in our mission statement. Everyone likes to get paid, but you may not realize how important paid internships are to leveling the playing field for everyone who wants a career in conservation behavior.

You'd never guess there was a manatee trapped under this tree!

As a stranding biologist, responding to live and dead stranded sea turtles, manatees, dolphins, and whales on Florida's Gulf Coast, I got to experience the highest highs (releasing a manatee that I had helped rescue after he had been entangled in a floating Christmas tree for weeks, unable to eat and nearly losing his tail), and the lowest lows (watching a sea turtle take its last breath after being struck by a boat propeller). It was rewarding and exhausting, challenging and fun.

It was also REALLY white.

The only entry point into stranding work is to intern with a stranding response or marine animal research organization, and most of those internships are unpaid. I got my start with an unpaid Rescue Team internship at Clearwater Marine Aquarium in 2017. If you're lucky, you get accepted to an internship that allows you to have a job on the side (mine didn't). If you're really unlucky, you end up having to take an internship that actually charges their interns a fee. Often, the fee includes accommodation, and sometimes food, but many organizations list things like "tuition" and transportation to and from field sites, as if free labor wasn't enough. One two-week program in Mozambique offers a dormitory or tented accommodations with a shared bathroom facility and meals for $1900. Ouch.

Yours Truly, on my way to recover a deceased sea turtle on Christmas Day 2017

The tide is beginning to shift on this issue, but we are still a long way from fair pay for all internships in the stranding and marine animal research fields. You may find yourself thinking "why do interns need to be paid if they're gaining valuable experience?" That's a great question, and I would love to tell you.

Imagine you're a Black college student in the U.S. Perhaps you're lucky enough not to be one of the 21% of Black students who feels "frequently or occasionally" discriminated against in your program, so you're not up against that every day (though there is little chance you haven't faced some form of discrimination). You're twice as likely to be a caregiver for at least one family member, which means you probably need a job. In fact, you're also twice as likely to have a full-time job while completing your bachelor's degree courses.

Figure from the Lumina Foundation

Maybe you live in Ohio, and the full-time internship you desperately want to complete is in Florida. Your current job pays you $15/hr, and you work 35 hours per week while going to school. In order to continue supporting your family, you now need to figure out how to get a job that will pay you $525 per week while enabling you to devote 40 hours to your unpaid internship, and you have to pay for travel to Florida and find a place to live. Even an internship that paid a stipend of, let's say, $2,000 for the season wouldn't be enough to make this a realistic opportunity. The reality of the internship quickly slips through your fingers, and you're left trying to figure out how to get the necessary experience in your chosen field to be competitive when you graduate while still taking care of your family.

Even if you managed to make an unpaid internship work, the road ahead may be far from easy. Hopefully you are paired with a great mentor who teaches you what you need to learn while being sensitive to your needs. But what if you end up with a mentor who has never examined their own biases, and the effects of their microaggressions leads you to seek out help from human resources? Imagine your surprise when HR informs you that unpaid interns are not employees, therefore you are not protected by workplace discrimination laws.

This is not just a hypothetical. One study found that 60% of college students who wanted an internship but did not take one cited needing to work as their primary obstacle, and 33% cited insufficient internship pay. I have personally witnessed the fallout of the workplace discrimination issue, and it was heartbreaking.

Figure from Hora, Wolfgram, & Chen, 2019

Paid internships are not the only solution necessary to the racial disparity in conservation science. There are myriad systemic issues at play that keep this and other fields out of reach for marginalized communities. It is a piece of a larger puzzle, but it is an important one. Thankfully, the movement to do away with unpaid internships is gaining momentum.

In July of 2020, a petition was sent to the Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM) requesting that the Society take a stance on the role of unpaid internships in perpetuating a lack of diversity in marine mammal science. While the SMM, unfortunately, has yet to make meaningful changes to their policies on this issue, many research organizations around the world signed the petition and started working toward ending unpaid internships. One exciting step forward in this fight came via the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Notice of Funding Opportunity for the 2025 John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant. This federal grant is a staple of the marine mammal stranding community, providing over $75 million in grant funding since its inception in 2001. Each year, NOAA releases a set of priorities for the Prescott grant, encouraging applicants to apply for funding to address things like emerging diseases, critically endangered species, inter-agency collaboration, etc. For the first time, one such priority is paid internships, with the goal of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. Finding funding is the biggest challenge in the fight for paid internships, so the 2025 Prescott grant presents a HUGE opportunity for a number of marine mammal rescue and research institutions!

We are a long way from true equity in wildlife conservation, but the Wildlife Research Alliance is working hard to make strides in the right direction. We aim to be a leader in this fight, and I appreciate the opportunity to tell you more about this issue!