In 1986, after earning a B.S. in Zoology, Wally volunteered to assist conservation biologists in Kenya, East Africa. Eventually, Wally returned to the States to earn an M.S. in Zoology and develop methods of estimating mountain lion populations in Utah. Soon after, he headed for Australia, and then Belize, again volunteering to assist conservation biologists. He was deeply impressed by the importance of “front lines” work being done in tropical rainforests by Third World biologists, whose poor countries could not equip them with even the most basic tools they needed to do their jobs. Thanks to Wally’s efforts in building IDEA WILD, conservation biologists charged with studying some of the earth’s greatest treasuries of biodiversity are finally receiving some of the funds and tools that they need.