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Lara Heidel began her work in wildlife conservation as a college undergraduate in 2001 in the Bioandina Argentina Foundation´s Andean condor conservation project. She’s successful completed many projects including: the artificial incubation of eggs, raising chicks in isolation from humans, and field surveys to select release sites and locate condor roosting and breeding sites; participated in the release of captive-bred condors in three Argentine provinces and Chile, and assisted in radio-tracking the released individuals; as well as worked in the education department of the Bioandina Argentina Foundation, giving educational talks in schools in numerous parts of Argentina.
Since 2006, Lara has worked as a consultant for the Wildlife Conservation Society´s Patagonian and Andean Steppe project based in Junín de los Andes, Neuquén. She is assisting in the development and implementation of training courses for park rangers and government technicians to monitor effects of oil and mining projects on wildlife and develop appropriate mitigation actions for the companies. This is the main emerging threat in this region to species such as the guanaco and the Andean cat. Lara is also a founding member of a local conservation NGO, Conservación Patagonia where she teaches workshops on environment and conservation to schoolchildren from the ages of six to twelve.