Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (PANWR)

US Fish and Wildlife Service

I have worked from February of 2019 to June of 2021 for the USFWS based in Honolulu, Hawaii.

This role has entailed participating in landscape-scale conservation actions, controlling coconut monocultures and reforesting native trees. I have been on the leadership team for the Palmyra Atoll Rainforest Realignment and Reef Resiliency Project (PARP) since 2019. This is a multi-agency conservation action, possible because of the collaboration between USFWS, The Nature Conservancy, and Island Conservation. This project has entailed leading field crews on Palmyra Atoll for up to 5 months at a time. Palmyra is an uninhabited atoll in the central Pacific with an “off-grid” research station and coral rubble landing strip constructed in WWII. We operate from small boats daily and must maintain a high level of situational awareness as even small accidents and injuries in such a remote location with no medical care have elevated ramifications.

The following is a talk on some of the work we did on Palmyra Atoll.

2019-2021