Project Leader Majka Burhardt has 15 years of experience producing multi-stage international ventures focused on current issues of cultural and global significance. As a professional climber Majka has spent her career driving at the question: Can adventure better the world? Acclaimed Los Angeles-based director, Paul Yoo, and award-winning science writer Sarah Garlick have joined Burhardt, along with a high-angle savvy film crew, to complete the Media Team and capture the discoveries of The Lost Mountain expedition as a documentary film. Kate Rutherford, Burhardt’s climbing partner on the face, has built a career as a professional rock climber exploring the vertical faces of the world.
The Lost Mountain Science Team includes: Werner Conradie, herpetologist from the Port Elizabeth Museum in South Africa; Dan Portik, herpetologist from the University of California, Berkeley; Jonathan Mawdsley, entomologist and program director from The H. John Heinzz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment; and ecologist and famed world explorer Mark Moffett, aka Dr. Bugs.
Fred Boltz, Senior Vice President of Global Initiatives at Conservation International, is lead advisor for the Lost Mountain Conservation Team. Boltz’ conservation background ranges from assessment to full implementation from Rwanda to China, Brazil to Bolivia.
Institutional partnerships include Mount Mulanje Conservation Trust in Malawi and Mozambique National Institute of Agronomic Research (IIAM). We are currently in the process of finalizing our local Mozambican conservation organization partner.
Bios
Majka Burhardt: Author, professional climber, public speaker, and mountain guide specializing “Additive Adventure:” when adventure goes beyond exploration to cultural and environmental connections that create a larger conversation of singular and collective human meaning. Author of Vertical Ethiopia and Coffee Story: Ethiopia. Executive producer of the film Waypoint Namibia. 15-years of experience leading multi-stage international ventures focused on current issues of cultural and global significance spanning Africa, Europe, South and North America. Read more at: www.majkaburhardt.com.
Sarah Garlick: Rock climber, writer, and educator specializing in the earth and environmental sciences. First ascents in Greenland, the Middle East, and Newfoundland, and alpine ascents in Patagonia and Peru. Author of Flakes, Jugs & Splitters: an award-winning book about geology. Founder/director of GeoReach, an organization dedicated to science outreach and communication. Community programs coordinator for the American Alpine Club. Read more at: www.rockclimbinggeology.com.
Paul Yoo: Film producer/director focusing on documentaries that cover social justice issues throughout the developing world. Credits include a landmark public-private film partnership between Warner Bros. and USAID, as well as National Geographic’s INSIDE series. Producer Fellow, Film Independent’s Talent Development Program. His latest work includes a short documentary slate about the due diligence process aiming to reform and legitimize the historically conflict-prone mines of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kate Rutherford: Rock climber, storyteller and artist who takes the beauty of vertical landscapes and crafts it in to stories which inspire climbers to protect the natural environment they love to play in. Recent new climbing routes on Fitz Roy, Argentina, Acopon Tepui, Venezuela, and Brandberg, Namibia. Owner of Suspended Stone Design, fly fishing guide for Alaska Wild River Fish. Read more at: www.katerutherford.com
Werner Conradie: Herpetologist at the Port Elizabeth Museum (Bayworld), South Africa. Werner has 8 years of experience in southern African herpetofauna. Main research interests focus on the taxonomy, conservation and ecology of amphibians and reptiles of southern Africa. Co-author of ‘Field Guide to the Frogs and Toads of the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site’ and numerous scientific papers. Research expeditions include countries like Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola and Malawi. Read more at: https://sites.google.com/site/wernerconradie/home
Fred Boltz: Senior Vice President for Global Initiatives at Conservation International and lead advisor on the Lost Mountain conservation team. Boltz’ deep conservation expertise derives from over 20 years of experience in developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas. Boltz is a natural resource economist with research and publications on the economics, practice and policy of tropical forestry, ecosystem services and climate change. His broad knowledge draws from experience on the front lines of conservation and community development projects in Madagascar and Rwanda, from cutting edge economic research in Brazil and Bolivia, and 9 years leading CI’s global strategies for conservation and sustainable development.
Mark Moffett: International biologist and explorer Mark W Moffett, ‘the Indiana Jones of entomology,’ is a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution and author of several books including the recent Adventures Among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions. Moffett has received the Explorers Club’s Lowell Thomas Award, the Distinguished Explorer Award from the Roy Chapman Andrews Society, Yale University’s Poynter Fellowship for Journalism, Harvard’s Bowdoin Prize for writing, and five of his images appear in the special National Geographic publication,100 Best Wildlife Pictures. Moffett wrote his 1989 Harvard Ph.D. thesis under Professor E.O. Wilson on marauder ants and today is a often seen and heard on Conan O’Brien, NPR and the Colbert Report. Read more at: www.doctorbugs.com
Jonathan Mawdsley: Program director at The Heinz Center and Research Associate in the Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Mawdsley directs the Heinz Center’s wildlife and ecosystems conservation program, and also oversees climate adaptation activities for the center. Author of over 75 papers on entomological topics, he has also written extensively about wildlife monitoring and climate-change adaptation. Current research interests include the taxonomy and evolution of southern African Carabidae and Cicindelidae, the status and conservation of southern African pollinators, and the improvement of wildlife monitoring systems in southern Africa and North America. Before joining The Heinz Center, Jonathan spent five years at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, where he oversaw grant programs on pollinators, invasive species, imperiled species, and the Chesapeake Bay. He received his B. A. in Biology from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in Entomology from Cornell University.
Dan Portik: PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley with the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Research focuses on herpetology, and specifically phylogenetics and phylogeography. Is interested in understanding the diversification of African reed frogs in order to help answer ecological and evolutionary questions on a continental scale. Has conducted fieldwork in Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa, Botswana, and Mozambique. Read more at: www.danielportik.com