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Cathy Plume
Priority Leader, Southern Chile and Forest Director for Field Programs
Education
- MS - Watershed Management, University of Arizona
- BS - Forestry, second degree in English, Austin State University
Areas of Expertise
- Conservation and environmental planning
- Promoting environmental practices among forest industry
- Program design, implementation and monitoring
“My responsibilities at WWF afford me the opportunity to make a difference at several points in the supply chain – from protecting forests in places like Southern Chile to getting responsibly sourced wood products in stores.”
About Cathy Plume:
With over 20 years of environmental experience from the Peace Corps and CARE USA to The Nature Conservancy and WWF, Cathy has a wealth of knowledge to draw from. That has a huge impact on her accomplishments as priority leader for the WWF’s Southern Chile program and her work with forestry issues in other WWF priority places.
In fact, Cathy’s team recently got a major salmon fishing interest to make a $43 million commitment to pull out of freshwater fishing in southern Chile in five years.
Cathy began her environmental career as a forestry and watershed management student. Today, her responsibilities range from coordinating with other NGOs and hands-on fieldwork in Chile to working with US buyers of wood products to ensure that their supplies are both legal and sustainably harvested. Working within the WWF’s terrestrial and freshwater program, she acts as a liaison for WWF field offices, providing strategy, guidance and support to the field teams.
Her extensive travel through South America has even led her back to a thriving tree nursery in Paraguay she founded years ago during her tour with the Peace Corps. “Seeing something you started with your own two hands grow, thrive, and survive over time, really brings home the importance of our work and the difference that even one person can make.”
