Featured Scientist

Tim Hovey is a senior environmental scientist specialist and fisheries biologist with CDFW’s Inland Fisheries Program in the South Coast Region. Based in the northern part of Region 5, his main duties include the monitoring, management and assessment of threatened and endangered fish, amphibian and reptile species. He researches the life history of these species, coordinates field surveys, collects data on habitat, population health and possible stressors, and writes field reports and scientific articles on the data collected.

Tim earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in environmental biology and a Master’s of Science degree in marine biology, both from California State University, Northridge. Originally hired by CDFW as a marine biologist in 1999, Tim transferred to inland fisheries a few years later. He is currently part of a diverse fisheries team that manages every aspect of fisheries science in southern California.

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

I didn’t really have an example to follow. I’ve always been interested in the outdoors and spent much of my childhood outside catching whatever I could. After high school, unsure of my direction, I took classes towards an engineering degree. After a few years of that, I realized I didn’t want to be an engineer. I stumbled on a job fair at the college I was attending and had a brief discussion with a representative from a university regarding marine science. I made one phone call to that university and the post doc that answered the phone convinced me to change majors and move south. After that, I never looked back.

What is a typical day like for you at work?

I start off by answering any emails or phone calls. During the survey season, I’ll start to schedule field outings to survey special status species. I’ll coordinate with other agencies and participate in planning meetings, write field reports and discuss and plan future projects all geared towards special status species recovery. I review and draft documents that deal with recovery aspects of the species I’m responsible for. In all honesty, no two days are ever the same and I really enjoy the variety of topics, challenges and duties.

What is your favorite species to interact with or study?

I love dealing with both marine and freshwater species and I don’t see that ever changing. I’ve always been a fish guy, with a constant interest in aquatic vertebrates and their amazing species diversity. Early on, I became very interested in why several different species of fish could occupy the same area. After that, I focused on reproductive behavior and habitat preference. I now deal mostly with native fish restoration and recovery, focusing on listed species like the unarmored threespine stickleback and the Santa Ana sucker. If it has anything to do with fish, I’m interested in it.

What is it about the work you do that you find most interesting?

I really enjoy the species-level information gathering and getting to spend a lot of time outside. To be honest, at times, I find it difficult to believe they pay me to do what I do. I am also amazed at the diverse topics and subjects I get to deal with. Since I am responsible for fish, amphibians and reptiles, I have to be familiar with many different types of survey protocols and species life histories. Since many of these species have special status, I need to be very familiar with required permitting if applicable and any regulatory issues that may arise from specific projects.

What is the most challenging part of your job?

My job takes a great deal of inter-agency coordination, especially with larger projects. While the agencies themselves are mostly on the same page, it can be a challenge dealing with the different agencies’ chains of command and overall differing protocols for project approval. However, in the end, I’m grateful for the diverse group of scientists from other agencies that I get to coordinate with.

What is the most rewarding project that you’ve worked on for CDFW?

I’ve worked on several projects that stand out.

I assisted in the removal of non-native pike from Lake Davis in 2007. Back in the early 2000s, northern pike were somehow introduced into the lake. They began to quickly impact the trophy trout fishery of the lake. Biologists became even more concerned that the non-native exotic predator would escape the lake and move downstream into the Sacramento River system, potentially impacting the steelhead and salmon population. I was part of a boat team that systematically treated the entire lake with rotenone, a naturally occurring toxin that kills fish. The repeated treatments worked and northern pike were eventually eliminated from the lake.

In 2005, I was the project lead for removing non-native trout from a section of Little Rock Creek here in Southern California. Upstream of the trout and isolated due to trout predation, endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs were in limited number and unable to migrate downstream. After removing the trout in a 900-meter section of creek below the frogs, an effort that took a decade, we documented the frogs recolonizing the now fishless area and increasing in number.

I’m also currently involved in the rescue and relocation of the endangered, unarmored threespine stickleback in Southern California. This is the most endangered fish in the state and losing quality habitat quickly. We are involved in a multi-agency effort to identify potential release sites in Southern California where we can introduce unarmored threespine stickleback to hopefully expand their range and population numbers.

If you had free reign and unlimited funding, what scientific project would you most like to do?

That’s a tough one. As of now, I would probably look at developing a program to enhance and restore unarmored threespine stickleback populations. Since they are considered the most endangered fish species in California, and number only in the hundreds, I think I would investigate captive rearing and breeding of this species to enhance the native populations.

Do you have any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

If individuals are planning to get into a career in resource management, I would recommend that they pick a discipline. CDFW, as with most resource agencies, employ individuals with specialized training in a number of fields. Botany, mammalogy, ornithology, ichthyology and herpetology are all important specialized disciplines that are in high demand in most resource agencies. I would also recommend that interested individuals tag along with a scientist that is currently in the field of their particular interest. This will give you an idea of what is actually involved in the position you may be seeking. Finally, I would suggest they let their passion guide them. If they have a specific interest, follow it. I absolutely never gave up on finding a position where I get to study fisheries for a living. I passed up several other positions to land the one I have now. I have written a book about my experiences, called Out in the Field: Discovering a Career in Field Biology.

Few biologists are also authors. How did that come about?

I do a great deal of writing for the State and I started to notice quickly after I was hired in 1999, that I seriously enjoyed the task. Of course I would so much rather write about topics that are of a personal nature. My first book was finished in 2014 and took over a decade to complete. My second book, Raised Behind the Trigger: One father’s journey to preserve our outdoor heritage by teaching his daughters how to hunt, was published in 2016. Of all my writing projects I have taken on, this book about my daughters is my proudest writing accomplishment.

I also write monthly outdoor articles for several outdoor magazines and am currently the lead writer for the periodic California Sportsman. I write two articles a month for them detailing hunting, fishing and outdoor adventures. The column is called “Tales of a Fish Biologist.”

Any other interesting hobbies related to your career?

I operate an online website that provides dermestid beetles to hobbyists, museums and taxidermists all over the world. These flesh-eating bugs are useful to anyone interested in cleaning animal skulls for education, taxidermy or display. I know, weird huh? But I stumbled into it and thoroughly enjoy it.

Sara Borok is an environmental scientist with the Klamath River project. She is responsible for counting the sport harvest on the Klamath and Trinity Rivers and for gathering natural spawner escapement data (which involves counting deceased fish which have finished spawning) on the Salmon River and approximately three dozen tributaries of the Klamath River above the Trinity River. She is also the co-coordinator of the Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team.

Borok initially studied forestry at Humboldt State University before changing her major and earning a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife management. She jokes that she also “majored in minors” by earning minors in forestry, fisheries, art and music.

She has worked her entire CDFW career in the Klamath Basin, striving to “bridge the desires of our constituents and protecting the health of the fishery” as she counted live fish going out of the river and the dead fish that returned and spawned.

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

Even when I was young I knew I wanted to work in the outdoors. I am from the era of “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” and I always wanted to be the assistant, “Jim.” He always had the cool jobs! I grew up in Southern California, and when I started high school, there was a wonderful summer school class, Outdoor Biology, that taught basic sampling techniques. We went to Catalina Island to do some marsh sampling, and I got hooked. I used to seek out wild places, often riding my bike up to Will Rogers State Park in Pacific Palisades and then hiking in four miles to find some solitude.

Who or what brought you to CDFW? What inspires you to stay?

When I was 16, I worked for the Youth Conservation Corps, and later at Will Rogers State Park, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve and at Ft. Clatsop, which is part of Lewis and Clark National Historic Park. I started out with CDFW in 1985 as a seasonal aid working the Klamath Creel Crew for Jim Hopelain, a wildlife biologist who at that time served in my current position. I fell in love with the idea of getting paid to do this job out in the woods. I still cannot believe that I get paid for what I get to do.

What is a typical day like for you at work?

During the “creel season” in April through November, I help the crew at busy spots on the Klamath River by interviewing anglers about their effort and catch of salmon and steelhead. We keep track of the numbers because they dictate size restrictions. Once a certain number of fish have been caught, anglers can’t keep the big ones anymore.

I also help out during the “carcass season” in October through December by organizing crews with individuals drawn from CDFW as well as other state agencies, tribes, volunteer groups and schools. Those crews then are kept quite busy counting dead fish to determine the “floor escapement,” or the number of fish that are returning to the river to spawn in natural areas. We need to meet a minimum number before we can allow any kind of harvest.

I field a lot of complaints from anglers, typically regarding our regulations! It is helpful that I have a great group of people working for me and with me who do a lot of the hard work.

What is most challenging about working with fish?

I would say that wading through large amounts of swift-moving water is the most challenging aspect. In years such as this past season, when we had such heavy rains, we had a hard time getting out on the tributaries to get good counts of the few spawned-out fish that were out there. Other challenges, ones that have nothing to do with the weather, are gaining access to specific areas from private landowners and the simple matter of having to cover such a large geographic area.

What is special about working in the Klamath Basin?

The Klamath kind of grows on you. I have been working in the basin for 32 years (wow, it doesn’t seem that long!). Working with live fish is the best, but even during spawning season the beauty out on the rivers makes up for dealing with dead fish. There are also really wonderful people living and working up here. I have worked every Labor Day Weekend for the last 20 years, and I get to see some of the same families that come up to fish then. It is like a big family reunion.

What is the most rewarding project that you’ve worked on for CDFW?

I work with a huge cooperative group of agencies, tribes, non-government groups, volunteers and school kids. We all get along and work hard to get the work done. What is really rewarding to me is that we have school kids who come out and do the spawner surveys with us. The students are actually walking through the water along with CDFW staff, counting carcasses. Their enthusiasm in being out in the fields is always refreshing and amusing. There have been a few who fell in love with this type of work and went on to school in this type of field and then came back to work on this very project.

Any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

Learn basic accounting, people management, vehicle repairs, public relations and logistics, as you will be spending more time on this kind of stuff than on the science.

I have been thinking of teaching a short class at Humboldt State University on all the other stuff like this that you will need to be a biologist/environmental scientist. People should also learn to work without the aid of fancy gadgets, as there may not be cell reception when you are out in the river or woods, and gadgets tend to fail when you need those most. Learn to improvise!

Marcia Grefsrud is an environmental scientist with CDFW’s Bay Delta Region. She spends much of her time working in the field, reviewing requests for incidental take permits and streambed alteration agreements. Her work helps to ensure that urban development does not destroy the resources upon which wildlife depend. She also serves as an advocate for many vulnerable species in the Bay Area, most notably the California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense), a stocky black and yellow amphibian that inhabits many of the stock ponds and grasslands in Alameda County.

Marcia took an unconventional path to her current position. She has attended a number of colleges and universities from as far north as Bemidji, Minnesota to as far south and east as Puerto Rico and as far west as Cal State East Bay in Hayward. A former petty officer in the US Navy, she also served as a CDFW wildlife officer before becoming a scientist.

Outside of work, Marcia is also skilled photographer with an extensive portfolio of wildlife images. She is particularly good at “macro-photography” – capturing small details of a dragonfly’s wing or a bushtit’s feathered breast. Her images are often featured on CDFW’s social media pages and in publications.

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

I grew up during the time of “Wild Kingdom,” “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” and “Jaws,” and I became fascinated with marine biology, especially sharks. My passion at the time was to be a marine biologist, but there obviously weren’t any colleges in Minnesota offering that field of study and I didn’t have the money to move out of state. Eventually, I couldn’t afford to stay in college, so I opted for something else – the Navy. That decision sent me on an entirely different career track of advanced electronics and cryptology.

How did you come to work for CDFW?

I moved to California after accepting a job as a Navy Tech Rep/Project Manager at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo. That job required extensive overseas and stateside travel and long work hours often in remote military bases such as Iceland and Adak, Alaska. The base closures left two options – I could relocate to San Diego or find another job. I opted to leave the federal government and return to school with the goal of studying raptor biology. But life had other plans, so after graduating from CDFW’s Resource Academy, I worked as a fish and game warden for three years. I made the jump to the scientific side 17 years ago.

Your job involves working with developers and builders to issue permits in the East Bay. Why is that important?

I cover all of Alameda County, which includes the highly urbanized area along the easternmost portion of San Francisco Bay and the more rural, eastern portion that supports ranching, with an urban/suburban center located in the Tri-Valley region. The county is approximately 50 percent agricultural land and 50 percent urban lands. Then there is the Altamont area of Alameda County, which is known for the wind turbines populating the hillsides. Combined, each of these areas make Alameda County one of the busiest counties in the region for Habitat Conservation. For example, from 2010-2015, approximately 668 acres of habitat in Alameda County was permanently lost as a result of residential development alone. But approximately 2,066 acres of habitat has been permanently conserved as a result of incidental take permits issued for those residential developments.

What is a typical day like for you at work?

When I’m in the office, I spend the day answering emails and telephone calls. I split my time between writing permits and agreements, reviewing conservation lands packages and monitoring reports. On the fortunate days when I’m in the field, I could be doing compliance checks, visiting project sites or attending meetings. If I’m really fortunate, I could be doing stream or pond surveys.

What is your favorite species to interact with or study?

Hands down, the California tiger salamander. They are my favorite probably because there is so much more to learn about them and I love the challenge. There have been many studies but there are still gaps in our knowledge that may never be filled. Plus, they are so darn cute!

What is the most rewarding project that you’ve worked on for CDFW?

The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) was intended to help protect wildlife and their habitats, but it can also create unintended hurdles. For instance, in Alameda County, privately owned stock ponds – which are prime breeding grounds for the California tiger salamander – have a finite lifespan, and may require maintenance and upkeep in order to function properly. When California tiger salamanders became a candidate species for state listing in 2009, new permitting and mitigation requirements went into effect. Because any land improvements or changes within CTS habitat were now subject to strict oversight, I became concerned that some ranchers would let their stock ponds go unmaintained rather than attempt to go through the permitting process.

After doing a lot of digging, I found a little-used section of the Fish and Game Code regarding Voluntary Local Programs (VLPs). These are similar to the state and federal Safe Harbor Agreement program, except the VLP is specifically for routine and ongoing agricultural activities on farms and ranches that encourage habitat for state listed or candidate species. A VLP must include management practices that will avoid and minimize harm while encouraging the enhancement of habitat. Landowners or ranchers that sign up with the local VLP agree to voluntarily carry out specific habitat improvements and to abide by avoidance and minimization measures. These measures are developed and agreed upon by CDFW, the program administrator (in this case, the Alameda County Resource Conservation District), the California Department of Food and Agriculture and other agricultural experts.

Ranchers can then perform routine and ongoing agricultural activities and necessary maintenance to stock ponds, roads, streams and other agreed-upon practices without risk of violating CESA. Even though we had to “give a little,” the Alameda County VLP has helped CDFW build trusting relationships with the Resource Conservation District and the local ranching community, and has ultimately allowed more potential breeding ponds to be repaired in a timely manner.

What is the most challenging aspect of your career as an environmental scientist?

The enormous amount of work and the limitations of our job duties.

If you had free reign and unlimited funding, what scientific project would you most like to do?

At the moment I want to do a study on teeth patterns of California tiger salamanders compared to hybrids and non-natives. One study I looked at found that considerable variation in tooth morphology may be found between species of the same genus. There is a possibility that the teeth patterns between the native salamanders, non-natives and hybrids are different. If so, it may provide another indicator to determine whether or not a specific animal is pure CTS or hybrid.

What is it about the work you do that you’d most like us to know?

Some people think Habitat Conservation work is boring and/or not important because it doesn’t sound as exciting as chasing poachers or studying wildlife. Sometimes the work is tedious, but what we do is extremely important because without it we would face more species’ extinction and destruction of terrestrial and aquatic habitat.

How does your interest in photography intersect with your work as a scientist?

I have had a lifelong interest in photography and art, but only recently started to explore photography as art. In addition to photographing wildlife (which has its challenges), I am drawn to the old, obscure, dilapidated and overlooked parts of our environment -- from the tiny mushroom to the broken-down piano dumped on the side of the road. One of the joys I find with photography is being able to show beauty in things that often go unnoticed.

One of the cool things about photography for me is it allows me to visually study some of these animals without physically capturing them. It is amazing what you learn when you are looking at a macro, like the wing structure of a dragonfly or embryos of foothill yellow-legged frogs. I’ve also been able to capture some remarkable photos of birds in action. I have a series of photos of an osprey repeatedly dive bombing a bald eagle. Then another series with a red-tailed hawk attacking a bald eagle that was trying to steal a fish from an osprey. One photo that will hopefully be published in a short note soon is of a peregrine falcon that predated a federally and state protected Ridgway’s rail. The photos are not National Geographic worthy, but they do tell stories!

Do you have any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

With so much information available on the Internet now, I would start by exploring government and non-profit websites to find volunteer opportunities. The more field experience they can get the better off they will be both in finding a job and really beginning to find their passion. Finally, I would recommend when they do find something they are passionate about then stay focused and go for it!