Conservancy Staff

Christy Fischer
Executive Director

tel 831-626-8595, ext. 100
fax 831-626-8522
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Christina Fischer is a native of California's Central Coast with over 25 years of conservation and natural lands restoration experience. Before coming to the Santa Lucia Conservancy in September 2011, Christy spent eleven years with The Nature Conservancy in policy and land conservation. For the past seven years, she served as Central Coast Project Director and was responsible for all of TNC's land protection and partnership efforts in the Monterey Bay region. In that position, she recently received state and national awards for leading collaborative conservation efforts with private landowners to permanently protect over 23,000 acres of land and 10 miles of rivers and streams, and working with Salinas Valley farming interests to ensure new federal agricultural policies protect biodiversity. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is an alumna of the California Agricultural Leadership Program, a two-year fellowship

Christopher Hauser
Plant Ecologist

tel 831-626-8595, ext. 103
fax 831-626-8522
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Christopher Hauser is a plant biologist, specializing in land management, habitat restoration, invasive weed management, and prescribed fire. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and Master of Science degrees in Biochemistry and Plant Ecology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chris has over 10 years of experience in plant ecology and land management with various organizations in Illinois and California. He was previously the restoration ecologist for the Forest Preserve District in Kane County, Illinois, where he implemented restoration and management on about 8000 acres of savannas, wetlands and tallgrass prairies. He enjoys hiking, camping and gardening with his family. 

Susan Palmer
Business Manager

tel 831-626-8595, ext. 101
fax 831-626-8522
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Susan Palmer joined Santa Lucia Conservancy in July of 2012. She crossed "the pond" from the UK in 1989 with a degree in Accounting from Leicester University, and has held various senior accounting and human resources roles in the entertainment and motion picture industries over the past 15 years. Most recently Susan was Director of Human Resources and Risk Management for a multi-national group of companies in Southern California where she was responsible for establishing the companies' first full service Human Resources department. Her love of nature and outdoor activities brings her to Monterey County where she enjoys spending her leisure time bike riding and hiking the local trails. Susan also volunteers her time to support the Pacific Grove Natural History Museum. 

Christopher R. Wilson
Director of Conservation Science

tel 831-626-8595, ext. 102
fax 831-626-8522
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Chris Wilson is a conservation scientist specializing in strategic land protection for biodiversity, adaptive land management, and the inventory and monitoring of non-game wildlife, particularly birds, amphibians, and reptiles. He was previously the Director of Stewardship and Science for the Sweet Water Trust, a grant making philanthropy and land trust working to protect priority wildlands across Northern New England. He also served as the first Conservation Biologist for the North American Land Trust where he conducted biological inventories in support of land protection projects and managed conservation properties throughout the southeastern states. He holds a B.A.&Sc in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Biology from the Evergreen State College and a M.S. in Biology from the Appalachian State University. His professional interests include the application of conservation science to the protection of biodiversity on private lands, and making such information useful and accessible to land trusts. He is the author of "Documenting and Protecting Biodiversity on Land Trust Projects: an introduction and practical guide" recently published by the Land Trust Alliance.