Featured Scientist

Preparing to plant 350 Mesquite trees at the Palo Verde Ecological Reserve.


A 10,000 gallon water storage tank before installation.


Water storage tank, and drinker box, during installation.

Richard Francis is a wildlife habitat supervisor for CDFW’s Inland Deserts Region. He’s based in Blythe, in eastern Riverside County near the California/Arizona state line. He was raised in the city of Corona, also in Riverside County, where he graduated from high school. As a young man Richard was anxious to have a career involving the outdoors, which is how he ended up working at a ski lodge in Mammoth, before spending 25 years as a fishing guide on the Colorado River, just south of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. His love of the outdoors finally led him to CDFW in 2005 where he became a seasonal aide, then a technician, and eventually a wildlife habitat supervisor.

What does your job as a wildlife habitat supervisor entail?

I’m in charge of fish and wildlife technician seasonal aides, managing properties and making decisions on what to do with those properties. A large part of my job is creating food plots and habitat for wildlife. That means planting trees, growing food, putting in riparian habitat, and taking out invasive species and noxious weeds and replacing them with native plants and animals to create better habitat for wildlife. I have a few other duties, like habitat restoration along the Colorado River.

Much of the work we do is of direct benefit to hunters. Blythe has a good population of mule deer, and this is one of the premier white-winged and mourning dove hunting areas in the United States. We also have 60 acres of wetlands for waterfowl hunting. We plant those ponds with Japanese millet, which is basically a weed and can get up to 6 feet tall. It’s used for both waterfowl habitat and as a food source.

Why did you make the jump from being a licensed hunting and fishing guide to working for a fish and wildlife conservation agency?

It sounds kind of crazy to leave that because I really enjoyed guiding and helping people learn about hunting, fishing and conservation of our unique desert fish and wildlife, but it was time to grow up! There were some things missing in my life, like a monthly check. It’s very unusual but I’m one of few people in this work without a college degree. I believe I was hired because of my knowledge of fish and wildlife habitat, and because I have experience in the operations of farm equipment and farming practices.

Can you describe the property where your work takes place?

Our main focus is the Palo Verde Ecological Reserve. It’s farmland purchased in 2005 and consists of two units. One is north of Blythe and is approximately 1,500 acres that are planted in cottonwood and mesquite trees. Two hundred of those acres have been set aside for waterfowl and upland game bird hunting. The newest property, purchased in 2017, is approximately 400 acres of farmland, also in the Blythe area. It’s currently planted in wheat and 400 mesquite trees. The wheat will be cut weeks prior of opening of the first dove season, Sept. 1, and will be open throughout the entire upland season. Our game species include white-winged dove, mourning dove, Eurasian-collared dove, Gambel’s quail and rabbits. All are available for hunting on this property.

What’s a typical day for you?

It depends on the season. In the wintertime we irrigate duck ponds and clear the ditches of invasive species. We disc and plant wheat fields for our upland game bird program. We plant the wheat in the winter, and we irrigate and farm it like a crop, but we mow it rather than harvest it. When we mow it down, it attracts doves for dove hunting. It feeds everything – the deer love it. In the springtime we do a little bit of monitoring of the deer population and waterfowl. Monitoring in our area is done by visual surveys and game cameras placed in strategic high traffic locations. The cameras are checked on a monthly basis. Then in the summer, as the heat comes, we spend more time out in the desert. We have a series of wildlife drinkers that CDFW has installed to provide water for wildlife species in the hottest part of the year. We have to go out and do maintenance on those and make sure they’re full of water. If the water levels get low, we haul water into the desert and fill them up, and that happens all summer long.

Why is it important for CDFW to create and fix habitat, as opposed to allowing habitat to be created naturally?

It’s best to keep invasive stuff at bay, to keep areas like they were. We keep the noxious weeds out of there, and the native plants come back and the wildlife will follow. In the ’80s, the population of waterfowl (Canadian geese and duck) were in the hundreds of thousands. Then the numbers dropped off for no obvious reason. We believe they’re coming back now because we got rid of the salt cedars and phragmites (non-native reed or wetland grass) and replaced them with huge cottonwood and mesquite groves.

When the Palo Verde Ecological Reserve was established, there was a healthy population of desert mule deer living among mesquite on farmland across the river in Arizona. Now that our trees are grown, we see the deer swim back and forth to live among the mesquite, cottonwood, and giant willows that we planted. In a single day we might see 75 deer in the open and many more within the trees, where they take advantage of the cover.

What projects have you worked on that you’re the most proud of?

Installing and maintaining the wildlife drinkers is some of the hardest work I’ve done. A drinker is a 10,000 gallon underground storage tank with a drinker box connected to it. There’s a dam built uphill from the storage tank, so when it rains, the water collects and fills the storage tank. If the conditions are right in the desert, they can stay full for a long time but they often need maintenance or refilling in July or August. That’s really hard work because we sometimes need heavy equipment like excavators, up in the mountains to get it done. We have to keep a level head and work well together because it’s hot, exhausting and can be dangerous. But it’s rewarding to know the work will enable important species, like bighorn sheep and deer to survive. We also put in small-game drinkers for the birds that live in the desert.

How bad are the weather conditions?

Come July and August it will be up to 115 degrees in the desert and the humidity can make it feel like it’s 125. On those days, your time outside is very limited. You have to be finished by noon or 1 p.m. so we start at 5 a.m. or earlier, depending on what we’re doing that day. If we’re working way out in the desert checking drinkers, we might leave at 3:30 or 4 a.m. just to avoid the heat.

If you weren’t doing this – if jobs working with wildlife and the great outdoors didn’t exist – what else would you be doing?

Fishing and hunting mostly! Or maybe I’d be an executive chef at my own restaurant. It’d be a barbecue restaurant. My specialty is everything – brisket, ribs, pork butts. But I have 15 years in at CDFW. Though l can retire at 20 years, if they’ll have me I’d be happy to stay. I love this job. It’s awesome – I’m blessed.

CDFW photos. Top Photo. Richard Francis, in a wheat field at the Palo Verde Ecological Reserve. 

Shoshone pupfish habitat in the Amargosa River.


Shoshone pupfish from the Amargosa River.


Nick in the Amargosa River following green sunfish removal.

CDFW environmental scientist Nick Buckmaster works as a biologist in the Heritage and Wild Trout program. Based in Bishop (in the northern part of Inyo County), he’s far from where he grew up in San Diego County, but he couldn’t be closer to what he loves: California’s natural resources.

As a member of the team managing heritage and wild trout, Nick helps protect and restore native trout and habitats through field studies and data analysis. He initially joined CDFW six years ago to work in habitat conservation, moving over to his current assignment about a year ago. He’s a graduate of UC Davis with Bachelor’s degrees in Wildlife Fisheries Conservation and Geology. His Master’s degree is in Ecology.

Tell us about your current assignment – what to you do?

I’m the heritage and wild trout biologist for Inyo and Mono counties; which is really about managing the Eastern Sierra fisheries in a sustainable fashion. Rather than relying on stocking, we work to manage the populations to ensure good fishing into the future. That allows me to work on two different threatened trout species that occur out here – Lahontan cutthroat trout and Paiute cutthroat trout – as well as manage some of the most iconic trout fisheries anywhere in California, if not the United States. On a day-to-day basis, I could be anywhere from 11,000 feet up in the High Sierra, to the desert streams of the Owens River Valley. It’s a pretty sweet setup. When I got the job offer to come out here, I didn’t think twice. I packed up and lived out of my car for a couple of weeks, until I found a place to rent.

So you’re checking on the health of a fish in a particular body of water to make sure it’s doing well, and that tells you other fish in that area are doing well?

Fisheries monitoring can include a number of things. A lot of it can be quick reconnaissance assessments -- looking at population structure and relative weight of the fish. From there you can drill down into habitat specifics and stream production. What’s the stream temperature, are your pools deep enough, is there enough food for the fish to grow, are they growing fast enough, are they reaching the size we want? Are there other potential stressors, like drought, flood or upstream water diversions?

How did you come to decide on ecology – and fisheries, specifically – as a profession?

I grew up in a small town (Descanso) playing in the mountains and hills every day, hunting and fishing. When I took biology in high school, there was a brief section on ecology, where we talked about lakes and how the various fisheries are supported, and I was a huge fisherman when I was younger, and it just clicked. All of a sudden, fishing became a science for me. Science was something I was already passionate about. I always loved the outdoors, ecology and nature.

How do you balance the need to preserve our resources in their natural state, and the idea that we can or should take action to assist species?

One of the things I did previously out there was work a lot with pupfish in lower elevation areas. Those are species that only persist because of human intervention. The Owens pupfish was rescued by a fish and game biologist from extinction in 1969 – if he hadn’t put them in a bucket, they would have blanked out. At the end of the day, conservation always requires some measure of management.

In 1910, humans brought largemouth bass into the Owens Basin. That drove the Owens pupfish to the brink of extinction. If humans hadn’t also stepped in and removed the bass, the Owens pupfish would have been wiped out. There was a similar situation with cutthroat trout in the Walker Basin (Kern County), where a lot of the habitat had been impacted by logging in the late 1920s. The habitat still hasn’t recovered, so it’s up to us as a management agency to go in and try to take that ecosystem-based approach to restore the stream and the fishery.

Almost every habitat I’ve encountered out here has been so profoundly impacted by humans … it’s not necessarily a question of whether to intervene, but how to intervene in the most appropriate way.

Is there a particular project you’ve worked on in which you saw the results and realized you made a difference?

Last August we had green sunfish invade the Shoshone Springs on the other side of Death Valley. Springs in the desert are a lot like islands in the ocean. They’re the only habitats like them for tens or hundreds of miles. In this case, Shoshone Springs has an endemic pupfish called the Shoshone pupfish. All pupfish, at least in the desert southwest, are highly susceptible to non-native predation. These non-native predators can eliminate a pupfish population in less than six months in some cases. So in early August, we had the non-native green sunfish show up in the only known habitat for Shoshone pupfish. They had washed down from Crystal Reservoir in Nevada during a heavy rain season – typically it’s a dry riverbed. Another employee and I went out and worked in 110 degree weather, for two weeks, to remove the sunfish from the pupfish habitat. Within the course of just two weeks, we removed what can only be described as an existential threat to the Shoshone pupfish. Those efforts secured the species going forward. At the end, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more satisfied with my job.

If you had an unlimited budget and unlimited time, what project would you like to tackle?

I’d probably try to restore cutthroat trout in the Walker Basin. It’s one of the most distinct cutthroat trout on the face of the planet. They’ve been in that basin for millions of years. They’re very rare at this time, but if left to their own devices they get really large. They’re fantastic fish to catch – they’re just beautiful. I would probably put them back. We all love catching big cutthroat trout at Pyramid Lake (Nevada), and I’d like to see that in Eastern Sierra. A project like that would fit with my passions of conservation, native fish management and recreation.

Can you describe a typical day of work?

Today I’m working from home on a couple of reports involving analysis of fish population data. On a field day, I would be hiking into the high country or back country to conduct some level of fisheries assessment. Office days involve typical tasks like answering emails, data analysis or writing summary reports. To be honest, I really like the balance that I have. While it’s critical to do field work in order to collect the information necessary to make decisions as natural resources agency, it’s also important to answer emails and maintain relationships with the public, co-workers and management. If you collect all the data in the world, and don’t share it, you might as well not have collected it at all.

CDFW Photos

Banding an American Kestrel chick as part of a nest box monitoring study.


Battistone holding a Red-tailed Hawk trapped and banded at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.


Battistone holding a Prairie Falcon chick just prior to placing bands on the bird and returning it to the nest.

As CDFW’s Statewide Raptor Conservation Coordinator, Carie Battistone manages the department’s efforts related to conservation, policy, regulation and research of hawks, eagles, owls, condors and other birds of prey. Her responsibilities include overseeing listing petitions for endangered or threatened species, coordinating with a diverse set of partners on various research and conservation efforts including the Condor Recovery Program, Barred Owl Science Team, Northern Spotted Owl Interagency Working Group and Golden Eagle Science Team.

Battistone’s training includes two degrees from the University of California, Davis. She earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology and a master’s degree in avian ecology. Battistone began working for California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) as a contractor in the late 1990s, helping manage the state’s spotted owl database and conducting field surveys on grouse, willow flycatchers and great grey owls. After getting her master’s degree which included work on CDFW’s great grey owl project, she joined the department full-time in 2005, and in 2009 was hired as the state’s raptor coordinator.

What sparked your interest in raptors?

Raptors have always kind of been my interest – although I do have an interest in all wildlife, not just raptors. When I was a kid, my family went camping a lot and did a lot of activities outdoors. A love of the outdoors was instilled in me early. I became more interested in raptors while doing my undergraduate work. Raptors are these top predators with this powerful aura around them, but they still have their vulnerabilities and weaknesses. They need us to preserve habitat and identify threats.

What facts about raptors do you most enjoy educating people on?

I probably end up talking most about the threats raptors face. Since the public is drawn to raptors, we can use them to show the impacts of contaminants like lead and rodenticides. Anyone who sees an eagle go through the effects of lead toxicosis – which can include seizures and ultimately death – will get the message about the need to protect them from this outcome. People have to know how to use rodenticides correctly and how they can impact wildlife. It’s similar with some renewable energy projects. There are collision mortalities associated with wind energy projects, and even solar to some degree. Renewable energy is important, but again we should be thinking about them in light of their potential impacts. I don’t like being a ‘Debbie Downer’ when I talk about raptors, but I do want to convey the reality of the threats they face.

Are there any raptor species in California that people might not be familiar with?

The public may be less familiar with some individual species of raptors. For example, most people know the red-tailed hawk. In California, we have other species of hawks that have some very interesting habits, like the Swainson’s hawk, which makes a long-distance migration back and forth from South America in the winter to California to breed. The public may not be as familiar with some of the smaller owl species like the saw-whet owl, western screech-owl and elf owl. Most of the bigger more charismatic owls are well-known, such as the spotted owl and great-horned owl. But these small owls are very captivating! The public may not be aware of some of the major threats facing even the more well-known species, such as the spotted owl. The plight of the spotted owl is interesting because they have a long history of conflicts with the timber industry dating back to the 1990s when they were listed under the Endangered Species Act. More recently, the spotted owls face a new threat, the non-native barred owl. Barred owls are bigger, more aggressive, and eat a wider variety of prey, and they often displace spotted owls from their habitat. This presents a challenge for managers and conservationists because it becomes an issue of species vs. species. There has been a lot of tension because one proposal is lethally removing barred owls to allow spotted owls to thrive. We’re trying to do outreach to help the public understand what it would mean for the spotted owl if we don’t take action.

What’s the greatest challenge facing raptors as a whole?

I wouldn’t say there’s any one greatest challenge, but rather a whole suite of them. It depends on the species. The forests in our state are changing due to climate change, fires, disease, etc., so raptors that live in and depend on the forest – the northern goshawk and spotted owl for example – face their own set of challenges. Species like the elf owl may be experiencing habitat degradation and loss in desert riparian areas, heightened by impacts from climate change. Raptors that live in urban environments – like the peregrine falcon and Cooper’s hawk – face issues like poisoning and collisions with buildings. The grasslands in our state are disappearing, so birds that rely on those areas, such as the short-eared owl, are dealing with habitat challenges as well.

Are there any species of raptors that are thriving?

Cooper’s hawks, red-tailed hawks and the peregrine falcon are doing fairly well, and all three are well-suited to live in urban landscapes. Bald eagles are making a comeback as well, though they are still listed as threatened. You can see bald eagles in a lot more places in California, which wasn’t the case years ago. There were only a handful of pairs in the northern part of the state, and now we’re seeing them throughout California and even nesting in urban areas. The Swainson’s hawk is listed as threatened, but we’re seeing population increases and range expansion from them.

Which species are you most concerned about?

I’m concerned about the American kestrel and short-eared owl. Kestrels are fairly common, but populations are declining – not just in California, but across the west. There are efforts to figure out what’s going on with the population before it reaches a critical point. Short-eared owls used to be more common in grassland habitats in California, even down into San Diego County. But now, it is rare to detect these birds breeding in the state. They’re a grassland dependent species, so they are most likely being impacted by the changing composition of grasslands in our state. There are areas in California where golden eagles are fairly dense, but they seem to be rarer in other areas of the state. In all cases, we don’t have a good sense of why these species are seeing declines. It may be due to prey availability, encroachment from urban landscape, decreasing habitat or contaminants.

What’s the most challenging part of your job?

Obtaining funding for much-needed research can be very challenging. Funding for raptor conservation, or nongame species in general, can be harder to come by than for game species. Also, it is sometimes difficult to create a meaningful and clear message to the public regarding some of the threats raptors face, and what people can do about these threats.

What’s the best part of your job?

Seeing a difference and making an impact. I enjoy bringing people together and talking about how to resolve an issue or how to do research in a meaningful way. With the science teams and workgroups that I help manage, the goal is often coming up with a realistic solution that also makes a difference. At the end of the day, it’s all about what we can do to benefit the species and their habitat.

Do you work directly with raptors?

Sometimes. For example, I contribute to the American Kestrel Partnership by helping band nestlings as part of the nest box program and trap and band adults during the winter. I also help do surveys on some species, like short-eared owls and Swainson’s hawks, and get to go out with some of the researchers to assist as needed with condors and prairie falcons. Occasionally I can make it out to help the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory with their annual banding program for migratory raptors.

What are your goals for CDFW’s raptor conservation program?

Besides continuing partnerships and research, one goal that I have is to build the department’s citizen science capabilities, so we can get assistance from the public for surveys and other needs we have a hard time funding with permanent staff. If we had a dedicated citizen science program, it could benefit not only raptors but so many other wildlife species. People are excited to help and getting them involved would create a good educational tool. It’s an excellent way to liaison with the public and get them engaged with the issues each species faces. People involved at this level really feel a sense of ownership about the wildlife they’re helping and are more apt to make decisions and take actions that help.

CDFW Photos.