Chris Stamplis, is the Stewardship Coordinator at Natural Biodiversity. Chris earned a BSc in Biology from the University of Pittsburgh. During his senior year, he traveled abroad to New Zealand where he studied marine ecology at the University of Canterbury and spent some time working on an organic farm. After graduating, Chris volunteered with the NCC AmeriCorps program and conducted on-the-ground conservation work for the Great Basin Institute. While in Nevada, Chris worked as a Naturalist and Tool Manager on a 10-member crew that traveled throughout Nevada and its bordering states. Most of his work directly related to preserving sensitive ecosystems home to endemic or threatened species, and took place in locations like Death Valley NP and Ash Meadows NWR. He also worked back-country in wilderness areas or in lands managed by the US Forest Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, BLM, NPS and State Parks. Chris is strongly interested in the conservation of diversity - in terms of both biological and cultural ecosystems. For Chris, spending time outdoors is less a matter of personal interest and more a matter of essential sustenance. 2011-2012 is his second year as an AmeriCorps volunteer..