Renowned conservationist Tim Coles came to Jefferson today during eighth period to present Operation Wallacea, a conservation project that operates in 11 countries worldwide.

The main purpose of the program is to secure funding for the protection areas that are very biologically diverse. The project will become open to Jefferson students in 2014.

Students that participate in the project will go to Indonesia for a total of three weeks. One week will be spent in the tropical rainforest on Buton Island for collecting data in relation to the various endemic bird and primate species there.

The second and third weeks will be spent at the Wakatobi coral reefs, the most biologically diverse reefs in the world, learning how to scuba dive and collect data on fish and coral species there.

“I am interested in going to the project because it is relating to a field that I want to go into in college and potentially for my career,” junior Madeline Reinsel said. “It really is a great research opportunity.”