Louis W. Porras ventured into the publishing business in 1995. As a member of Canyonlands Publishing Group, LC, he was involved with the publication of Pythons of Australia (by Brian A. Kend) and also served as the Managing Director of Fauna magazine; he later became the Editorial Director of Fauna (through Fauna, Inc.). In 2002 he and founded Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC, to specialize in producing high-quality books in the biological sciences. Six widely acclaimed books (Biology of the Vipers [2002], Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding — The Art of Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen [2006], Biology of the Boas and Pythons [2007], Amphibians, Reptiles, and Turtles in Kansas [2010], Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles [2010]), and Amphibians and Reptiles of San Luis Potosí (2013) are testament to his commitment for achieving the highest standards in modern publishing. In 2014 Louis launched the electronic journal Mesoamerican Herpetology, and served as the Publisher and Managing Editor; in 2018, after publishing 15 issues, the journal was suspended. Currently, Louis is looking for viable options for its continuation.
A graduate of what today is known as Miami-Dade College, where he studied under the late Albert Schwartz, Louis has authored or co-authored over 60 papers in academic herpetology. His contributions include the descriptions of new species (and the elevation of others to species status), and an important booklet entitled The Ecological Impact of Man on the South Florida Herpetofauna, published by the University of Kansas and sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund. A native of Costa Rica, in 2004 he translated Serpientes de Costa Rica /Snakes of Costa Rica (by Alejandro Solórzano) from Spanish to English. Two reptiles, a gecko from the Ragged Islands and a pitviper from Costa Rica have been named in his honor.
For many years Louis was intimately involved with herpetoculture (through The Shed, Miami, Florida, and Zooherp, Inc., Sandy, Utah), and also worked at two zoos (Houston Zoological Gardens, Utah's Hogle Zoo). He also served as Vice-President President of the International Herpetological Symposium, Inc. (IHS), through which he was instrumental in launching the journal Herpetological Natural History and also helped in publishing the book Advances in Herpetoculture. In honor of his lifelong achievements, in 2015 IHS initiated the “Louie Porras Award,” which is presented to the speaker at the annual meeting whose work represents exceptional accomplishments that benefit herpetological conservation.
