Past Staff

In Memorial – Dr. Fern P. Duvall II: MNSRP Scientific Advisor and Maui Nui Program Manager – Native Ecosystems Protection & Management (NEPM), State of Hawaii DLNR/DOFAW

After receiving his B.S. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Fern earned two graduate degrees in Zoology from The Free University of (West) Berlin.  Fern worked for 12 years as the State Aviculturist for the Captive Propagation of endangered Hawaiian birds. In 1996 Fern became the Wildlife Biologist for the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife on Maui, working with native Hawaiian waterbirds, forest birds, seabirds, invertebrates, plants, and non-native vertebrates. Fern now works as the NEPM Program Manager, Maui District. NEPM protects the State’s most diverse, pristine, unique remaining natural landscapes and ecosystems, with all the native flora and fauna they house. Fern is responsible for the original conception and staffing of Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project, which fulfills seabird management and research mandates of the Division of Forestry & Wildlife. Fern passed away suddenly from heart troubles in February, 2022. He is missed and forever appreciated by MNSRP as a dear friend, irreplaceable colleague, and foundational member of our conservation ohana.

Emily Severson: Outreach Liaison

Emily began her conservation efforts in Alabama with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, helping to complete the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail. In 2002 Emily started her fieldwork in Hawaii on the slopes of Mauna Kea with the U.S. Geological Survey -BRD, on the Palila Restoration Project. Since relocating to Maui, she has assisted in field studies through the University of Hawaii with the Maui Parrotbill and has immersed herself throughout Haleakalā National Park. First as a Park Ranger, and now as an advocate and enthusiast. Her love of nature began in the cold climate of Minnesota, and has grown exponentially while living aloha with her beloved family. Emily’s primary goals are protecting native species and habitats, exploring, and educating others about nature. She is happy in her role, Community Outreach Liaison at the Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project.

Alex Calma: Kupu AmeriCorps Service Member

Martin Frye: Senior Field Biology Technician

Martin is a 2010 Lewis & Clark College graduate with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Hispanic Studies. He is committed to the liberal arts ethos, and has sought diverse career experience within the field of conservation biology. Beginning with AmeriCorps, he led bilingual conservation crews in Utah, and did Spanish-language education programming at the Tahoe Environmental Research Center. He was introduced to wild bird conservation by the Institute for Bird Populations, with whom he spent four seasons doing multi-species point counts and surveying for Black-backed woodpeckers in the Sierra Nevada. He also made time to do subalpine botany and forestry with the North Coast and Cascades I & M Network Network, as well as fisheries and wildlife biology at Grand Canyon National Park. After many seasonal migrations, following biology work all over the mainland, Martin is excited to join MNSRP here in Maui Nui, where he will contribute to the ongoing efforts to conserve native Hawaiian wildlife.

Skye Anderson: Field Biology Associate

Skye Anderson earned a B.S. at the University of Otago (New Zealand) in 2017, majoring in Zoology and minoring in Statistics. In 2018 she designed and carried out a study for an Honors year at University in a remote area of the South Island of New Zealand. Her study demonstrated the negative effects of past livestock practices on native invertebrate communities in upland streams, and the implications for restoration efforts. Her paper was subsequently published in an international scientific journal, Environmental Management. Skye’s interest in ornithology began when she spent a month volunteering with Department of Conservation rangers in Nelson Lakes National Park in 2019. She was working to maintain and restore populations of endangered endemic birds in this area such as kaka, kea and the great spotted kiwi. Then in 2020 she was employed by the San Diego Zoo to work as a seasonal research assistant at their research center on Maui; the Maui Bird Conservation Center (MBCC). Her role at MBCC was animal husbandry, monitoring bird behavior, and keeping detailed and accurate records. In addition to the day to day care of the birds, she helped conduct research projects that involve data collection, input, analysis and reporting. Skye’s love for the native flora and fauna of Hawaii has continued to grow and so has her passion to work in conservation on Maui and she is very excited to be a part of the MNSRP team.

Kat Gulley: Kupu AmeriCorps Service Member

Katelynn Gulley recently graduated from Saint Martin’s University with a bachelor’s degree in biology and a minor in psychology. While working on her studies, Katelynn assisted with research investigating at sea fallout of New Zealand seabirds and was awarded an undergraduate research grant from the Pacific Seabird Group for her research on color choice in tufted puffins. Outside of her studies, Katelynn also worked in conservation education at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in her hometown of Tacoma, WA for five years. Katelynn is excited about the change to field biology and is looking forward to the knowledge and experience serving as a Kupu member with Maui Nui Seabird Recovery will offer.

Karla Trigueros: Intermittent Field Biologist/

Kupu AmeriCorps Service Member

Karla Trigueros earned her B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology from California State University, Monterey Bay. She has held multiple internships that have helped cultivate her passion for wildlife conservation. Karla’s ornithology experience started as a wildlife rehabilitation intern at the SPCA for Monterey County in California, where she assisted in the rehabilitation of songbirds, seabirds, and raptors as well as mammals. Her appreciation for native species grew as a KUPU intern for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service on the island of Kauaʿi. There, she monitored endangered Aeʿo (Hawaiian Stilt), managed a feral cat trapline and rodenticide bait stations to protect native birds from introduced mammalian predators, and responded to avian botulism affected birds. She is excited to work for MNSRP and to expand her experience and knowledge in native species conservation.

Puakea Mo’okini-Oliveira:

Kupu AmeriCorps Service Member

Puakea was born and raised on the island of Oʻahu. In high school, her interest in mālama ʻāina began with planting koa ( Acacia koa ) seedlings in the Keauhou forest on Hawaiʻi island as a participant of the Keawewai Koa Reforestation Project. While earning a B.S. in Environmental Science, Puakea was able to study abroad at Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia taking courses in coastal marine ecosystems, outdoor education and food ecology. As an intern in several of KUPU Hawai’i’s programs Puakea’s reverence for Hawai’i’s native flora and fauna deepened while doing field work in some of the most remote places in Hawai’i. She held positions aiming to promote the importance of outdoor education and participated in a youth exchange program that presented the need for more cultural recognition and knowledge into modern conservation practices to members of the U.S. Forest Service’s Region Five. She is grateful for the opportunity to expand her knowledge of Hawaiʻiʻs natural resources and wildlife through her work with MNSRP.

Lynx Gallagher: Field Biologist Field Crew Leader

Lynx Gallagher hails from the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina where he received his undergraduate degree from Appalachian State University. He is currently pursuing his Master’s Degree in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Lynx enjoys mountains of all types and spent time near the summit of Mauna Kea participating in environmental surveys for lichen at high elevation. His Master’s work involves studying fungi within Hawaiian kipuka along saddle road on the Big Island of Hawai‘i. With MNSRP, he works to set up and conduct baseline surveys and predator assessment studies in the Kahikinui Forest Reserve.

Rebecca Pederson:

Kupu AmeriCorps Service Member

Becca graduated magna cum laude from the University of Colorado Boulder with a B.A. in both Environmental Studies and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She spent part of her undergraduate career doing research in the Ramaley Ichthyology (fish) lab. The rest of her time at University of Colorado Boulder was working on Map of Life, a mapping project in collaboration with Yale University. Becca’s responsibility was to capture metadata from species surveys and assess their reliability. This project eventually led to her Honors Thesis Project, where she researched the significance of presence and absence data for species mapping.  She is excited to be working for MNSRP and expand her knowledge of field biology, as well as data management.

Che Frausto: Field Biologist

Che Frausto received a B.A. in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology and a B.A. in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Natural Resources from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Che worked in the Ramaley Ichthyology (fish) lab throughout his undergraduate career researching domination and hierarchy in male convict cichlids. After graduating, he worked for the US Forest Service on the Lassen National Forest ecology team, performing many tasks including goshawk and spotted owl surveys. He also worked with the BLM Wildlife Biologist carrying out Bald Eagle nest surveys.  His duties now include rescuing downed wildlife, field operations, outreach, banding, gps tracking, predator control, and data management.

Alicia Rhodes: Operations/GIS Specialist

Alicia received her B.S. in Biology from Northern Michigan University, and her M.S. in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Alicia’s background includes investigating speciation in small mammals, delineating the source of an autosomal recessive disease, and examining reproductive isolation in ‘O‘hia, an endemic Hawaiian tree. Although she fancies field work, the true apple of her eye is working with data; give her a data-set to manage and analyze, and she’ll be happy for weeks. Her diverse scientific background, technical skill-set, and love for learning about new organisms brought her on board at MNSRP. Outside of the office Alicia is most often found surfing, experimenting in the kitchen or exploring the islands.

Isabelle Walker: Field Biologist/Data Associate

Isabelle graduated from the University of Texas with a B.S. in Geology. She has worked in the avian conservation for the past five years mainly focusing on the recovery and management of endangered seabird species in Maui.   She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Population and Conservation Biology at Texas State University. Her research interests are in spatial ecology and conservation of wildlife populations. She is interested in exploring how environmental factors effect foraging behavior and distribution of avian species.

Victoria Stout: Field Biology Assistant

Vic received her B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Vic is extremely interested in tropical ecosystems and participated in Tropical Ecology and Conservation study abroad program in Costa Rica. Her undergraduate thesis, which won departmental honors and the Dean’s Award, was based on research conducted in Southern Costa Rica on the restoration of tropical pasture. Most of all she loves teaching and outreach, and during her tenure at UCSC she volunteered as a docent at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center and worked as a teaching assistant in the Environmental Studies Department. She hopes to bring this passion to Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project to increase their volunteer base and island-wide awareness about seabirds and their threats.

Marie VanZandt: Field Biologist

Marie VanZandt started with the Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project in 2009, as an Americorp Intern, assisting with on the ground management of the Hawaiian petrel on the island of Lana’i. She pursued her M.S. at the University of Hawaii- Hilo, where she worked closely with MNSRP on her thesis entitled “Distribution and Habitat Selection of the Endangered Hawaiian Petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis), from the Island of Lana’i”.  She returned to MNSRP as the GIS/Operations specialist in 2012 and led field efforts investigating possible Newell’s shearwater and Hawaiian petrel nesting on the leeward side of Haleakala- Maui (Kahikinui). She now works as the Project Biologist at the Auwahi Wind Farm, enacting the site Habitat Conservation Plan for the endangered Hawaiian petrel and Hawaiian hoary bat. She is currently a loyal MNSRP volunteer and a member of the Save Our Seabirds- Maui chapter.

Devin Eagan: Field Biology Assistant

Devin grew up on Maui and studied Environmental Science at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Devin is passionate about conservation in Maui Nui and spent a year working as an Americorps intern for Pu‘u Kukui Watershed Preserve. With MNSRP, he works to set up and conduct baseline surveys and predator assessment studies in the Kahikinui Forest Reserve.