Paul Wilson, of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, has been a Sierra Club member since 1987. He has served as Chapter Chair of the West Virginia Chapter (2000-2007) and has served on the national committees in the 1990’s and served on the Permanent Protection Initiative of the Club’s Our Wild America campaign from 2008 to 2014.
As a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam Veteran, Paul is active with the Sierra Club Military Outings program and participated in the 2014 Cedar Mesa MO trip as an assistant co-leader. He has also been a local outings leader in West Virginia. Paul is also the Program Lead for Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing in SW Colorado which serves wounded warriors and disabled veterans in the Four Corners area.
Paul is a Wildlife Biologist by training and education, with degrees from Michigan State University (B. Sc. in Wildlife Biology and Management) and Iowa State University (M. Sc. in Animal Ecology). Over his professional career, Paul has received additional training in citizen participation, conflict mediation, and geographic information system computer software.
As a wildlife biologist, Paul has conducted field studies in Nepal, Chile, Canada and Iowa. In 1975 through 1977, Paul served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal. Paul surveyed hunting reserves, conducted censuses of principle game species, and wrote management plans for the Nepalese Government’s sport and trophy hunting programs. In Chile, Paul conducted research for his Master’s Degree on the behavioral ecology of guanacos and pumas in Torres Del Paine National Park. In addition, Paul has worked on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service research projects on waterfowl nesting in western Canada and snow geese feeding ecology in western Iowa. From 1985 through 2003, Paul was the Project Manager for the Fish and Wildlife Reference Service, which was a 38-year-old Federal Aid Information Management Project of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In what little spare time Paul has, he enjoys fly fishing especially in designated Wilderness Areas, and is an avid BMW motorcycle enthusiast.
