Our new team members Born
in 1972 in Austria, Gudrun spent her whole childhood and youth growing up in the Austrian Alps. The big forest right behind her parent’s house was her playground and later, when she decided to become a professional athlete (1991-1998) b.a. 4 times World Champion in Mountain Running, 20 times Austrian Champion in xc skiing and athletics and xc skiing Worldloppet Winner, her trainings terrain.
For seven years she worked on six different wolf research projects in very different parts and ecosystems of Canada: from the Subarctic to SW Alberta, from the Aspenparklands to the lushy temperate Rainforest along B.C.’s Pacific Shoreline.
After receiving her Master’s degree in Biology at the University of Salzburg, (2000), she applied for a volunteer position at the Central Rockies Wolf Project, based in Canmore, AB, Canada. Following and studying the local wolfpack, she realized, that this kind of job is tailored to her skills, education and passion: Being a field biologist combines physical fitness with the opportunity to be in the great outdoors and mainly to work for its conservation through collecting data and increasing knowledge.
Gudrun shares the common knowledge of the wolf being a flagship species of an ecosystem but she even more sees the condition of a wolf-population as an indicator for the attitude and tolerance of the local people. She will be the wildlife focal point of the European Wilderness Society and advises and councils protected area managers on large carnivores and human coexistence issues.
Gudrun Pflüger
We
are happy to present you our new team member Karin Eckhard who will be the focal point for sustainable tourism projects and consultations. Although born and raised in New Hampshire, USA, she has had the fortune to live in places as diverse as Vail, Colorado; Salzburg, Austria; London and in a small village in the east of England. However, she has called Madrid, Spain her home for the last 2 years. While in the US, she worked for 12 years in the tourism sector in product development, operations and various other roles. She holds a Masters in Sustainable Tourism Development and after receiving her Masters she worked for several years as a Sustainability Advisor in the tourism sector with an international consultancy and has worked on various European regional sustainable tourism projects. While living in the UK and volunteering for a local conservation organization, she
Two international awarded nature documentaries ‘Searching for the coastal wolves’ (Die Suche nach den Küstenwölfen, 2007) and ‘Running with wolves’ (Die Wolfsfrau, 2009) tell about her work. In October 2005 Gudrun was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour – out of the blue. For more than three years she was fighting for her life. Successfully. Today she is Mum of a 5 year old son and since his birth in summer 2009 Gudrun is back in her hometown Radstadt in the Austrian Alps. She started giving talks and presentations about her experiences in the wilderness and on the path of the wolves.
decided to take on the challenge of doing a Masters in Land Management as it relates to Conservation. She had the fortune to do her thesis work in the area of Landscape Ecology specifically connectivity and its role in species and biodiversity conservation. Here is where she found her keen interest in the role tourism can play in promoting global and regional conservation effort. When not travelling, she enjoys, of course, the outdoors, wildlife photography, sports and spending time with friends.
Karin Eckhard
www.wilderness-society.org
21