Rob Ament leads the Center’s efforts in advancing the protection of wildlife corridors and ecological connectivity, drawing on over 30 years of experience in ecology, natural resource management, and environmental advocacy. He seeks to develop wildlife-friendly international and national policies and test their effectiveness at the landscape level. Rob splits his time with Montana State University, where he is the Road Ecology Program Manager for the Western Transportation Institute. He leads a group of research ecologists and engineers to provide solutions that reduce the ecological impacts of transport infrastructure on nature, both in the U.S. and internationally.
He is an active member of IUCN’s Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group (CCSG) where he co-authored their recent guidelines on connectivity conservation. Mr Ament co-chairs their Transport Working Group (CCSG-TWG) and is leading the development of an IUCN technical report on transport guidance that, in part, addresses mortality and the barrier effect to wildlife movement caused by linear infrastructure. He also co-chairs the Asian Elephant Transport Working Group which is a joint effort between the CCSG-TWG and the IUCN’s Asian Elephant Specialist Group.
In September (2021) he completed USAID’s Linear Infrastructure Safeguards in Asia (LISA) Project as its Project Manager. Rob recently helped launch for the Asia Bureau of USAID, its 4-year Strengthening Natural Resources Safeguards (SNRS) Project; he is its Linear Infrastructure Ecology Director.