Staff

Megan “Turtle” Southern, NJP Coordinator
Turtle has been employed by the Northern Jaguar Project since 2007, providing administrative, fundraising, and programmatic support. After receiving a B.A. in Biology from Wittenberg University, Turtle held positions within the national office of the Student Environmental Action Coalition and in People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ research and investigations department. Since moving to Arizona in 1996, she has worked as membership coordinator for the Center for Biological Diversity and as co-editor of the Earth First! Journal. Outside of this work, Turtle traveled across the U.S. on a tandem bicycle with her dog, Ellen, to raise money for charity, and in 2005, she documented the harp seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Rick Williams, Reserve Manager
Rick has been with the Northern Jaguar Project since its inception as a board member and treasurer. With years of experience managing a large farm in Tennessee, Rick brings a diverse skill set and a focused perspective to his newest role as reserve manager, which he began in spring 2010. Rick moved to Tucson and eventually settled in Sonora to be more fully engaged with northern jaguar conservation. Having worked at length with researchers in the field, he is now the person responsible for insuring the efficient management of the Northern Jaguar Reserve. Rick monitors the reserve’s overall condition as well as plans and performs infrastructure maintenance and development – everything from repairing and upgrading existing facilities to overseeing erosion control and invasive species removal. He has interacted extensively with the local community over the years, and today acts as the reserve’s ambassador.

Juan Carlos Bravo, Regional Representative for Naturalia
Originally from Mexico City, Juan Carlos, or “JC,” has been interested in science and nature since childhood. Upon finishing art school, he was attracted to conservation through his interest in nature photography. He began working for Naturalia on outreach and environmental education projects, including publishing the organization’s magazine Especies. In 2005, having grown with Naturalia, JC moved to Sonora to oversee the Northern Jaguar Reserve and attend to its day-to-day management. He ensures the jaguar guardians are adequately supplied, conducts conservation outreach to local residents, and facilitates research and stewardship projects. JC attends to Naturalia’s other Sonoran wildlife preserve, Los Fresnos, and coordinates the state’s carnivore conservation and management group, which promotes rancher predator-tolerance.

Miguel Gómez Ramírez, Jaguar Guardian
Miguel is from Querétaro, where he studied biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro. His work has focused mainly on botany, mammals, and ecology. Miguel has participated in a diversity of projects involving mammals, including rodents, black bears, and jaguars in the states of Querétaro, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, and Sonora. All of those projects were directed by his teacher, Carlos López González. Miguel loves nature, and he enjoys nature photography and spending time in the field. Along with Carmina Gutiérrez and Carlos López González, Miguel collaborated with Naturalia in training the Yaqui community in the use of camera-traps, a method through which they proved the presence of jaguars in the Bacatete region. Miguel began working as a jaguar guardian at the Northern Jaguar Reserve in October 2008.

Carmina Gutiérrez González, Jaguar Guardian
Carmina is a biologist who started her work with mammals in 2004 when she first collaborated on a field study with Carlos López González regarding the eating habits of coyotes and bobcats. She previously worked with fungi, bacteria, and soil-plant relationships. Carmina has been involved with many projects related to mammals, especially carnivores. In 2008, she received her master’s degree at the Instituto de Ecología; her thesis was on mammalian carnivore communities and camera trapping in arid ecosystems. Carmina particularly likes to work with GIS and landscape ecology related to carnivore species. Her first contact with Naturalia came as part of a training effort directed to the Yaqui community in the Sierra Bacatete. Carmina was hired as the Feline Photo Project technician in October 2008, working with jaguar conservation projects at and around the Northern Jaguar Reserve; she became a jaguar guardian in September 2009.

Diego Gutiérrez, Feline Photo Project Technician
Diego, our Feline Photo Project technician since July 2010, is soon to receive his biology degree from the University of Guadalajara. Diego’s ties to wildlife conservation hark back to a life-long fascination with stories told by his father of the abundant deer population at that time in his native Tlaquepaque, Jalisco. He is still enthralled by deer, and even though his field experience has allowed him to see plenty of them, he maintains that they make him feel like a more complete human being with each encounter. Diego has worked on a number of wildlife monitoring and habitat evaluation projects since 2006. These studies have been centered in Colima, Sonora, and Sinaloa, under the tutelage of Carlos López González. With Diego’s participation and support from Naturalia, several jaguar photographs were produced in the area that extends 100 miles south of the Northern Jaguar Reserve between Alamos and Arivechi, Sonora. Diego is pleased to be a part of the Feline Photo Project and is more captivated now than ever before by the mythical jaguar.

Laco & Laqui Duarte, Vaqueros
This father-son duo has many duties that are unique for a pair of cowboys. They patrol the Northern Jaguar Reserve to keep trespassers out, keep fences in good condition to prevent wandering cattle from entering the reserve, maintain the reserve’s structures, carry out projects as directed by the reserve manager, and assist the jaguar guardians and visiting scientists in the field. Laco is originally from Arivechi yet has been in the Sahuaripa area for many years. Having worked as the lead cowboy for the reserve’s previous owner, Laco knows this terrain better than anyone. He is also a bit of a local artisan and makes traditional leather lassos. His son Laqui joined the reserve’s staff in August 2010.