Angie Melendres, From Volunteer Forest Ranger to Guardian of Peru’s Forests

09/25/2025

When Angie Melendres Velasco remembers her childhood in the rural community of Segunda y Cajas, in Huancabamba, Piura, her eyes light up enthusiastically. “I’m from Sapalache, and what inspired me to become a Future Forest Ranger was my father’s passion for exploring nature. He always went to new places, like Chinguelas, and told us what he found—plants and little animals. That’s where my curiosity was born to explore and protect biodiversity,” she recalls.  

She was only 16 when she joined the Future Forest Rangers, a Nature and Culture initiative that supports youth to discover, care for, and monitor local ecosystems. Excursions with Future Forest Rangers helped strengthen her training. Angie learned to watch birds, identify species, recognize threats, and above all, to look at the forest with respect and a sense of belonging.

“Being a Future Forest Ranger taught me that our forests are a source of life and of our future; it was there that I understood that every tree and every bird is part of us,” she remembers. 

At 25, Angie has already built a wide range of experience. She volunteered at the Tumbes Mangrove National Sanctuary, where she learned about managing coastal ecosystems. Through the Women in Nature Network (WiNN Perú) project, implemented by Nodo Conservation, she received a fellowship to monitor emblematic species such as the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) and the Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus). She also earned a fellowship to study primates at the Cocha Cashu Biological Station. 

These opportunities deepened Angie’s passion for nature. Today, that passion drives her to spend hours walking through the forests and páramos of Sapalache—an ecosystem she knows like the back of her hand.

“Now I’m confident enough to venture out alone,” she says, “I can walk for hours, put my knowledge into practice, and contribute to the technical work that conservation demands.” 

Her love of nature runs in the family. Her father is a farmer, her mother an artisan and defender of ancestral knowledge. “My mom is a lover of plants and also a conservationist. She helped me choose my career in environmental engineering,” Angie explains, noting that her mother’s example as a community leader shaped her path as much as her father’s adventures did. 

One of Angie’s fondest memories is the day she got lost in the forest as a child while chasing butterflies. “I wasn’t afraid—I was curious,” she recalls. “Instead of looking for my grandfather, I climbed a big tree. From there, I could see everything around me, and it was wonderful.” That same spirit of discovery stayed with her years later, when her community, Segunda y Cajas, celebrated the creation of the Chicuate Chinguelas Private Conservation Area—a community-led protected area. With more than 66,000 acres of forest and páramo, it is one of the largest in Piura, established with technical support from Nature and Culture International and funding from World Land Trust. 

She has a deep connection to wildlife.

“My favorite species is the Neblina Metaltail hummingbird, because of its energy, joy, and the way it symbolizes freedom. It goes from flower to flower but always has a place to return to,” she says with a smile. She also dreams of one day seeing the mountain tapir, “a species that plays a vital role in our ecosystem. That’s why I work to protect its habitat—to help safeguard its home.” 

Today, Angie walks the same trails that amazed her as a child and that, as a Future Forest Ranger, she learned to value. But now she does it with a firmer conviction: to protect them forever. 

From Future Forest Ranger to Forest Defender

As an environmental engineer, Angie is now a part of the Nature and Culture team and is working in partnership with the Regional Government of Piura to establish the Andean Páramos of Huaringas Regional Conservation Area, with financial support from Andes Amazon Fund. This proposed area will connect to the Andes del Norte Corridor, which in turn connects to the larger Andean Bi-national Corridor between Peru and Ecuador—a living corridor of biodiversity, and hope. 

Angie’s journey has been one of continuous learning—starting out as a volunteer park ranger, then working as a field technician to help create a Private Conservation Area, and now contributing to the establishment of a Regional Conservation Area. Each step has built on the last, shaping her into the leader she is today.

Angie’s experience is becoming an inspiring example for students and women leaders in her community to engage in ecosystem conservation, a legacy tied to their culture and traditions. 

The curious girl who once climbed trees has grown into a young leader inspiring new generations to love and protect nature.

“I grew up seeing my community united to protect our ecosystems. Now I am the one defending them”.