Honoring CPALI's retiring founder Dr. Catherine Craig
- CPALI
- Jun 23
- 5 min read
Celebrating 40 years of conservation and research
Dr. Catherine ("Cay") Craig founded Conservation through Poverty Alleviation International (CPALI) in 2004. Her theory of change advanced a new approach in conservation--one centered on insects, innovation, the arts, and local leadership.
"We take a social capital approach that invests in existing networks to implement change." - Dr. Catherine Craig
In her years leading CPALI, Cay worked hand-in-hand with Malagasy insect researchers and with global textile experts to develop a new method for crafting silk from wild rainforest moths. In 2009, she helped CPALI’s partners in Madagascar establish SEPALI Madagascar (Sehatry ny Mpamokatra Landy Ifotony: the Organization of Wild Silk Producers), now a thriving local Malagasy non-profit organization. In 2020, these novel, nature-based materials became available online under the brand Tanana Madagascar.
Led by Malagasy insect specialist Mamy Ratsimbazafy, SEPALI Madagascar now actively collaborates with CPALI, led by conservationist Rachel Kramer, to design and deliver programs in natural textiles, farmer-run agroforestry, skill-building for village-based artisans, and local innovations like invasive plant-fueled biochar. These initiatives are an important part of Cay's legacy and continue to strengthen livelihoods for rural artisans, farmers and innovators who live in areas bordering rainforests. At the same time, they help make global audiences more aware of Malagasy cultural arts.
As Cay formally retires from the CPALI Board of Directors, we celebrate her legacy and look ahead to a future of continued impact.
Applying science
Equal parts academic, field biologist, and conservationist, Cay served from 1985 to 1994 on the biology faculty of Yale University, where she maintained a laboratory, conducted interdisciplinary research and taught courses in ecology and evolution. After receiving a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, she moved to Harvard University, where she remains a museum associate today. She is also a senior research scientist at Whitman College. A Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship (2007-2008) funded the initiation of Cay's work in Madagascar.
In 2003, Cay published an academic treatise, Spiderwebs and Silk: tracing evolution from molecules to genes to phenotypes (Oxford University Press), which summarized her previous research and future directions for the field. She collaborated with writer Leslie Brunetta to explain to non-biologists those evolutionary themes and how natural selection works in Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating (2010 Yale University Press).
Cay holds a PhD in Ecology and Evolution from Cornell University, an MA in Zoology from the University of California at Berkeley, and an AB in Human Biology from Stanford University.
New vision
Cay established CPALI after reviewing the efforts of other global conservation organizations and determining them to be at once essential and insufficient. These efforts often failed to actively engage local populations in ways that delivered direct economic benefits from the conservation of disappearing species and their habitats. With her background in farming (she grew up on a citrus farm in California) and deep knowledge of the evolution of silks, Cay set her sights on Madagascar as a prime location to research species of wild, native silk moths that could be candidates for sericulture (wild silk farming) that might generate income for subsistence farmers living just beyond national parks and protected areas.
Cay began this task by extensively researching which wild silkworms were the most economically viable in the island's remote rainforest region and then exploring their ecology. She worked with Mamy Ratsimbazafy to develop a process, whereby farmers learned to collect, conserve, and sell wild cocoons that are then passed on to local artisans trained by global artists to create wild silk textiles. These unique textiles have earned verified Fair Trade and Certified Wildlife Friendly seals.
Through grants and philanthropic giving, and with committed local Malagasy partnership, Cay's initiative survived the challenges of the political coup of 2009 and the global Covid pandemic. By cultivating deep relationships over the decades--including with CPALI's current Board Chair, social mobilizer Petra Silton--she spearheaded a solid succession plan that is already bearing additional benefits for SEPALI Madagascar and human-centered conservation in Madagascar.
Honoring Cay's legacy
CPALI is proud to announce that our Board of Directors has created a special giving category in honor of Cay's retirement, and the retirement of her husband, long-time CPALI champion and Treasurer, Dr. Robert ("Bob") Weber.
Generous friends have pledged a $15,500 matching gift for donations made in honor of Cay and Bob. You can designate your own special gift* or legacy gift, of any amount, to support CPALI in perpetuity. These gifts go directly into CPALI's endowment.
*Please consider making your gift to honor Cay and Bob as an additional way to support our work, since we rely on your annual gift for our upcoming year’s budget and operations.
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How to contribute
To provide a special gift or pledge in honor of Dr. Catherine Craig and Dr. Robert Weber, you can give directly through one of these channels.
Alternatively, you can write a check to “CPALI.” Please include “Cay and Bob fund" in the memo section and/or on an attached note/letter and mail it to:
CPALI
4 Eldon Ct.
Rockville, MD 20850
If you wish to make a legacy gift commitment to honor Cay and Bob, please contact Rachel Kramer, CPALI's Executive Director, or fill out the form below and mail it to the address attached.
If you have questions about this giving opportunity, please contact CPALI.
Thank you.
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