What is MARS?
The MARS Preservation Fund, Inc is a non-profit 501(C)(3) organization that is dedicated to education, the promotion of captive breeding of reptiles and amphibians, and the protection of critical habitats through land purchase.
Our main fundraiser is the annual Mid-Atlantic Reptile Show (the "MARS" in MARS Preservation Fund). All proceeds from the Mid-Atlantic Reptile Show and its corresponding Benefit Auction are used to purchase and protect rainforest habitat in Costa Rica. We have purchased and protected almost 3,000 acres of rainforest by adding protected land to Costa Rica’s National Park System so far!
The Mid-Atlantic Reptile Show takes place annually in Timonium, Maryland (just north of Baltimore) and will be held this year on September 18th and 19th, 2010. This will be our 18th year!
Who is Tim Hoen?
Tim Hoen is the Founder of The Mid-Atlantic Reptile Show and MARS Preservation Fund, Inc.
He is a herpetologist who has been studying reptiles and amphibians for the greater part of five decades. He is currently the President (1993- present) of the Maryland Herpetological Society and a member of The Chesapeake Terrapin Alliance, The World Chelonian Trust, and The Asian Turtle and Tortoise Consortium.
In 1974, Tim collaborated on the Herpetological Survey of Maryland by collecting data, identifying specimens and compiling locality data for all of the reptiles and amphibians of Maryland. He has been a Board Member Trustee of the Natural History Society of Maryland since 1991.
In 1993 he helped organize the first Reptile Breeding and Possession Laws in the State of Maryland. In 2001, he was appointed by the governor for the Diamondback Terrapin Task Force of Maryland to assess the commercial take and conservation of the species. In 2002 and 2003 Mr. Hoen wrote Maryland House Bill #1107 which was subsequently passed by unanimous vote in the Senate. House Bill #1107 allows possession and breeding of endangered chelonians, with the authorization of a Permit granted by Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, which helped stopped the legal killing of endangered chelonians. He also helped to successfully pass Maryland Senate Bill 532 and House Bill 760 in 2007 for the closure to the unsustainable commercial harvest of the Diamondback Terrapin Fishery in the Chesapeake Bay.
He is listed with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Virginia Department of Natural Resources and Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control as a Qualified and Approved Endangered Bog Turtle Surveyor and approved surveyor for other endangered reptiles and amphibians as well.
Tim has organized various events through The MARS Preservation Fund, a nonprofit organization specifically formed to raise funds to purchase critical habitats worldwide. Through contractual agreements with The Nature Conservancy, The MARS Preservation Fund has purchased and protected in perpetuity over 2,960 acres of rainforest to date.
Tim Hoen can be contacted at marsshow@gmail.com
