National Conservation Leader Ed Clark to speak at Fairfield University Nov. 20 on "Saving Wildlife: Saving the World" | Press Releases

National conservation leader Ed Clark, host of the award-winning series, "Wildlife Emergency," which aired worldwide on Animal Planet, will speak at Fairfield University on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the DiMenna-Nyselius Library's Multimedia Room. The event, co-sponsored by the Program in Applied Ethics and the Program in the Environment, is free and open to the public.

Clark has been a national conservation leader for more than 30 years and is frequently seen on network television including CNN's Larry King Live, NBC's Today Show, FOX News, CBS Saturday Morning, and C-SPAN's Washington Journal. Under his leadership, the Wildlife Center of Virginia, which he co-founded in 1982, has become one of the world's leading veterinary teaching and research hospitals for wildlife and conservation medicine. In November 2007, the Wildlife Center received the National Wildlife Federation's highly prestigious Conservation Achievement Award and was name the Wildlife Conservation Organization of the Year for the United States.

The Wildlife Center's conservation medicine and environmental education programs have become prototypes for wildlife conservation organizations worldwide. At its Virginia facilities, the Center trains veterinary and wildlife conservation professionals from around the globe. The Center also has active field programs in Latin America and Africa, working with wildlife rescue organizations, universities and governments to combat the illegal trade in wildlife, and care for the wild victims of criminal trafficking.

In 2006 and 2007, the Center won contracts from the Institute for Defense and Homeland Security and the Department of Defense to create a working model of the North American Wildlife Disease Surveillance Network, also known as Project Tripwire, a surveillance and early warning system for the detection of emerging wildlife disease and biosecurity/bioterrorism threats against the United States. Project Tripwire may become for wildlife medicine what the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is for human medicine, according to Clark.

Throughout his career Clark's work has ranged from wilderness designation and public land management to pesticide regulation and endangered species protection. In 1978, he became president of the VA Wilderness Committee and led the grassroots effort to protect more than 80 thousand acres in Virginia's two national forests. He also served as the first Executive Director of the Conservation Council of Virginia Foundation and co-founded and became Assistant Director of the Environmental Task Force in Washington, D.C., a national grassroots support network.

In 1982, he began his work as a leadership trainer and political consultant for national conservation and non-profit groups, including Trout Unlimited, the Sierra Club, Habitat for Humanity, the Humane Society of the United States, the Humane Society International, the Appalachian Trail Conference, the Appalachian Mountain Club and many others.

Raised in Flint Hill, Virginia, Clark received a Bachelor's degree in history and political science from Bridgewater College and did graduate work in education at James Madison University and the University of Virginia. His professional training includes environmental mediation, organization management, and strategic planning. He is in great demand around the world as a conference speaker, trainer, and consultant in the fields of organizational development, volunteer management, fundraising, strategic planning, and grassroots organizing.