A fond farewell to Kim Heinemeyer
Donate to Round River and Make a World of Difference
Round River is working and achieving success in some of the world’s most magnificently wild places and we are being asked to bring our own brand of community involvement and science to many other threatened landscapes.
What We Do
Wild places are important in and of themselves. Round River is dedicated to the conservation of those increasingly rare vast landscapes, their inherent wildness and the ecological complexity that sustains them and inspires us. We employ the principles of conservation biology to provide our partners well-founded scientific basis for their long-term conservation efforts. The edict of Aldo Leopold’s Round River, in the face of global climate challenges, today rings ever truer. Fundamental to our work is the vitality of local cultures and communities requiring comprehensive approaches to capture the ecologies that sustain these systems. We also believe wild landscapes are powerful educators, and our environmental study abroad programs involve small groups of students in finding and implementing solutions to wildlife conservation and sustainability challenges.
Since 1991 Round River has conducted ecological research and engaged in conservation planning in the Blue Range of Arizona, the Great Bear and Muskwa-Kechika of British Columbia, the canyons of southern Utah, the highlands of southern Ecuador, the Mackenzie Delta of the Northwest Territories, the tropical forests of Belize, and the Yaak Valley of Montana.
Our current efforts in North America are focused in British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, and the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. In Africa, our work is in the Okavango Delta and Makgadikgadi-Nxai Pans of Botswana. In South and Central America, we continue in the Aysén Region of Patagonia in Chile, while working to develop a project in the Pantanal of Brazil. In Asia, our efforts are in the Darhad Valley of Huvsgul Province, Mongolia.
“Though not as large or as rich as the “Big Green” environmental organizations in Washington, DC, New York, or San Francisco, Round River Conservation Studies has delivered more real and more lasting conservation outcomes than many wealthier groups. I think I know why. I think that the edifice of their success is built on a foundation of people-to-people relationships cultivated over years.
“Instead of just coming and going, they come and they stay. Instead of superficial meetings and conferences with hundreds of people, they build solid and deep networks of long-lasting relationships in a few, strategically selected nations and with key individuals.
“I have noted that the friendships they patiently develop with charismatic locals in Africa and elsewhere are based on affection and trust. And I believe that it is no exaggeration to say that the conservation achievements of Round River Conservation Studies will persist and spread for decades.” — Michael Soulé
Recent News
Student Programs & Study Abroad
Expanding the Commitments, Minds, and Spirits of Future Conservationists
Round River believes wild landscapes are powerful educators. In Africa, Asia, and North, Central and South America, our environmental study abroad programs are designed to involve small groups of students in ongoing community and ecological research projects, finding and implementing solutions to real wildlife conservation and sustainability issues. The efforts of our students contribute significantly to our conservation initiatives. Student participation is available in the programs below.
Wildlife Monitoring and Conservation Planning
Botswana is the Africa of your imagination. Exotic birds fill infinite skies, elephant herds roam through forests, lions hunt across savannahs, and hippos bob in wide rivers. Round River students are assisting the Okavango Research Institute and the Okavango Community Trusts to monitor these wildlife populations and the landscapes on which they depend.
Wildlife Monitoring and Exploration
The vast taiga of Northern Mongolia is home to an incredible array of carnivores, ungulates and other wildlife and plants. Come explore Round River’s newest project area in the remote Darhad Valley of the Huvsgul province. Students assist our partner organizations with wildlife surveys and monitoring, study the ecosystem processes of three newly-formed Protected Areas, and work with local schools and communities.
Adventures in Conservation
Patagonia is a wild landscape of ice fields, fjords, and glacial peaks rising from windswept plains. Round River is working to support species-based conservation and sustainable tourism in Chilean Patagonia, through partnerships with local people and the Chilean government.
Wildlife Monitoring and Climate Change
The Taku River flows from the interior mountain ranges of northern British Columbia to the coastal ranges of Alaska, and is the largest intact salmon-bearing watershed in North America. The Taku is a vast wilderness of glacial rivers, boreal forest and snow-packed peaks harboring many of the charismatic species of this continent. Round River students assist the Taku River Tlingit First Nation with wildlife studies and monitoring climate change in alpine habitat.
Sustainable Livelihoods
Home to tropical wildlife, like the harpy eagle, scarlet macaw, Baird’s tapir, and jaguar, the Ya’axché Conservation Trust works primarily with indigenous communities to preserve the Maya Golden Landscape. Alongside these local communities, Ya’axché fosters sustainable livelihoods, assists with protected area management for biodiversity conservation and provides vital environmental education. Round River is excited to return to Belize and partner with such a significant organization as the Ya’axché Conservation Trust.
Wildlife Monitoring and Climate Change
The Sky Islands is a world biodiversity hotspot in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. This ecoregion is named for the 57 pine- and oak-studded mountain “islands” encompassed within and separated by desert and grassland “seas.” These isolated sky island mountains connect the Colorado Plateau and temperate north with the Sierra Madre Occidental and neotropical south. This is where the jaguar and black bear meet, where bromeliads grow in the arms of maple trees, and spicy chiltepin pepper and sweet Arizona canyon grape grow side-by-side.