Conservation connections between Wyoming and Argentina enliven lunchtime lecture

Conservation connections between Wyoming and Argentina enliven lunchtime lecture

Argentina may be a hemisphere away from Wyoming, but the two places share similar terrain. In a free program at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, conservation leaders from each place share and compare strategies for private lands conservation in their respective locales. The lecture takes place Monday, July 26, noon – 1 p.m. in the Center’s Coe Auditorium.

Speaker Carlos Fernandez, project manager for the Nature Conservancy’s Patagonia Grasslands of Argentina, discusses his work there guiding the Conservancy’s efforts to protect grasslands through private lands conservation, the creation and strengthening of public protected areas, and sustainable sheep ranching.

An attorney, Fernandez earned his law degree from Argentina’s Mendoza University and his graduate law degree from Georgetown University. An avid fly fisherman who also enjoys hiking and biking, he joined the staff of the Nature Conservancy after working at three different law firms. He then spent five years in Arlington, Virginia, where he served as the Conservancy’s senior foreign legal advisor for South America, before returning to Barlioche, Argentina, to manage Patagonia Grasslands.

Joining Fernandez for the program is Andrea Erickson Quiroz, Wyoming state director for the Nature Conservancy, who shares insights from Wyoming’s long history of private lands conservation. The program continues with a discussion of how lessons learned from Wyoming’s conservation experiences can translate to the grasslands, mountains, and streams of Argentina.

The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. For more information on the organization, visit www.nature.org. To learn more about natural history at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, go to www.bbhc.org, click on “Explore” and then on “Greater Yellowstone Natural History.”

Committed to connecting people with the Spirit of the American West, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center weaves the varied threads of the western experience—history and myth, art and Native culture, firearms technology and the nature of Yellowstone—into the rich panorama that is the American West. The Center, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is now operating its summer schedule, open daily 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. For general information, call 307.587.4771 or visit the new www.bbhc.org.