HM: Who are you and what is your background in herps personally and professionally?
JE: My name is Justin and my professional and personal interest in Herpetology overlaps a bit. I maintain a personal collection of Pantherophis species and terrestrial salamanders at home, having temperature-controlled rooms for each. For years, I worked for one of the larger university herp labs in the Midwest, focusing mostly on the amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) throughout the Eastern United States. I spent most of this time documenting the historical distribution of chytrid and mapping its spread over the country. My day job is at a major Zoo’s Herpetology Department working with endangered species and educating the public about these animals and the challenges their wild counterparts face. This position has given me the opportunity to conduct field research all over the world. I travel far and wide professionally and personally to photograph, study, and observe herps in the wild. Wild herp conservation is the most important thing in the world to me, to the point where it is my day job and my side gig.
HM: What is the Highlands & Islands Conservatory and what is your involvement in it?
JE: We are an organization dedicated to the research and conservation of rare and endangered herp species and their habitat around the world. By collaborating with biologists in various countries, we are working towards not only having a better understanding of these animals but giving them better opportunities for survival. The work we do is multifaceted, there is a field research component, but we also sponsor educational outreach in countries we are working in as well as here in the states. We are primarily focused on the herps of montane (highland) and insular (island) habitats as these animals are often endemic, evolutionarily important, and vulnerable to extinction. I am the founder of the organization and do all the not fun parts involved with it (paperwork, finances, legal stuff, planning trips, etc.) as well as general operations. I have a great group of friends and colleagues that help with the data/research side of things, social media, field work, and leading our public expeditions.
Along with a background in herpetology and field conservation I have experience in the music world. I was in touring metal and hardcore bands when I was younger and learned about the business and DIY ethic that is so important for the punk and metal scene. When starting H&I I brought much of this mind set with me. From whom I brought on to help the organization, to how we conduct our meetings, to even our merch. If you look at the merch we sell, it intentionally looks like something a doom metal band would slap on a shirt. The difference is when we sell a shirt the proceeds go towards our research and conservation initiatives of endangered species. I’m an adult now (in scene years I’m an old man) and am not involved in music scene at all but the DIY mentality of doing something bigger then yourself on your own terms is still very important to me. The short and sweet version of H&I is a group of biologists and field herpers deciding to do something beneficial for the animals they love. We all have day jobs based in Herpetology, but this is our own collective and collaborative effort.
HM: Does the location focus change over time like a shift from the Americas to an Asian country or is the plan to stick to what is being focused on now?
JE: We have various initiatives that are our main focus, and then others that we are helping to fund via grants and consulting. So, for example, one of our main projects working in Guatemala is not going away any time soon. I cannot imagine that there will ever be a day that we have learned everything there is to know and done everything we can about these animals. We will be working in Guatemala as long as our colleagues there will have us. We have an initiative in Jamaica, but Covid-19 has kept us from making progress there, so hopefully in the next year or so we can continue plans with this.
We have offered some small research grants to a facility in Ecuador doing some cool pit viper work as well as one of our own doing a project with rock rattlesnakes for his PhD dissertation. These small grants will change as time goes on and we meet more folks we want to help and collaborate with, but the initiatives are here to stay as long as our international friends are willing to work with us. The initiatives as of now are the Guatemala Pit viper Conservation Initiative (involving a population monitoring and ecology study on Bothriechis aurifer, as well as general surveying/data collection and a localized public education component) and then the Jamaican Boa and Crocodile Initiative (Which will be helping Jamaican biologists with nuisance crocodile removals as well as local outreach initiatives with Jamaican Boas). Again, the Jamaica initiative is still in its infancy and we hope to move forward post-covid.
HM: Are there specific species or a genus in particular that the conservatory aims to help?
JE: All of us are fond of vipers so these get the brute of our attention, our main project right now is working with our Guatemalan friends on a study looking into population dynamics and spatial ecology of yellow-blotched Palm-Pit Vipers (Bothriechis aurifer). This species is the flagship species for the organization though we are potentially interested in other palm viper species as well, but we would like to make a great impact with this species before moving onto another. Our Jamaica project will be geared towards American crocodiles in Jamaica (currently considered Crocodylus acutus) and Jamaican boas (Chilabothrus subflavus). We have helped with a variety of other projects and offered grants to researchers so these species would include toad head viper species (Bothrocophias sp.), South American bushmasters (Lachesis muta), banded rock rattlesnakes (Crotalus lepidus klauberi), and others.
HM: What is the plan for H&I in the near and distant future?
JE: Continuing our established projects and expanding them, getting more publications out, and learning more about these animals is the short and sweet answer to this question. We want to learn and do as much as we can to help these animals in the wild. The potential to offer a few more small grants is there, as well as potentially starting one more initiative. I have something I am working on right now that I’m ridiculously excited about as it combines my obsession with old word vipers and non-herp things, but we’ll keep that quiet until things are finalized. We are venturing into ecotourism as a way to show interested people these animals as well as raise funding for our projects. We are looking to do tours in countries we do work in as well as those we do not. The tours in countries we do not have a project in will still have a portion of the funds raised donated to a conservation or research group in the particular country. So, for example, if a tour is in Costa Rica a portion of your fee for the trip will go towards a project in Costa Rica even though we aren’t doing anything there. Our Guatemala trips will raise money for our project there. Other than this I am sure we will have more merch out soon to raise some money as well as an online auction.
I am involved in the local herpetology club here in St. Louis and with their help we put on an event last year called “Ales for Scales”, which was a great fundraiser. We raised a significant amount of money for the aurifer project with this event. It was a combination of a small herp conference, a happy hour, and a benefit. It was held at a local brewery here in the city, Mike Pingleton came and gave a talk on his experiences herping in Cuba, I presented on our work with aurifer, and we had a live auction. I would love to do these in a post-covid world, we’ve talked about doing an online event but I just don’t see these generating much money especially since everyone is so broke right now. We may do a couple online happy hour/Q & A style events just to keep people interested and give folks an opportunity to do something as everyone is stuck at the moment. A few years down the road I would like to do Ales for Scales type events in more places across the country, namely the East coast and Texas as our crew lives in these areas. Or events to coincide with other herp events.
HM: How can people get involved?
JE: The easiest way people can get involved is give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Instagram. I hate social media, and I fought it for a long time as far as using it for H&I. We compromised and only use it for things we feel are important or accomplishments. If anyone is interested in us and the herps we work, go follow us on those platforms. Buying our merch is a great way to get a quality product that helps us out as well. If you are interested in seeing wild herps in wild locations, get in touch about our ecotour expeditions. We have Costa Rica, Guatemala, and a few other places lined up and we would love to have you on board. These trips are for people who do not have much experience herping or traveling internationally as well as die hard herp wander lusters. We are trying to make sure everything is as easy for our clients as possible and we want to find as many cool species as possible. Again, this is a great way to see amazing animals with experienced field guides while helping to aid research and education.
HM: Do you think expeditions will be back on track this year? (2021)
JE: Travel and expeditions will pick up this year but still be slow. I think 2022 is when things will be back in swing as far as international work. We have a Costa Rica expedition this February that is happening, we are taking all precautions to make sure all our clients are safe and following all the guidelines put out by the Costa Rican government. This trip we will be targeting Yellow Belly Sea Snakes (Hydrophis platurus), Neotropical Rattlesnakes (Crotalus simus), two species of palm vipers, and an amazing array of other herps as well as mammals and birds. We will be doing a trip to Guatemala as well and depending on progress with the vaccine, interest, and availability of our friends down there, we may do a small public expedition. Other than that, I am planning on spending time in the Chernobyl exclusion zone in the fall to see the ruins and wildlife, we also have had so much interest in the Costa Rica expeditions we may do a second one in December 2021.
