Zach Palma

Zach PalmaMexico Program Manager

Pronouns: He/Him/Él 

Zach, our Mexico Program Manager, started at Sky Island Alliance in January 2022 to continue and extend our mission into the Sky Islands of Sonora, Mexico. Zach manages projects in Mexico, stewards and fosters a cultural understand between people who live in Sonora’s unique and biodiverse ecosystems, and helps support our Sonoran staff.

Zach has an educational background rooted in the sciences. In Minnesota, he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology along the Mississippi River before taking on the role of educator and focusing on rural agricultural lifestyles and environmental conservation. Zach spent half a year training in social justice and permaculture in Ecuador, and later joined the Peace Corps as an Agricultural Extensionist in rural Paraguay. Zach then returned stateside wearing the “green and grey” as an educator working for the National Park Service — first on Lake Superior and then in the borderlands of the Madrean Sky Islands.

Over the next 30 years, Zach hopes the Sky Island region will be seen and valued for its true richness in diversity, both ecologically and culturally. This means not only the “crazy biologists” exploring the rugged mountains on either side of the border — but also a community-wide appreciation, understanding, and value of the great ecological community we are all a part of.

Zach lives on a growing homestead with his family just outside of Bisbee, Arizona. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, camping, downhill skateboarding, traveling to Latin America, and focusing on permaculture education.

Learn more about Zach and his favorite wildlife experience in this fun staff highlight.

Email: [email protected]