Environmental Sustainability Impact Careers Presents a Conversation with Richard Pritzlaff

Wednesday, May 29, 2024
5:00 PM to 5:30 PM Pacific (Arizona Time)

Join us in conversation with Prescott Alum, Richard Pritzlaff who is the founder of the Biophilia Foundation, an organization that advances biodiversity on private lands. Learn about Richard’s career path, his insights on environmental sustainability careers, and his extensive work in generative economies. Join us and bring your questions!

A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Richard Pritzlaff grew up in the then desert open spaces on the slopes of Camelback Mountain. There were lizards to chase, snakes to play with and snakes to avoid, coyotes, javelinas, and the last mountain lions on Camelback Mountain. It was these early experiences that set Richard on a path to work as a conservation biologist dedicated to enhancing and protecting wildlife and wildlife habitat. In particular, from 1993 to 2002, Richard raised funds and helped to manage many wildlife habitat restoration and conservation projects while working for Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage. During the mid-1990’s he substantially initiated the Maryland Department of Environment’s Water Quality Linked-Deposit Loan Program through a demonstration project funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He was also appointed by the Governor to the Maryland Wetlands Restoration Steering Committee; the committee was charged with guiding the State’s efforts to restore 60,000 acres of wetlands. In 2002 and 2003, he was a Project Manager for the Trust for Public Land. Since 2004 he has been the full time President of the Biophilia Foundation.

Richard earned a PhD from Prescott College, a M.S. degree in Environmental Sciences and Policy from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.S. in Engineering Science from Vanderbilt University. In addition to the Biophilia Foundation he was the Managing Partner of Borderland Restoration L3C, responsible for monetizing enhanced ecosystem services provided through watershed restoration activities.

Richard has served on the board of directors of Wildlands Network and Defenders of Wildlife. He has been the past Treasurer of the Hummingbird Monitoring Network Board; served on the Board of the University of Maryland’s Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology; a former Board member of the Ploughshares Fund, and a past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Shipboard Education, which operates the Semester at Sea program in academic partnership with the University of Virginia.

When not on Biophilia Foundation project work, he can be found in Boulder, Colorado, and has been known to wander the slot canyons of Southern Utah.