Dave Parsons receives Environmental Hero Award from OneEarth

It is with great pride and excitement that I share the news that Project Coyote’s founding science advisory board member Dave Parsons just received the Environmental Hero Award from One Earth.

For more than three decades, Dave has devoted his life to wolf conservation, first overseeing the Mexican gray wolf recovery program from 1990-1999 as a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and now working with Project Coyote and The Rewilding Institute (TRI) to fight for the future of this imperiled species.

Most recently, Dave led the charge in challenging the appointment of Martha Williams as the Director of FWS, citing the fact that she lacks the required scientific credentials to hold this critical position overseeing a budget of over $1.5 billion to conserve and protect fish, wildlife, plants, and their respective habitats. You can read more about this issue in Dave’s excellent Counterpunch opinion piece, via our action alert and in this Washington Examiner article. 

On a personal note, Dave served as my graduate school advisor and then became one of our founding science advisory board members with Project Coyote in 2008. Since that time, he has been not only a steadfast rock for Project Coyote but also an outspoken advocate on behalf of wolves, carnivore conservation and rewilding. Dave continues to mentor many budding wildlife conservationists including our most recent hire of a Carnivore Conservation Advocate — a shared position with TRI, our partner organization for which Dave has also dedicated more than a decade of service as their wildlife biologist.

We are honored to have Dave’s important work recognized by such an important and effective entity and grateful to One Earth for highlighting his tireless work for wolves. This award is especially timely as we continue to fight for protection of gray wolves throughout their range nationwide. Please support our proposal with One Earth calling for relisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies where they continue to be slaughtered by trophy hunters and trappers in unconscionable ways.

Watch and listen to Dave as he urges the Biden administration to relist wolves under the Endangered Species Act and create a national wolf recovery plan:

Make a gift to support our campaign via OneEarth to protect Northern Rockies wolves:

For Dave, for Wolves and for Wild Nature,