Conservation Firsthand
Travel
WWF Experts
Darron Collins
Managing Director Amur-Heilong
Education
- PhD - Anthropology, Tulane University
- MA - Latin American Studies, Tulane University
- BA - Human Ecology, College of the Atlantic
Areas of Expertise
- Ethnobotany
- Indigenous people and conservation
- Sustainable forest management
- Forest products trade
- Community conservation
"Reversing the trend toward extinction is difficult but not impossible. We helped bring the tiger back from the brink and now it's the Amur leopard's turn."
About Darron Collins:
Darron has always been a river guy. The New Jersey native recalls very clearly his first time in a canoe, "I was in Vermont and it gave me a perspective that you just can't get walking." He was so taken with flowing water that for his undergraduate thesis he created and taught a class that combined whitewater boating with a study of river conservation techniques.
Darron joined WWF in 2001 as the regional forest coordinator for Latin America before serving as a senior conservation advisor, where he played a key role in developing WWF's 2015 goals and strategy. An expert in ethnobotany, he now manages a conservation program that encompasses vast areas of Russia, China and Mongolia and is equal in size to the state of Alaska. The watershed includes the 3,000-mile-long Amur River - the largest undammed river in the eastern hemisphere - as well as a host of endangered species.
