GOSLINER & BURKE: FROM PARACHUTES TO PARTNERSHIPS 
25 
area. This was a critical turning point in being able to achieve the kind of integration of science, 
education, and conservation impact that we had been hoping for, since Pusod provided the local 
expertise and connections we knew we would need. The Academy and Pusod now share a Memo¬ 
randum of Understanding (MOU) to advance coral reef conservation, education, and research in 
the Philippines. 
The future expedition also benefited from the connections and efforts of one of our most com¬ 
mitted REEF members, Susan Po-Rufmo, who personally knew the then-president of UP, Emerlin- 
da Roman. President Roman was enthusiastic about expanding Academy interactions and collabo¬ 
rations to other areas of UP beyond our existing relationship with the Marine Science Institute, and 
helped facilitate the signing of the MOU between the Academy and UP. 
Communities and networks 
Between 2006-2009, the Water is Life grant allowed the authors and several Aquarium staff 
members, a graduate student, and another science educator to travel to the Philippines three times 
for the combination of research, educational outreach, and animal husbandry work that were the 
forerunners of the 2011 expedition. During this time we also began a connection with the Philip¬ 
pine Consulate in San Francisco, which involved the Academy in community events sponsored by 
the Consulate and vice versa. In planning the 2011 expedition, both the Consulate and Pusod pro¬ 
vided invaluable logistical support, and Mary Lou Salcedo became the expedition project manag¬ 
er. 
By the fall of 2010 it was clear that we would need to make one or two planning and permit 
acquisition trips prior to the actual expedition. We already had significant recent experience with 
securing permits and conducting shallow-water fieldwork in the Batangas area. Our relationship 
with BFAR facilitated our being able to charter their research vessel for the expedition, so we could 
include a deep-sea suivey of the biota in the Verde Island Passage at the southern end of Luzon 
Island. Pusod already had contacts with most of the key players in the conservation arena and reg¬ 
ulatory agencies, so it helped coordinate local educational and resource management contacts that 
were critical to establishing community partnerships and educational outreach, and to securing per¬ 
mits. We had no equivalent recent experience in developing the terrestrial component of the expe¬ 
dition and were not as certain how to start making necessary connections and obtaining pennits. 
Fortunately, serendipity struck again. Gosliner was in Chicago in September 2010 to give two 
presentations about Philippine biodiversity to the Chicago Shell Club and the Shedd Aquarium. He 
found himself in a conversation with Larry Heaney, a Field Museum mammalogist, who has been 
working in the Philippines for many years and has discovered dozens of new Philippine mammals. 
Heaney dropped everything to provide great insight on the specifics of conducting ten'estrial expe¬ 
ditions in the Philippines and suggested key folks to meet in Manila as well as some potential sites 
to explore. 
The authors and Academy botanist Peter Fritsch made the first planning trip to the Philippines 
in September-October 2010, and serendipity intervened once again. While we were heading to 
Manila, Susan Po-Rufino was on another flight to Manila and met the UP Vice Chancellor for 
Research and Development. He suggested we connect with Perry Ong, the director of UP’s Insti¬ 
tute of Biology and one of the leading terrestrial biologists in the Philippines. Other gi'eat connec¬ 
tions were made by Pusod’s fonner executive director and cuiTent board member, Ipat Lima, one 
of the Philippines’s preeminent environmental attorneys. She set up an appointment for us with 
Mundita Lim, the director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) of the Department 
of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to discuss the permit process for conducting 
