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organization
Salviamo l’Orso is an association of volunteers working to save the Marsican bear from extinction, gathering around it all those who care about the fate of the plantigrade and its natural habitat.
board of directors & staff
Stephen Orlandini
President
Born in Naples in 1955, he studied and lived in Pescara, Rome and Milan. A lifelong nature enthusiast, he is professionally involved in industrial project management. Loves hiking in the mountains, good food and dogs. He strongly wanted the creation of the Association because he believes that continuous prodding and monitoring of institutions is necessary and thinks that volunteers can play an important role in safeguarding the Marsican brown bear as well as similar experiences around the world have already shown.
Luca Tomei
Vice President
Born in Sora (FR) in 1978, a lifelong nature and animal lover, he graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in the city of Pisa in 2005. He began work in the field of pet medicine and surgery early on. In 2010, back in Sora, he worked for a few years with a local veterinary clinic and, driven by his passion for animals and environmental protection, attended several courses on wildlife and the Marsican brown bear. Since 2016 he has been a member of Salviamo l’Orso, which he joined in order to actively contribute to the conservation of the Marsican brown bear, a treasure of our mountains and the heritage of all, becoming the association’s referring Veterinary Physician in Abruzzo and Lazio. He has collaborated and still collaborates with the Veterinary Service of the Abruzzo Lazio and Molise National Park and several Abruzzo Nature Reserves. He devotes his spare time to his dogs, hiking in the mountains, his passion for natural farming, music and photography.
Angela Tavone
General secretary
Born in Boiano (CB) in 1983, she holds a bachelor’s degree in natural science communication, a master’s degree in governance of protected natural areas and an international doctorate in landscape management and conservation. During his university career, he gained important experiences abroad, including spending six months in Vermont (USA) to further his doctoral research on rural landscape management through community engagement. Since 2011, he has been working with the DNA (National Didactics for the Environment) Network team of CURSA – University Consortium for Socioeconomic and Environmental Research – to develop and implement environmental education and interpretation projects, adult education courses and children’s educational programs on the topics of Biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, especially in protected natural areas. Always passionate about Nature and a firm believer in volunteerism as an important social resource in favor of environmental protection, she found in Salviamo l’Orso the right organization to contribute concretely to the preservation of the Marsican bear, an extraordinary animal that once also populated “her” mountains.
Siro Baliva
Councilor
Born in Celano in 1963, after graduating from the Liceo Scientifico Statale “Vitruvio Pollione” high school in Avezzano, he graduated from the University of Siena with a degree in economics and banking. He has always been passionate about nature with special attention to those mountainous areas surrounding Fucino, namely Marsica. He has collaborated with the Sirente-Velino Regional Park since its establishment in monitoring and surveillance activities as part of the Life Rupestrian Gorge Project (years 1996/98). From 2000 to 2007, following a public competition, he was an employee of Majella National Park, at the Legal Headquarters in Guardiagrele, with the role of Accounting and Heritage Manager and for which Entity, among other things, he managed the administrative-accounting part of the first Life-Camoscio Projects. He currently continues his work as a civil servant in public administration. He collaborates, as a volunteer, with various agencies and associations in the activity of safeguarding and census of Apennine wildlife, with particular regard to the most important naturalistic emergencies of his territory including, of course, first and foremost the Marsican bear.
Mario Cipollone
Advisor and project manager
Born in Pescara in 1981, he has been a graduate student in International Political Science since 2008, with study and work experience abroad. He is an up-and-coming writer from Abruzzo, with some awards and publications to his credit. The passion for nature that has accompanied him since childhood is one of the sources of inspiration for his literary production. For years he has been fighting for the preservation of the biodiversity, history and culture of his land and the Marsican brown bear, its undisputed symbol, both privately and as a contributor to various environmental associations. His desire to create a cultural movement in defense of the bear along the lines of the one that led to the establishment of the Abruzzo National Park prompted him to be among the founding members of Salviamo l’orso.
Stephen Civitarese
Councilor
Full Professor of Institutions of Public Law at the University of Chieti-Pescara and Honorary Visiting Professor at York Law School. He has taught and researched at various universities, including Glasgow Law School and the Faculty of Laws at University College of London. In October 2023 he was elected associate of Lincoln College, Oxford University. He served on the board of directors of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park Authority from 2007 to 2012 and on the national board of WWF-Italy from 2008 to 2011. He is among the founding members of the Abruzzo Institute for Protected Areas.
Maximilian De Persiis
Councilor
Maximilian first crossed paths with “Tata Urze” back in 1985, in what was and is his favorite amusement park, the Ernici Mountains. The recondite hope of repeating that fleeting encounter led him to travel the length and breadth of much of the central Apennines. The wealth of knowledge and skills he acquired during this never exhausting quest is an indispensable part of his knowledge. And although vicissitudes have led him to take a career path that apparently has nothing to do with that world-he is a nurse working in the oncology field-unbelievably some of the things he learned in the woods today have proven useful in the fulfillment of his duty. For this and a thousand other reasons, he is grateful to “Nanny Urze.”
Catherine Palombo
Councilor
A graduate in Forestry and Environmental Science and Technology, I earned a Ph.D. studying the effects of climate and land use changes on high-altitude ecosystems in the Central Apennines. Since 2018, I have been a consultant for sustainable forest management, including under the FSC® and PEFC™ schemes, and support public and private entities in forest planning aimed at improving ecosystems and the services they produce. A member of ETICAE-Stewardship in Action, I work on stakeholder engagement and participatory processes in order to raise awareness of sustainability and biodiversity conservation among local actors and various stakeholders. Skills that I put at the service of Save the Bear to promote and implement land stewardship.
Marta Trobitz
Councilor
Born in Rome in 1986, she holds a degree in Animal Protection and Welfare from Teramo’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. He has always loved nature and its inhabitants. From an early age, contact with “her” mountains and the animal kingdom has been strong, deep and sincere. After working in the clinical veterinary field, he became an AIGAE Abruzzo Environmental Hiking Guide. Collaborates with Sirente Velino Park as a Coornata Guide in the Life Coornata project for the protection of the Apennine chamois. He has carried out small environmental education projects for some municipalities and small entities in Marsica. A volunteer wildlife censor and children’s entertainer, she enjoys writing fairy tales, painting and engaging in handicrafts. One of his greatest desires is to protect, make known and respect all life, even the smallest. Strongly believes in bear protection and preservation as a voluntary, joint and cohesive action.
Serena Frau
Volunteer coordinator and field activities manager
Born in Bergamo in 1994, she graduated in Biology and Nature Conservation from the University of Parma. Passionate about nature and the animal world since childhood, she worked as a field technician in Sardinia and as an environmental educator at Gran Paradiso National Park. In 2021, he begins a period of volunteer work in the central Apennines. She has not left since that time. For the association, she is responsible for coordinating the volunteer program, writing projects to fund actions, and organizing events to raise awareness of the issue of coexistence.
Regional Representatives
In order to be more efficient in the implementation of actions and projects throughout the Marsican brown bear territory identified by PATOM, the association decided to appoint 5 regional contact persons.
Abruzzo
Stephen Orlandini
abruzzo@salviamolorso.it
Latium
Luca Tomei
lazio@salviamolorso.it
Brands
Stefania Servili
marche@salviamolorso.it
Molise
Catherine Palombo
molise@salviamolorso.it
Umbria
Daniele Valfrè
umbria@salviamolorso.it
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Association for the Conservation of the Marsican Brown Bear ONLUS
Olive Park Street, 11
65015 Montesilvano (PE)
Italy
VAT NUMBER: 02189990688
CF: 91117950682
MAIL: info@salviamolorso.it
PEC: ass.salviamolorso@pec.it
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