About Us

The Conservation Department works to conserve Ascension’s natural heritage by implementing the Government’s commitments under the Ascension Environment Charter. We are currently designing and implementing the first National Biodiversity Action Plan for Ascension Island, which will guide much of our work for the coming years. More information about this can be found here.

Background

The Conservation Department was set up in 2001 when a Conservation Officer was recruited as part of the Seabird Restoration Project. Staff numbers have increased since then and there are now eleven full time staff employed both by the Government and by project grants from e.g. the Darwin Initiative, OTEP and JNCC. The full time team is also supported by volunteers who kindly give up their time to assist with practical conservation work, and other scientists such as MSc students that carry out their research projects in the department.

For more information about some of our past, present and aspirations for future projects, please see here.

Conservation Staff

• Conservation Officer – Stedson Stroud MBE
• Assistant Conservation Officer – Jolene Sim
• Conservation Assistant – Natasha Williams
• RSPB Seabird Restoration Project Fieldworker – Nathan Fowler
• Darwin Post-doctoral Research Fellows – Dr Nicola Weber and Dr Sam Weber
• OTEP Plant Restoration Project – Catherine Supple and Liza White
• JNCC Marratia Restoration Project – Charlie Dooley & Nickie Andrews

Collaborators

We currently collaborate with various local, regional and international organisations:

Local

• Ascension Island Heritage Society
• CSR Environment Section
• RAF Movers

Regional

• St. Helena National Trust
• St. Helena Government Environmental Management Directorate
• Falklands Conservation
• Tristan da Cunha Government Conservation
• South Atlantic Environment Research Institute

International

• Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
• Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
• Natural History Museum, London
• Joint Nature Conservation Committee
• Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh
• Marine Turtle Research Group
• University of Exeter
• UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum
• Army Ornithological Society

We are always looking to develop new partnerships to further the practical conservation and research work that we carry out on Ascension Island. If you are interested in carrying out a collaborative project with our team then please feel free to get in touch (conservationenquiries@ascension.gov.ac)!