Don Murphy

Donald W. Murphy was appointed deputy director of the National Park Service in September 2001. He assists in managing 385 national park units covering approximately 84 million acres, more than 23,000 employees, and a total budget of over $2.3 billion. Preserving and protecting wildlife and its habitat, along with treasured cultural resources is the focus of Murphy’s work at the National Park Service.

Mr. Murphy represents the U.S. National Park Service on the World Heritage Committee. He has signed bi-lateral agreements on behalf of the U.S. government with the countries of China, Gabon, Cambodia, Mexico, Brazil and Oatar to provide technical assistance on park and protected area management.

He served for seven years as the director of California State Parks, the nation’s largest and most diverse state park system. He began his career as a California state park ranger, serving in various capacities including the superintendent of the parks along the Big Sur coast where he partnered with the Ventana Wilderness Sanctuary to (VWS) establish a bird banding and youth education center at Andrew Molera State Park. Later, as director, he traveled to Alaska with the VWS to collect eaglets to repopulate the Ventana Wilderness.

A strong leader and active fund raiser, Murphy co-founded Americans For Our Heritage and Recreation (AHR) a coalition of grass roots groups and NGO’s, to fight for full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which ultimately led to the proposed CARA legislation. Murphy is a seminar moderator at the Aspen Institute where he leads seminars on executive leadership and leading change.

Raised in Los Angeles, CA, Murphy earned a BA degree in Biology in 1975 at the University of California, San Diego. After graduating he attended graduate school in physiology and pharmacology at UC San Diego, where he served as a graduate research assistant at the world renowned Salk Institute. He later transferred to UC Irvine where he worked on his Ph.D. until hired as a ranger.

During his distinguished career Murphy has served as president of the California State Park Rangers Association, the National Association of Outdoor Recreation Liaison Officers, trustee and treasurer of the National Park Conservation Association, and trustee of the Golden Gate National Park Conservancy, and continues to serve on several other boards.

Mr. Murphy is a frequent guest on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and CSPAN where he provides expert commentary on park and protected area issues.

Murphy is married to LaRena Romrell Murphy. Their oldest daughter is a former Fulbright Fellow and worked in Botswana on human/wildlife conflicts and founder of Global Conservation Assistance. Mr. Murphy is chairman-elect of Global Conservation Assistance and will begin serving as fulltime chairman upon his retirement from the U.S. National Park Service in October 2006. Murphy is a published poet and has authored a number of articles, books, and opinion editorials. Backpacking, fishing, and golf are among his hobbies.

James Tolisano

Kinship Fellows Director
James Tolisano Eco-Development and Natural Resource Management Specialist 247 W. 15th St. Apt. 4C New York , NY 10011 212–243–1667 jim@kinshipfellows.org
Kinship Faculty

About Kinship Faculty
James Tolisano Jim Tolisano brings 25 years of professional experience in the design and implementation of biodiversity conservation projects to his new duties as Director of Kinship Conservation Fellows. He has held a wide variety of professional positions in field biology, ecological monitoring, conservation project planning and management, scientific, technical and creative writing and communications, and environmental education. Jim formerly served as an Associate Professor of Conservation Science at the College of Santa Fe where he helped create an innovative undergraduate conservation science degree program, and directed an outreach and education program for teachers and educators. Throughout his career, Jim has worked in more than 30 countries as a senior advisor on conservation projects with the World Bank, U.S.A.I.D., Inter-American Development Bank, World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, and other international, national, local, and tribal organizations, with a particular focus on integrating economic and business development measures into conservation practice. In addition to his duties as the new Director of Kinship Conservation Fellows, Jim continues to work with rural communities in West Africa assisting in their development of small businesses and land use plans to support chimpanzee conservation, and also is assisting several South American institutions to develop a methodology for stakeholder implementation of transboundary conservation programs. He has published widely in both technical and creative periodicals and books, and has lectured at many universities. Jim graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison , earned his Master of Science in forest ecology and watershed sciences at the University of Arizona and conducted doctoral research in parks, conservation science and environmental education at the University of New Mexico .