Coastal Conservation’s mission is to remove introduced invasive vertebrate species from islands to encourage the natural recovery of the ecosystem including seabird colonies and native plants (restoring the balance). We work closely with government conservation agencies and non-governmental organizations in Canada and globally in order to achieve this goal.

Chris Gill, MSc

Co-founder and Director of Invasive Species Programs

Chris Gill has 30 years of experience in applied conservation biology with a primary focus on protecting rare and endangered species. In 2010 Chris founded Coastal Conservation, an organization whose mission is to restore island ecosystems in Canada and internationally that have been impacted by invasive vertebrate species.

Currently, Chris is working with the Canadian government to undertake invasive vertebrate eradications on Haida Gwaii and on islands off the coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia to restore habitat for seabirds and rare plant communities. Chris has also applied his background in ecotoxicology, planning, impact assessments, and diplomacy for other island restoration projects in the Central Pacific, California, and US Caribbean.

In 2014 Chris received the prestigious Parks Canada CEO Award of Excellence for the Night Birds Returning program (invasive rat eradication on four seabird islands in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site). The CEO Award of Excellence is presented annually and celebrates the outstanding achievements of employees and project partners as they work to fulfill Parks Canada’s mandate, vision and goals.

Gregg Howald,

Co-founder and Director of Invasvie Species Programs

Gregg Howald is one of the world’s foremost experts in island restoration – over the past 25 years he has directed, consulted, advised, participated in and/or managed rodent eradication projects on more than 20 islands in 5 countries including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ecuador, and Micronesia.

Gregg has been directly involved with the development, planning, managing and/or directing island rodent eradication projects in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska (Rat Island; Bay of Islands – Adak); Haida Gwaii (Langara, Lucy, Cox); Channel Islands, California (Anacapa Island; Farallon Islands; San Miguel Island; Alcatraz Island); Gulf of California, Mexico (San Pedro Martir, San Jorge, Farrallon de San Ignacio, Isabel); Caribbean (Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico; Banco Chinchorros, Mexico); Galapagos Islands, Ecuador (Rabida Island); Hawaiian Islands (Lehua Island; Wake Island); Line Islands (Palmyra Atoll); Caroline Islands, Micronesia (Ant Atoll, Pohnpei State Islands; Fanna Island, Palau; Yap). He has also been involved with and participated in the design of a strategic approach to rodent eradications in the Aleutian Archipelago, Alaska, USA; Galapagos Islands, Ecuador; and Micronesia (including Palau).

Gregg has expertise in ecotoxicology, environmental compliance, and project management, has published six peer-reviewed articles, and has given over 30 presentations to the scientific and conservation communities.

Gregg’s direct contribution to the field of rodent eradication includes guiding private industry to develop three specific bait products (two for aerial broadcast, one for bait station) for conservation purposes. He also worked with regulatory agencies (USEPA and USDA) to register (permit) the use of these baits in four countries (United States, Mexico, Ecuador and Micronesia) with reviews underway in Canada and Chile.

Gregg has extensive experience in working with government agencies based in North America to conduct environmental assessments and to design research protocols and implement field studies to carry out data collection in support of environmental assessments and/or decision making process (permitting) for rodent eradications (California, Hawaii, Alaska, Line Islands, Haida Gwaii).

Pete McClelland,

Project Manager and Technical Advisor

Pete McClelland has over 25 years of introduced species eradication from islands. He has successfully managed rodent eradications on 5 islands including 122ha Putauhinu Island, 86 ha Rarotoka Island in 1996; 1896ha Whenua Hou /Codfish Island in 1997, and lead the project to eradicate Norway rats from 11,300ha subantarctic Campbell Island in 2001, the world’s largest rodent eradication undertaken to date.

Following the Campbell Island project Pete was asked to provide advice on a wide range of other eradications both in New Zealand and overseas ranging from the Tropical Pacific to the Azores to South Georgia (which when completed this project will be the largest rodent eradication at over 50,000ha). More recently he lead the successful eradication of rats from 4 privately owned (Tribal land) islands off Stewart Island and spent 3 months on Macquarie Island as the technical advisor.

Mr. McClelland is currently actively involved in the planning for eradications on South Georgia, Gough Island and many smaller projects in New Zealand and the South Pacific. He also acted as a technical advisor for phase 2 of the Gwaii Haanas Night Birds Returning project.

Tony DeNicola, PhD

Technical Advisor

Dr. DeNicola is the president and founder of White Buffalo, Inc. a non-profit organization whose mandate is to conserve native species and ecosystems through the control or eradication of introduced ungulate species. Dr. DeNicola received a MS from Yale School of Forestry and a PhD in wildlife ecology and management from Purdue University.

In addition to being recognized as a Certified Wildlife Biologist by the Wildlife Society, he holds research affiliate positions with the University of Georgia and the Denver Zoological Society. Dr. DeNicola has worked on hundreds of field projects, produced more than 30 publications in reputable scientific journals, and presented at numerous professional conferences.

Cam Stevenson,

Dog Handler & Professional Marksman

Cam is the founder and senior project manager of Kiwi Field Crew Ltd., specializing in the detection and control/eradication of invasive ungulate and marsupial species via a combination of aerial shooting and dog-supported ground hunting techniques. He breeds and trains dogs for a variety of specialized tasks including species-specific indicating (detecting/tracking/pointing), bailing (tracking/chasing), and combination hunting. Cam has > 25,000 hours experience in the field as a project manager and wildlife depopulation specialist in both remote and human-populated settings.

Mike Reed,

Wildlife Pilot

Mike has been involved in wildlife management for his entire life. As a teenager in New Zealand, Mike worked as an aerial shooter and netgunner (live wildlife capture) with his family. After obtaining his own commercial helicopter license, Mike remained closely involved in the wildlife management industry. During his 22-year career as pilot-in-command, Mike has flown more than 4,500 of 14,500 hours as pilot and capture-lead for wildlife management programs in Canada, USA, and New Zealand, and has been the lead pilot for challenging invasive ungulate eradication projects using aerial hunting methods in Canada.

Mike is co-owner of Wildlife Capture Management Ltd, a Canadian company dedicated to providing high-quality, specialist aerial capture services for wildlife research and conservation programs.

Beth Christianos,

Aircraft Engineer and Wildlife Handler/Technician

Beth is a licensed aircraft engineer with 12 years of experience maintaining helicopters during wildlife management projects and is also a wildlife handler/technician for netgunning  and chemical immobilization (dart-gun) operations. She enjoys the challenge of keeping helicopters maintained and airworthy, especially in remote locations, to facilitate successful wildlife management operations.

Beth is co-owner and operations manager of Wildlife Capture Management Ltd, a Canadian company dedicated to providing high-quality, specialist aerial capture services for wildlife research and conservation programs.

Lennard Sparks,

Dog Handler & Professional Marksman

Lennard Sparks is a professional hunter specializing in the training and use of hunting dogs for ungulate control and eradication projects. This experience combined with a Bachelor of Applied Sciences in environmental studies has enabled Lennard to help plan and implement large-scale projects in New Zealand and Canada to restore ecosystems that have been negatively impacted by hyperabundant or invasive wildlife. Currently, Lennard owns four specialized hunting dogs.