Current Co- Chairs

Hunter Lampreau

Hunter Lampreau is a member of the Secwepemc nation, Simpcw on his father’s side and Neskonlith on his mother’s side. Hunter is currently going to Thompson Rivers University working towards a Bachelor of Arts in Geography & Environmental Studies and is set to graduate in Winter 2020. From his mother’s side, his kye7e or grandmother Mary Thomas Sr. gave him his traditional name of Peyecw7, meaning provider for his own. Growing up, Hunter spent time on the traditional territories of both sides of his family, and the ecologically diverse ancestral territory of these communities has given him the ability to connect to a vast landscape that has seen various impacts to wildlife & their habitat.

Connecting to these territories as an avid hunter, fisher, forager, and geology nerd has nurtured Hunter’s passion to conserve either untouched, or heavily impacted ancestral lands and their inhabitants and has led him to an interest in environmental policy. Hunter currently works as the Wildlife Strategic Coordinator for Qwelminte Secwepemc.

Alongside this, he has been participating in the BC-FN Wildlife Forum since its initiation. This combined exposure has helped Hunter to rapidly build experience while Walking on Two Legs to best respect and work with both the western world & Indigenous world in wildlife conservation work.

Mariana Nagy-Reis

Mariana is passionate about animals, nature, and ancestral ways of knowing. She has dedicated her life to wildlife and habitat stewardship. Growing up, Mariana was the youngest Latin American member in many environmental non-profit organizations. Into adulthood, she studied biological sciences and comparative psychology, and holds a master’s and a PhD in Ecology. She spent many days in the tropical forests of Brazil observing and learning directly from the animals and the land. She moved to Canada in 2017, when she started her post-doctorate in wildlife and habitat management at the University of Alberta, where she also worked as a caribou specialist. Mariana has been cultivating close relationships with First Nations in British Columbia since 2020, when she joined the Province as a wildlife habitat specialist. Currently, as the North Area Lead for Together for Wildlife, she has been supporting the development of more inclusive governance structures that weave western and Indigenous worldviews for wildlife and habitat stewardship. When not at work, Mariana is out in her yard or in the woods with her true guides, her animals and plants. As the Provincial co-chair of the First Nations – BC Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Forum, Mariana is excited with continuing to work across divisions and ministries to bring to life the Forum’s vision of thriving wildlife and habitat in British Columbia, meaningfully respected Indigenous rights and responsibilities and title, and cooperative relationships.

Alternate Co-Chair

Purnima Govindarajulu

Purnima Govindarajulu was born in India where she honed her interest in herpetofauna at the Madras Snake Park and then the Madras Crocodile Bank. Her formal education in ecology commenced after migrating to Canada in 1986. She obtained a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from McGill University and then her Ph.D. from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. From 2007 to 2018, she was the provincial herpetofauna specialist for the Ministry of Environment in British Columbia. Her work focused on recovery of endangered herpetofauna, studying and implementing policies to minimize transmission of emerging diseases such as Chytridiomycosis, assessing threats to amphibian populations and prioritizing mitigation actions to reduce the high priority threats such as road mortality, and working with graduate students to address knowledge gaps constraining amphibian conservation in British Columbia. Currently, Purnima is Unit Head of the Species Conservation Science Unit where she takes the many years of experience working as a conservation biologist to support and empower a team of passionate and dedicated provincial taxonomic specialists. Since 2018, Purnima is the British Columbia jurisdictional member for terrestrial species (which includes amphibians) on the national Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and a member on the Amphibian and Reptile Species Specialist Committee working on assessing the conservation status of wildlife in Canada. Purnima is also adjunct professor at the School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria and leads the Haliburton Urban Biodiversity (HUB) project as a volunteer. In addition to being passionate about environmental conservation she is involved in social justice issues especially in mitigating and preventing sexual trauma to women and children in India.