TED Community » Michael Olwyler

About Me

I have over 35 years of experience working in resource and protected area management in Yosemite and Everglades National Parks and on the Inyo, Mendocino and Sierra National Forests as a recreation and wilderness manager and managing permits for commercial special uses in the United States. I have worked internationally as a consultant for the World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy in SE Asia, the Wildlife Conservation Society in Central America, and USAID in Panama and Honduras for protected area management related to trail system management and thematic interpretation. I have worked in conjunction with numerous other non-government organizations (NGO) both national and international providing technical assistance and training for the on-the-ground management of protected areas. I have worked at five different ski areas in California and Colorado as a professional ski patroller and consultant to the Forest Service during major international skiingevents. • Consultant, USDA Forest Service International Programs, to protected areas in Honduras. Lancetilla Botanical Garden & Research Center, Tela, Honduras March 8 – 16, 2008; April 20 – 26, 2008; January 16 – 26, 2009. Co-leader for a program called, “Building Interpretive Exhibits While Creating Interpretive Skills.” The project involves interpretive planning and the design and installation of interpretive exhibits for the visitor center while providing training for local stakeholders for protected areas, tourism, and community development on the Caribbean coast. The project will expand to include development of trails management systems for four protected areas in 2009 and 2010.
• Instructor for a three week course supported by USDA Forest Service International Programs for national park service rangers from Amazonian Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia in the Amazonian basin national park of Yanachaga Chemillen, Peru; May 15- June 4, 2007.
• Consultant for USDA Forest Service International Programs/US AID, Caribbean coast, La Ceiba, Honduras, December 6 – 20, 2007. Worked with the local MIRA project to identify specific tourism development needs that would be useful for the existing stage of development.
• Consultant for USDA Forest Service International Programs/US AID, La Ceiba, Honduras, April 15 – May 1, 2007. This consultancy was a followed-on from the December consultancy. Co-instructed a three day workshop on thematic interpretation for local stakeholders (protected area managers, community tourism organizations, and commercial service providers) to help improve the experiences of tourism visitors to the area.
• Instructor for a five day course, presented in Spanish, called “Planificacion, Construcción y Operación de Senderos en Areas Protegidas” (Planning, Construction & Operation of Trails in Protected Areas):
- San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico; in cooperation with Colorado State University Consortium for International Protected Area Management; March 3-15, 2006.
- Torres del Paine National Park, Chile; in cooperation with The Patagonian Foundation and CONAF (Chile); March 16 – 24, 2006.
- Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica; January 5 – 13, 2005.
- El Salvador, Central America for protected area managers from countries associated with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Meso American Trails initiative. January 8 through 17th, 2004, Los Volcanes National Park, El Salvador.
• Worked for the Disaster Assistance Relief food distribution program in Chuuk, Micronesia, January 15 through February 18, 2003. The USDA Forest Service worked with the US Federal Emergency Management Agency on this disaster. I coordinated purchases, receipt, and transfer of food commodities to the state of Chuuk in cooperation with Food & Nutrition Service and FEMA.
• Three week consultancy in May 2002 to USAID, Panama, to provide technical advice on trail construction, layout and management for ecotourism for the Embera Drua indigenous people and the Panama City Metropolitan Natural Park. Spanish was the primary language used. Worked under Dr. Gerry Bauer.
• One month consultant in January and February 2001 to the Wildlife Conservation Society assisting writing a management plan for the Copan Archeological Monument, Copan, Honduras, Central America. Created a trail system proposal, evaluated tourism potential for sites in the vicinity of the archeological monument, evaluated and gave recommendations on educational information, and assisted in the presentation of community public information meetings about the plan. All communications were in Spanish.
• Assisted instructing the Colorado State University course “Management of Wildlands and Protected Areas” for Latin American protected area managers, July 12 to August 13, 2000, and July 8 to August 15, 1997.